Language and Thought

"Language is the formative organ of thought. Intellectual activity, entirely mental, entirelyinternal, and to some extent passing withouttrace, becomes through sound, externalizedin speech and perceptible to the senses. Thought and language are therefore oneand inseparable from each other."
�Wilhelm von Hamboldt, German educator, linguist, and philosopherhttp://www.duke.edu




Wilhelm von Hamboldt idea, is that language is strongly connected to thought, therefore language and thoughts are complementary. This means that language is completed, somehow, by thoughts because we express them when we speak, and thoughts are connected to language because we use language to "form"our thoughts.

There are different opinions. Dr Johnson said language is 'the dress of thought', meaning that language is like the clothes that thoughts wear. This suggests that language does not influence thought. 
                                                http://www.usingenglish.com


This idea suggest that language is only a tool created to express thought, and thoughts are ideas in our heads  that can also be express as mental images.

There are other ways of thinking- animals do it without language. However, once the language virus has struck, it tends to take over
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                                            http://www.usingenglish.com


There's also an other motion that combines both ideas and it says that thoughts can be express by other forms (not necessarily language), but language is a "virus", meaning by this that if you have language you will use it to express thoughts, but if you haven't got language (deaf-mute) you will think in other forms (mental image).

Noam Chomsky´s Theory

"The tower of Babel"

Answer these questions based on the video  "Language: Constant Change"

1. What is the biblical story of "the Tower of Babel"?

People tried to build a tower to reach the sky but, because of their ambition, Babel (God) punish them making them talk in different languages, so they can´t communicate. 

2. What does historical evidence tell us of this biblical event?

People start to expand over the territories, and new language appear.

3. What's the relationship between genes and language?

Similar genes talk the same language because of the social context.

4. Why do languages constantly change?

Because language is learn by every generation, and they interact whit it, changing words ore creating new ones.

  

Minmap

Why do we talk?

Answer these questions based on the video you just watched:

1. Which is the 'trick' (process) that enables us to communicate something to others?

The trick that enables to comunicate is the use of sounds to express ore thoughts 

2. Do animals talk? If not, What do they do to communicate?

Humans are the only ones that can talk. Animals can't talk but they can communicate by sounds. 

3. What do we express when we talk?

We express our thoughts and feelings. 

4. WHat did Dr Deb Roy try to achieve in his house?

Dr. Roy tryed to understand how kids learn to talk. He collected information from his own child by cameras on his house. 

5. Which are the earliest stages in language for a child?

The earliest stages in language are: "Bubbling", use of single words, two-words stage and complex grammatical structure (Sentences). 

6. What external and internal factors made the data recollected in the experiment into something they could use?

Dr. Roy needs to transcript every single sentence and word said by his child and the people that was around him. 

7. How did the parent's speech change from their son's first word until he could utter more complex structures?

At the beginning parents simplified their language. 

8. What does Dr Deb Roy compare the "blossoming" of a speech form?

He compared language learning to a plant growing. 

language reflection

Animals and even plants can communicate between them, they can warn others of a threat. The human language uses a system of symbols and sounds,  with an given meaning. This symbols let us have better interaction, cause every thing has it own sound recognizable for everyone and, no't only a bark.There is a need to have a word for everything, that's why there are new words constantly appearing.

 Some meaning of words can be so powerful that makes as angry or happy.