Words,+Language+and+Thinking

=As a Way of Knowing, language is linked to our biology and our culture. Academia has differed on theories of the relationship between language and thinking. Language and thinking have often seemed to be a bit of a chicken or the egg conundrum. Which comes first; the structures of our language or our ways of thinking? There are a great deal of interesting questions to consider here.=

Let's consider a couple of case studies from [|Radiolab]


 * Case 1**
 * Susan Schaller** was neither a teacher of the deaf nor a linguist, but she had learned American Sign Language (ASL) and enjoyed interpreting for the deaf. Still, nothing had prepared her for Ildefonso, a languageless adult, born deaf and lacking instruction in even the simplest communication. With infinite patience and determination, Schaller taught this intense, lonely, but apparently intelligent man to grasp not just signs, but ideas and words. Their breakthrough to language is most spectacular.

media type="file" key="Radio lab words.mp3" width="240" height="20"

In the late 1970s, a new language was born. And **Ann Senghas**, Associate Professor of Psychology at Barnard, has spent the last 30 years helping to decode it. In 1978, 50 deaf children entered a newly formed school--a school in which the teachers (who didn't sign) taught in Spanish. No one knows exactly how it happened, but in the next few years--on school buses and in the playground--these kids invented a set of common words and grammar that opened up a whole new way of communicating, and even thinking.
 * Case 2**

media type="file" key="01 radiolab091010c.mp3" width="248" height="28"

While considering these questions, reflect on yourselves and your experience. = Discussion Posting Option =
 * How important are words to thinking?
 * how do you account for Ildefonso's apparent inability to remember what it was like to not have language?
 * If words really are so important to thinking (especially abstract or nuanced and varied words for similar things: thinking, knowing, remembering, etc), how important might language structure be to thinking? Is it different to think in Turkish from English? From German? From French?
 * As bilingual or polyglot students, how has the gaining of words or language in general affected your thinking?
 * Any questions you might have: Post here
 * 1) Write a thoughtful response (around 250-300 words) to the any of the questions above (you can focus on more than one if appropriate) in your class discussion page in the toolbar on the left.
 * 2) Share your thoughts with others: Comment on the postings of other students

=Required Reading: TOK text pages 68-71 The Sapir-Worf hypothesis=