Does language speak to us?

“That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet”, Shakespeare's verse is frequently quoted because it encapsulates an intriguing aspect of human cognition. We assume language conveys our perceptions to other people. But what if language is also part of the initial construction of those perceptions?

Common sense argues emotions are a physical phenomena that have little to do with the names we give them. But according to current psychological constructionist views, language is a vital component of emotion that shapes emotional experiences and perceptions.

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Does the language I speak influence the way I think?

According to the Linguistic Society of America, people have been thinking about this issue for hundreds of years. Since the 1940s, linguists have given it special attention. When linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf investigated the Native American tongue of the Hopi, which is spoken in northeastern Arizona he came with interesting  ideas. He suggested there are linguistic disparities between the ways in which Hopi and English speakers see the world.

We now know there is a complicated answer to this topic, somewhat of a chicken-and-egg scenario. If you don't think about something, are you unable to think about it or do you not think about it because you lack the language to express it? The fact that there is more than just language and thought—there is also culture—is a contributing factor. Your culture, customs, way of life, habits, and so on you adopt from the people you interact with, shapes your thought and your speech.

If there are no words for numbers in your language, can you still count? And how come people who speak a language that doesn't have words for "left" and "right" always know which way is north? Here is a video that can help you to understand more How the language you speak affects your thoughts.

When you're feeling something, semantic-related brain areas are activated.

According to research published in the National Library of Medicine Neuroimaging data support the idea that language contributes to the formation of emotional experiences. In the fMRI scanner, for instance, people who are experiencing emotions have increased activity not only in the limbic/paralimbic brain regions associated with bodily arousal but also in the lateral prefrontal brain regions associated with semantic retrieval and the medial prefrontal regions associated with categorization of body states.

The advantages of being multilingual

Being bilingual or multilingual is one of the best methods to maintain the brain healthy and prevent degenerative diseases like dementia, as the brain enjoys training just like any other muscle. In fact, compared to those who are monolingual and only speak one language, bilingual individuals have clear signs of Alzheimer's disease nearly five years later. That is a lot longer than what the most effective contemporary medications can provide. Surprisingly, this advantage can be felt even by illiterate persons.
 

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Today's #Carna #QuoteoftheDay ? “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." - Ludwig Wittgenstein

?What are your thoughts on this? Do you ?agree or ?disagree? pic.twitter.com/f9XBUFIUCA

— Carna (@carna_ai) September 9, 2022

Does learning many languages make us feel more like a part of the world, or, in the words of the legendary Charlemagne, "gain a second soul"? This important question is worth addressing, as is the cultural case.

Written by Sondos Swed