Language and Thought
The connection between language and thought has been a popularly discussed topic between linguists and workers in other social sciences for many years. In its most basic form, the discussions usually try to answer the question of whether languages influence the way we think, and if different languages cause us to think differently. One of the more popular arguments used to answer this question is linguistic relativity, and how it may play a role in the way that we think. Linguistic relativity is how we use meanings/grammar to express statements that make sense/how grammar is marked/defined. For example, in some languages, a verb must be chosen based on the shape of the object being discussed. The problem with this is that there has been no way to prove/disprove whether linguistic relativity has an effect on the way that we think, and as far as we can see there won't be any proof anytime soon. Another great example of the relationship between language and thought is the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, a concept first described in 1929 by Edward Sapir. Edward explained that a native speaker will be influenced in experiences by the way the language is structured. The Sapir Whorf hypothesis has commonly been used in discussions between linguistics when trying to prove that language and thought are connected. Some studies are being conducted today in order to prove/disprove this, but results are mixed, and the questions still remain.
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