Are our thoughts shaped by the language we speak? Is it even possible to think without knowing a language? I thought about this question after learning about a girl who was forced to live in isolation till she was 10. She had not been exposed to language and was punished every time she had tried to make some kind of sound. But could she think?

For me at least, my thoughts are all in English. I can't even comprehend how you could think without hearing your speaking voice in your head. In terms of the girl, I'm sure she had feelings and responses to things, but would these emotions just take the place of/overrule her thoughts? If she did think, how could she do it without a language, which is basically the way which people convey the content of their thoughts to each other?

Yes, or all those mice in mazes couldn't have gotten out.

"Yes, or all those mice in mazes couldn't have gotten out."

Yet, who says mice don't speak a language?

Personally, I can't fathom of how to think without thinking in words. Yet, I think it might be possible. Images can speak just as loudly as words and they can be recognized and attributed in different situations. Perhaps we can think in images...yet...then wouldn't THAT be a language? Sure, it's not verbal, and it's not exactly sign language, but it could be a some type of 'language'.

So maybe, the girl WAS thinking in a language...just not in a verbal language. Instead, she learned to recognize objects and connect certain images with one another.

It seems a little impossible to NOT be able to think...but I think that is just because I have never experienced that reality. If the girl had been put in a dark room, with no objects around her and absolutely no one with her AT ALL, THEN maybe I would question whether she could think or not, since I can't see any origin for language in that situation.

School Trinity HS

Of course I think that it is possible to think without knowing a language. Take a baby for instance, do babies not think until they are able to speak? Is there mind just a complete blank becuase they don't know a language to form thoughts? It is through thinking and knowledge that a baby is able to learn their first language. Through thinking and processing they are able to connect the "mom" with the woman who is constantly showering them with love and affection. Even if you had never been exposed to some form of a language, like the 10 year old girl Sreeja mentioned, you would eventually make up your own. You would correlate a particular sound to represent a particular object, and none of that would be possible without the power of thought.

School Trinity High School

I definitely think you can think without knowing a language. I think that language is imposed on thoughts. I think in English because I speak in English, so when I am using thought to reason things through, I think in English because those are the words I am familiar with, and the words I can express myself with. When I am trying to express myself in Greek, I attempt to think in Greek. If I did not know a language,I believe I could still reason through things and think. In math, I don't necessarily think in terms of natural language. I think in terms of numbers,and examples of how to solve equations, and apply them to the equation I am currently doing. This example brings up another topic we've discussed in my TOK class. Is mathematics a language? I believe mathemtics is a different TYPE of language, because it is a different way of expressing something.

So,I guess,to better answer your question,I would have to ask,what makes something a language? To me, language is a way of expressing yourself, and being able to come to a common ground. By a 'common ground', I mean,there is always an answer, something that everyone can understand.

School Trinity

I think we can think without knowing a language. I will explain using the documentary about the girl Genie that was locked in isolation. There was one part in the film where she was able to speak about the past. She was able to recall memories from a few years back and put them into words. Since she had grown up without knowing a language, she could not speak her thoughts. Once she developed the vocabulary, she was able to put her past thoughts in words. Since she did not have a language, perhaps she thought in terms of emotions or objects. Maybe she created her own correlation and words for particular events and objects.

Another example is with little kids. They cannot speak but there is definately thought process going on. Little kids point at objects and make sounds, etc which show that thought process is occuring.

I can't fathom not being able to think, with or without a language. I think that language is only a tool we use to interpret the things that we think/feel. It's possible to feel without language. We have so many things that we can feel yet have a lack of words to describe the feelings. Isn't it posssible that thinking is the same way? I imagine that if you have never learned a language that in some way your mind has to make up for that. It seems like your would have to come up with a way to interpret the things around you. If you are born deaf wouldn't you learn to interpret the world through things you can see in an almost visual language (as I believe Alicia had mentioned). I don't know whether you meant language just as verbal language or not though. It seems to me though that you CAN think without a verbal language. If you can't think I don't think you'd be able to function at all. I don't know if that makes sense or not though...

Like most of the people who responded before, I could not imagine thinking without knowing a language. I cannot even comprehend how that would be possible. When it comes to the girl in isolation, Genie, the fact that she was able to recall events from her past in isolation shows that she had to have had some form of language. Just because she did not know a "formal" language like English or Spanish, that does not mean she did not have her own langauge that she used to think in. If you did not have any sort of language how would you be able to even use your brain? It is true that Genie might have been thinking in symbols and images, but is not that just another form of language? A language is not defined by whether or not it has an alphabet or dictionary; language, to me, is merely a unique form of communication.

School Trinity HS

Just letting you know, a language being unique is not a form of communication, but a langugage being common is. Communication is a way of expressing one's thoughts, and this can be done many ways, and we had to think of a way to communicate (yes, think) if we were to communicate with each other anyway.

I think that it is entirely possible to think without knowing a language, afterall the early humans had no language and look what we've become.

Exactly what I just said. Well met, human.

language and thought. two such complex things. at this point in time everyone grown person thinks with speech in their minds, this is because speech has been bred into us that we even carry it to the realm of thought.before all this came along the human was untouched and pure. whatever it saw it kept in its mind as an image.the first memory or mental problem was to think to i need to eat or pooh. well may be there is a non-lingual way of thought that babies use or the first humans used.

Of course one can think without knowing a language. People that are born deaf have never been exposed to a spoken language before, and yet they can develope their own opinions and think and process everyday situations.Also when babies are born they dont speak to you,they dont know how to express themselves with a spoken langauge and need to be encouraged to get their expressions heard. (eg. Helen Keller)
The prehistoric men were able to make fire before they spoke a verbal language that was more developed than just grunting. This shows that they had developed thinking skills before speaking a verbal language. They might have used sign language, and pictures but not a verbal language to get their thoughts through.

I find than when one concentrates on his thinking or tries to imagine it, yes, we do seem to shape our thoughts into words. However our thinking is much more than what we think we are experiencing everyday. There is a whole subconcious level, which does not require any language and which is extremely abstract and may consist of visual pictures, sounds and feelings. How do children think, not being able to speak? Or what about chimps which do not speak a word, yet intellectually so close to us?

I don't think (oh, the irony) our thoughts are created by language. When we are rehearsing something clever to say to someone, or when we want people to understand our thoughts, language is pretty convenient. It's also just fun to sit down and fantasize in a language. But when you are trying to sift through your memories or if you're trying to understand a concept, it's impossible to understand how the thinking process is done, but somehow you get results from just trying to find things in your head. Also, it's not like you have to say "move, arm!" in your head to raise your hand. When you get punched in the stomach, you don't think "darnit that hurts!" It just hurts.

Also, you think very quickly before your words are formed. You have to think of what to say, although it may seem spontaneous. Apparently the brain is made for language, as there are very weird cases of people having strokes and only losing the ability to use verbs or other parts of speech. But language just can't influence the rest of thought. Language is just one action the brain creates. There is that little voice in your head that seems to be thought itself, but that little man has to have a mind of his own to come up with his words.

Yes you can think without knowing a language. The first example I can think of is babies. They are new thinkers that enter our world, and our society. Being so new to everything, they lack any knowledge of how things work or how to communicate. Yet still they are able to start learning how to communicate through sounds and nor language. They cry when they are hungry or hurt and they laugh when they are happy. I think they become part of the universal expressions that are expressed by everyone. Without knowing any language, they are still able to think and convey themselves to other people whilst talking to themselves in their own babytalk. It almost seems as they are bursting to say things sometimes as they talk under their breath...all these are signs of thinkers. So ya, you can think without a language. I mean you need to think first before you can even learn a language or else you will just take in words that really dont mean anything!!!!!!

School International School of Kenya

Of course people can think without knowing a language. We can take babies and deaf people as examples. As soon as babies are born, we can observe from their behaviour that they take interest in new objects or surroundings and ponder about how to utilize them to his/her liking. And babies don't normally speak fluently in their mother tongue until they are 3~4 years old. Even at that age, they aren't able to participate in insightful thinking, however, they still manage to experience some kind of thinking process no matter how deep or shallow.
Deaf people never get the chance to speak a language in their lives. As little children they are incapable of expressing themselves through words. If humans weren't able to think without knowing a language, would deaf people ever be able to think? You could say
that sign language can be learnt, then would they think in signs? And learning process of sign language does not come until later on in childhood.
So in my opinion, yes, people can think without knowing a language.

I believe that you could think without knowing a language. You could think about pictures or events. Without a language there would be no need to think of anything else.

School Dougherty Comprehensive High School

I can't imagine not knowing a language. I don't think that can even exist. Language is a way of expressing our thoughts and our emotions. It's a way of expressing ourselves. It is almost impossible to think of our thoughts without using a language. For example, even when I'm thinking, I'm thinking in the language of English. For some people who think without their language and in terms of perhaps numbers for math, it does not mean they don't have a language. They just think in different terms. Some people think in shapes and pictures, but that is also a language. If we were to say language is the way to express our thoughts, without language it will be difficult to have a thought. Without a type of language our minds do not have thoughts or a way of communication.

School J.Percy Page