Language Directs Consciousness

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis—created by researches Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf in the 1930’s—states that “language has embedded within it ways of looking at the world.” In this sense, we do not look at the world around us in terms of events or objects. Instead, we process events and objects in terms of language.

Consider the following website:

http://listverse.com/2010/09/23/10-words-that-cant-be-translated-to-english/

These words are specific to the cultures of those speaking a certain language. Certainly, in English we can comprehend the meaning of “Ilunga”, where a person is tolerant to a point. But we aren’t able to articulate a direct translation because we don’t think in those same terms. In our culture we generally resort to retaliation if we are wronged, instead of forgiveness.

If you remember reading the novel 1984 by George Orwell, you will recall that language was very important to the main concept. The officials in charge of Oceania—the location where the novel takes place—were working on a new dictionary for the common people. They were trimming the amount of words in the common languge to create Newspeak.

Their reasoning behind the language shift in thinking. From the novel:

“I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those
who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language
merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its
development by any direct tinkering with words or construction.”

If people have no words to describe their surroundings, they will cease to notice their surroundings. For example, have you ever learned the name of a new plant or structure, only to look around and see it everywhere? It has always been there, but you have been less aware of it because you didn’t know the term.

Lastly, to observe how language affects perception, look at news organisations.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/actual-news-headlines-vs-fox-news-headlines

Biased, or “Loaded” words completely change the way we perceive information. Even though the basic facts are the same, we can form positive or negative opinions based on the wording.

When newscasters tell us that “Osama Bin Laden has Died”, it has completely different intonations than “Osama Bin Laden has been Killed”, even though both sentences are correct.

How does language affect your everyday life? Are you able to think of an abstract concept without using language or words at all?