How Language Shapes Us

By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

Here’s a question that’s been stumping philosophers and psychologists for centuries: does the language we use to describe the world actually shape how we view the world? In other words, does an English speaker actually think differently, and live their life differently, than someone who speaks Mandarin, or Turkish?

That idea was largely pushed aside for the past half-century. Linguists like Noam Chomsky looked for universalities – aspects of grammar common to all languages, to show that we all think similarly, despite differences in language.

Now the idea that language shapes thought is coming back into fashion, thanks in part to researchers like Stanford neuroscientist Lera Boroditsky. She’s been collecting data from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia and Aboriginal Australia, among other places. And she believes language plays a big role in how we view the world. She joins us from San Francisco.

Edge: How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think?
From What's Next?: Dispatches on the Future of Science

(Photo by Mike Bailey-Gates via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Especially concerning to me is the use of the word, "theater," in the context of war. War,which in my opinion, is ALWAYS an act of terror, is no theater for those being bombed or displaced because some power wants their resources.
Theater makes it unreal, buffers the fact that in reality there are people, animals and the environment being assaulted and massacred.
Also, in the same vein, using terms like insurgents, gorillas. terrorists, rebels, and the other words used to label those who may very well be nothing more than people sickened and FED UP with government sponsored violence. The media does a poor job at telling listeners what the CORE problems stemmed from. To this day, we never hear the genesis of what caused the uproar.
Language has been used for centuries to cause an idea, attitude, behavior.
The Jews were called swine, and this flu is called swine, as if pigs are something disgusting and evil, which they are NOT.The use of the word allowed jews to be considered lowly, unworthy, as we now consider pigs to enable people to eat them when in reality, being called a pig is very positive. Truth be told, they are as clean as any mammal( I might argue even cleaner than humans who are the only species fouling the entire planet), they are incredibly smart, social, funny, playful mammals who are NOTHING like the word "swine" is suppose to mean.
Language like, "you dirty rat," or you chicken," or "you snake," have been used to call people bad things when in fact, rats are not dirty, chickens are NOT cowardly, and snakes are really cool.

We need a new dictionary that dispels the myths that allow people to be conned into thinking that others are less than, unworthy, opening the doors for abusive treatment to them, be they human or animal.

Submitted by beth aaron on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 13:26.

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.