Language and thought

A variety of different authors, theories and fields purpote influences between language and thought.

Many point out the seemingly common-sense realization that upon introspection we seem to think thoughts in the language we speak. A number writers and theorists have extrapolated upon this idea.

• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in linguistics states that language speakers can only think in their own language, and may not be able to have thoughts for which their language lacks the words. It has found at best very limited experimental support. For instance, the Inuit language has a plethora of different words for snow, but no study has been able to show that non-Inuktitut speakers cannot tell the difference between the different kinds of snow that the different Inuit words denote. Also, a study showing that speakers of languages lacking a subjunctive mood such as Chinese experience difficulty with hypothetical problems has been discredited.

• According to Cognitive therapy, founded by Aaron T. Beck, our emotions and behavior are caused by our internal dialogue. We can change ourselves by learning to challenge and refute our own thoughts, especially a number of specific mistaken thought patterns called "cognitive distortions". Cognitive therapy has been found to be effective by empirical studies.

• General Semantics is a school of thought founded by engineer Alfred Korzybski and later popularized by Samuel Hayakawa and others, which attempted to make language more precise and objective. It makes many basic observations of the English language, particularly pointing out problems of abstraction and definition.

• E-prime is an constructed language identical to the English language but lacking all forms of "to be", like Russian or Arabic. Its proponents claim that dogmatic thinking seems to rely on "to be" language constructs, and so by removing it we may discourage dogmaticism.

• Neuro-linguistic programming founded by Richard Bandler claims that language "patterns" and other things can affect thought and behavior. It takes ideas from General Semantics and hypnosis, especially that of the famous therapist Milton Erickson. Many do not consider it a credible study, and it has no empirical scientific support.

• George Orwell, the famous political writer, certainly believed in the interplay between language and thought. One of the most fundamental and enduring ideas of his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was the control of "thoughtcrime" through omnipresent spying and propaganda, and the created language Newspeak. The purpose of this fictional language was to make thoughts unapproved by the state "literally unthinkable" by making language unable to express them. Orwell also explores political thinking and language, writing "if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought" in the essay Politics and the English Language.

• Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote in his Tractatus Logico Philosophicus that "the limits of my language indicate the limits of my world" and explores the philosophy of language.

• In behavioral economics, according to experiments said to support to the theoretical availability heuristic, people believe more probable events that are more vividly described than those which were not. Simple experiments asking people to imagine something led them to believe it to be more likely. The mere exposure effect may also be relevant to propagandic repetition like the Big Lie.

• Various other schools of persuasion directly suggest using language in certain ways to change the minds of others, including oratory, advertising, debate, sales, and rhetoric. The ancient sophists discussed and listed many figures of speech such as the enthymeme.