If a human being did not know any language whatsoever, would they have trouble thinking?

Question

What do you think?

Answer 1

If dogs can do it, so can we.

Answer 2

Well, deaf children have no trouble thinking, even if they dont know sign language.

I think humans are only dependent on language for communication with others. Very small children do not have language, yet they obviously think very clearly.

There was a group of deaf kids, and they were all housed in the same place, because there werent proper facilities to take care of them. Nobody there knew sign language, but the kids invented their own language, they all worked together and found a way to communicate. its a pretty amazing story, and thats why im totally convinced that people dont think in words until they know words, but before that they think in their own way.

Answer 3

This is a great question. It's pretty obvious that language is connected with thought, but is language the same as thought? Psycholinguists are divided on this question, I believe.

Perhaps the animals would help us to shed some light on this question. To the extent that animals are capable of cognition, we should be able to say that it is possible without language, because no animal communication system is anywhere near human language.

I personally think that thought happens independently of language but obviously language is often used to express our thoughts.

Answer 4

My father-in-law has a rare form of dementia called primary progressive aphasia (PPA). With Alzheimer's, nerve cells in the part of the brain associated with memory start to slowly die. With PPA, this same process starts to happen in the part of the brain associated with language, so he is slowly losing his ability to read,, speak, or understand any language. Other people lose functioning from this part of the brain - either in whole or part - due to strokes.

My father-in-law continues to have lots to say, he just cannot say it. He gets around town by himself, and has clear intentions, etc., he simply cannot communicate them. I think it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to formulate complex ideas, however, as he has no running dialogue inside his head. And all this would no doubt be very different if he had never had language - then I suppose humans would be akin to very smart chimps (animals are not stupid, and even a cat or dog has lots of intentionality, if not "thoughts" per se). Once exposed to language, however, like my father-in-law, I believe he has more well developed ideas, though it is clearly more difficult for him to think through a full-fledged, complex idea.

So, in answer to your question, I think it depends in part on what you mean by "thinking." Clearly my father-in-law has difficulties which he did not have before. But he still has desires and intentions and things he would *like* to say, but cannot. What makes you ask this question?

Answer 5

No..they would use what is known as visual thinking. Instead of using language, you would use a visual pattern to make decisions. People who never hear, or have no language use this everyday to think out the most simple and complicated of problems.

Answer 6

Interesting.

I think they couldn't form thoughts and ideas with words, and they certainly couldn't express those ideas verbally, but every person has to 'think' in order to function. For example, you have to 'think' to move your arm but you don't form a coherent thought like, 'I'm going to move my arm.'

Answer 7

Probably not... they can always think with visuals.