Does one think in language?

Question

If so what about a child before he learns a language? What about a mentally handicapped or does he even think?

Answer 1

ppl of a certain language think in that language

i guess little babies think in like baby talk???

Answer 2

According to John Locke (philosopher in the 1700s), and in the book The Blank Slate:the Modren Denial Of Human Nature (I believe) written by Steven Pinker, children are born with the knowledge of language, life, and everything useful today, but they cannot express it, so I find that everyone can think (even animals), no matter what handicap they have or anything like that.

Answer 3

yes you think in language. A child learns what they are around if you speak spanish to a baby it will understand spanish. Same with mentally handicapped people. And yes, mentally handicapped people do think.

Answer 4

Before language is acquired, a child does not think cognitively in terms of language. It s mostly in "feeling:" if its needs are being satisfied or frustrated. Later, as language is acquired, the child learns to "think" in terms of language to express unmet needs being satisfied or not.


As a side note, I speak two languages and find that I dream in both languages. Not usually at the same time or same dream, but have dreamt using one language or the other.

Answer 5

babies understand language long before they are able to speak it. Studies have long shown that speaking and singing to the baby in-utero is helpful for the babies development. I've had 3 children, and I can positively say that they all understood just about everything that was spoken to them long before they could speak.
They also react to voices, facial expressions, loud and soft noises etc.
Mentally handicapped persons are no different - they need extra time to absorb information, and are obviously slower to process and repeat - but there is absolutely no evidence to suggest they don't think.

All of this being said - people process information in many different ways. To think in terms of colour, scent, speech, language, feelings, images, etc is all part an parcel to the process of understanding the world around us. Language, reading, and writing are entirely what sets us apart in the animal kingdom and proves unequivocally that God is.

Answer 6

It's like the chicken and egg question. Do we learn to think before we speak, or does language shape our thoughts? Infants are born with a language-independent system for thinking about objects.These concepts give meaning to the words they learn later.

Answer 7

Even animals 'think'. Do you suppose they think in language? If so, what language? I would assume that they think in images, smells, etc. I would imagine babies and other humans without language skills think in much the same way. Complexity of thought would be an issue...I think memory would factor into that. Good luck!

Answer 8

a very interesting question.
first to define thinking:
Thinking is a neuro-transmission in the brain that transports information. "electricity" runs, and rings bells on its way, the "bells" are proteins, that are like the harddisk containting our memories. The memories came there by sensing and interpreting the information from our senses. Thinking, this "electricity", happens in the speach- part of the brain, but just as much in any other part:
So people think in language, dream in language, but not as the only thing. We can also think in music, in images, in series of emotions, even in smells, all the sensory experiences revived, and the emotional reactions to that. (allthough some people might call parts of this type of thinking acclimatisation, instincts)
example to get an insight:
Imagine how you are taught to meet a person in a polite way.... did you just think in words that you will shake that persons hand? Probably the image of how you shake the hand (left or right, how firm, how long, smiling or grunting, nodding or yawning, etc.) just passed your mind in a split second. In that case you had an image thought (and a touch thought, if you imagined how firm you'll shake hands and how that feels to your own hand)
So that is how people derived of language think: they think in those things that are present for them. their thinking is derived from their perception and understanding of "reality".

Only to people that have language, thinking also becomes much more abstract (added to this previous thinking). That is because language makes concepts possible. In the previous example, have you ever thought of it, that you are taught or taught yourself what a hand is? Why do you know that your hand is called hand, and that a painting of a hand is a painting of a hand, and that the hand of your neighbour's newborn is also a hand?? Because there is a conceptual hand in your head, stored at the same place as the word hand. (without language it would be only something like warm feeling "there" [hand], after feeling "that feeling" [stretching forward] "there" [arm])
Words are the building stones of order in the chaos of sensory inputs; we use them to submit the world to our understanding. (and thus also make the world into a series of taught or selfmade concepts that might not be "right", or "True", if something like that exists).
So now to mentally handicapped; the shaking hand experience describes a bit how thinking goes for one without language. concepts like "tomorrow" will hardly be possible, more fysical concepts like shaking hand, will work. Sad, but there also is a bright side to that: it is not for nothing that people like the innocense of these people so much. They forgive more easilly, because they don't know the word "enemy". Because they might also not know the word chair it is more difficult to explain them that a red leather chair is just as good for sitting, as a blue chair with silk pillows. That gives us a perfect opportunity to see things in perspective, to relativate and thus enjoy life more. How important is this concept we call "money"? Is it so difficult to enjoy "the Now", when one knows the word "tomorrow"?
Hope this gives an answer and some good feeling,
With love,
Dr. Aram

Answer 9

He probably thinks, just not in a specific spoken language. Well, of course they think! If they didn't they wouldn't even be able to make simple sounds or point to things. I've been wondering this about pets and animals. like theythink, but in what language are their thoughts? it's interesting to think about....

Answer 10

I count in chinese, can't do math without speaking chinese first, but everything else I think in English. I think it's because my parents taught me that way, they're pretty strict on my math skill when I was growing up.

Answer 11

well when I couldnt even talk when I was a baby I was watching my sis doing her homwork and my mom was holding me because I couldnt walk I was really young and I was making fun of my sis I was speaking my language and making fun of her seriously I was like hahahah look at her I still remember it like it was 10 seconds ago