how did we think before we developed language?

Question

I think in words so when I was an infant without words and a vocabulary what were the tools I used to communicate what I was feeling? How did I correlate time and deduce things around me? How did I approve and dissaprove of my environment?

So far I think this question is very difficult to even ask. It assumes a lot from our experience however an infant does not have experience. . and It can not be so simple a thing as adding a label to a feeling, an object or a place or person. Memory has to be very involved. I need something my tiny brain can assimilate, something my instinct recognises.

Answer 1

raw emotion. like any baby, you cried when you didn't like stuff until somebody figured out what the problem was and fixed it.

heres a cool story about language written in the 1800's:
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/bellX15.htm

Answer 2

Before language we thought in pictures, colors, sounds, random bits of information; through the use of our senses, and instinct.
We were free from the 'self', and from time and space, in a sense. These concepts had little meaning to us.

If you think about something abstract that has no 'word' associated with it; it is almost impossible to express. You try to find a word that would suit it (well enough) to what you are really thinking or feeling.

This 'feeling/picture' that you have is the truest form of a thought or idea.
With no language, all we had were inexpressible things we could see in our minds eye; but no real way to 'communicate' them. In the context of how we use the term ‘communicate’ today.
Over time as we evolved, communication with the others around us; became more important. Not just important, but a necessity for survival.
So we developed language, to have a melding of thoughts and ideas that others could relate to.

A person thinks in words, because they were taught that words are how people think and communicate. If a person was never taught (words/language) they wouldn’t think in words.

My question is: How much would our existence be different, if we had developed a different form of communication from the beginning?

I think that before language, we had a kind of 'psychic link' with others; a more oneness. For one, there was no precedent as to what we were capable of or not. I truly believe that at one point we were much closer to others than we are now (with language).
Words do not fully express all that we think and feel. It is just a form of consensus; a general accumulation of what others decided would be the basis of this 'new communication'. And when communicating words to others, words are never entirely accurate. How do you know if the words that person used were what they were really thinking or feeling?
I digress….

Answer 3

The adaptations required took place over many millions of years. The first important one was left-sided specialisation of the neural apparatus controlling involuntary emotional vocalisations that began more than 200 million years ago.

The next was the development in primates of "mirror neurones" in the pre-motor cortex some 45 million years ago. These enabled the imitation and voluntary control of previously involuntary manual gestures and vocalisations.

The third important adaptation was the descent of the larynx, 100,000 years ago, which greatly increased the phonological range of vocalisations that could be made.

Thus, language did not develop all at once, but evolved gradually building upon adaptations originally meeting quite different needs.

Answer 4

I have one particular strong memory as a child when I could not verbally communicate. Most people remember sitauations that are different, or traumatic. When I was still in my crib..........(this was nothing traumatic just different)........ My parents fell into the traditional family roles. My father worked and was gone at law school most of the time, and my mother was a stay at home mom. For some reason this night was very different. I was a baby, and I still slept in my crib. My dad (instead of my mother) began to rock me to sleep. I remember feeling comforted, and I remember being excited that my dad was there. I couldn't talk, but I was determined to stay awake. I remember knowing the minute I fell asleep my dad would not be there when I woke up. I remember the dark and him holding me. I remember staring, and I remember fighting to stay awake. I remember waking upin my crib in the dark to hearing his footsteps softly walking away. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs inside of my crib, and he walked back in the room to rock me again. I remember again fighting to stay awake, and waking up to light the next day. I remember then looking for my father. That is all I remember about that. I know this may seem weird, but it is a memory I have always had. It is my earliest memory. Other than that, most of my memories start at about four. I have a few other memories at the age of three. I don't know how I processed my thoughts when I couldn't verbally communicate, but I remember thinking.

Answer 5

Comfort and discomfort.
Pleasure and displeasure.
We didn't have words for these feelings but we sure FELT them.
If we approved--we smiled and cooed.
Disapproved---screamed and pouted.

Time?
It was time for WHATever WHENever we wanted or needed it , be it sleep,food,play or Mommy.We cried until the big people figured out what it was that we wanted or needed even if we didn't know what it was ourselves.We just weren't happy and somebody needed to come up with a resolution ASAP. Babies are naturally selfish , didn't you know? That's why they are so cute and cuddly so that they are loved anyway :)

Answer 6

As babies, I think we thought solely in images. We didn't have names for things, but we knew what they were. It's that way to some degree now- you know your friend's face before you go "Hey, that's Charlie!". Since we couldn't speak, we cried until someone figured it out.
I think time didn't matter (a minute away from Mom and Mom beng gone for hours is the same to a one year old) and deduction wasn't so much deduction as memorization from repetition (kids can watch a movie/play a game/ hear a song a number of times that drive adults insane.) Association was how the environment was judged- if it was fun, tasted good or was nice to us, it was good. If it tried to hurt us or it tasted bad, it was bad. Before your frontal cortex develops enough for you speak (and do all abstract reasoning), that's all you can do

Answer 7

until now language, human beings "concept" like animals.. each little thing replaced into in line with instinct, not something greater, not something much less. "Survival". The spark that ignited our actual intelligence replaced into the day human beings discovered to communicate. regardless of created that spark is an entire nother question :) yet as quickly as language(sounds made via the mouth that have been, in turn, understood via others or thy self) replaced into presented, we developed right into a clean age of enlightenment.. greater "complicated" concepts(intellegence/creativity/individ... thoughts/and so on and so on..) have been presented to humanity. good question ^_^ VEry interesting

Answer 8

Contrary to popular belief, words are not primarily tools of communication, but rather tools of cognition... In the terms we understand today, we didn't think...

For a full demonstration of this argument read, "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" - Ayn Rand

Answer 9

Just like chimps. Simple concepts,no ability to transmit them,hence limited intellectual development. Physical skills could be taught,but not ideas.

Answer 10

Ferally.