Does the Language You Speak Change How You Think?

[00:00] the government is trying to force Britain, a constructed language that would end "thought-crime". to form ideas that could challenge the ruling Party

[00:15] by taking away the words to think them with. the idea that the language you speak determines how you can think. Because it's… well, it's not really a thing.

[00:29] because it's associated with Benjamin Lee Whorf, They weren't the first, the last, or the loudest linguists to

[00:41] to a hypothesis about it together. and vice versa, but no more than that. linguistic determinism in its strong form,

[00:55] Determinism, the "strong" version, is a popular trope in fiction, Which is where it belongs! The film Arrival made it a major plot point and actually name-checked it.

[01:09] "can actually rewire your brain?" The short story it's based on is much better. Linguistic determinism is not taken very seriously by the linguistics community,

[01:25] Either by attending a Philosophy 101 course, or just thinking about the phrase, "I wish I could find the words to explain how I feel." But the weak form, linguistic relativism, is much more broadly accepted.

[01:38] It is a difficult and messy thing to test for and prove, though. has no word for "privacy", That might be true,

[01:51] but that wouldn't be language limiting the way you think, There have been studies that show things like: are more likely to describe a key as 'jagged', 'rough', and 'hard',

[02:07] would be more likely to use 'golden' or 'intricate'. But when other researchers tried to replicate that study,

[02:19] which is something that keeps happening And besides, it's very difficult to tease apart Even if that result is true, which it's probably not…

[02:33] is the gendered language the cause, or the effect? different languages, not cultures, affect the brain. of the languages we speak.

[02:47] are two different words, platter and rhythm, based on the aspiration, that air that comes out. it's not passed down deliberately to children.

[03:04] your brain will hear it automatically and unconsciously. That's a pretty clear way that languages impact thought.

[03:16] It's not like it's changing your understanding of the world. to affect the categories in your head,

[03:28] particularly for abstract concepts, rather than actual physical things. Emotions do get categorized In English, we can use the same word for two different feelings.

[03:44] do they mean "crying in the corner" Those are both sad But even if a child only knows the word "sad",

[03:58] they've not heard of "despondent' or 'listless' or 'morose' or 'ennui', grieving the devastating loss of their cartoonishly large lollipop Having the different words is really helpful for expressing yourself,

[04:14] but they don't determine your ability to feel emotions. in English those are all basically translated as 'love' to explain all those feelings and emotions,

[04:31] and we can communicate them without knowing Ancient Greek. Until recently, English did not have a word for but we still definitely experienced it

[04:44] So the simple answer to the question is: no. it might make some things easier to explain, bringing down the government by changing their language is,

[05:01] And if you want even more linguistics, my co-author Gretchen McCulloch The link is on screen and in the description.