Thought and Language

Thought and Language In the field of linguistic theory, the relation between thought and language is still an emerging topic of discussion. Different linguists and psychologists stand on different views and continued their argument to define this relation whether they are interdependent or independent. Broad categories of views are present and converging theories are yet to be gained. The two extreme thought school concerning the relationship between language and thought are commonly referred to as Mould theories and Cloak theories. According to the mould theory, language constructs our thought and they are interwoven in such a way that all people are equally being affected by the confines of their language. People can be considered as mental prisoners as they are unable to think in any other way which the language he speaks does not support. The cloak theory casts a different view and described language as a cloak conforming to the customary categories of though of its speaker. In this theory, language considered only as a media to express our thoughts just like the way we can use our physical movement to represent what we are feeling. Language do not control our way of perceiving things and we imagine our world in the way we like to. There is also a middle stand between this two which also popular in the linguistic theory. Without following the extreme, this view explains that language and thought is related but a flexible sense. Sometimes language drives our thought process and again sometime we construct the language with our thoughts. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, named after the American linguist Edward Sapir and Bejamin Lee Whorf is classified as mould theory of language. In 1929, Sapir presented his belief that the possible range of human behavior is controlled by the language he speaks. It is totally dependent on the vocabulary exist in the specific language we are part of. This hypothesis is known as the strong form of Sapirs Hypothesis. It also mentioned that as different languages have different structures, barrier free communication between cross-cultural groups is impossible as they will never able to think in the same way as they are bounded by different language. After reviewing the two extreme theories of linguistic reality, I stand somewhere between the two .I think, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis cannot be totally denied but cannot be accepted fully. There are numerous arguments which support Sapir and also cross out the hypothesis. With a deep analysis of the different views and considering the examples from real world around me, I came to the conclusion that the relation between the language and thought is a continued process. Language instructs our thought and we often directed by the way our language constructs perceive the world. For example, in our country when we say the word Pohela Boishakh, it automatically spells a magic of festivity in everyones mind. It is the Bengali New Year and now this language construct evolved in such a way that it is now motivating the thought process of the people of our country. We are getting bound to think by this word. But it is also true in the other way around. The creative minds come out with thousan ds of innovative ideas and directing the language evolution. People growing up in the same surrounding and speaking the same language can possess different thoughts and communicate different ideas which contradict with Sapirs Hypothesis. So, I am more influenced by the theory that language and speech can be though of as two intersecting circles. In their overlapping parts, thought and speech coincide to produce what is called verbal thought. Verbal thought, however, does not by any means include all forms of thought or all forms of speech. There is a vast area of thought that has no direct relation to speech. The thinking manifested in the use of tools belongs in this area, as does practical intellect in general. Furthermore, investigations by psychologists of the Wrzburg School have demonstrated that thought can function without any word images or speech movements detectable through self-observation. While discussing about the topic with my group mates Dana Satriya and Sharad, I encountered different fabrics of thought in them. Dana came from Indonesia and Sharad from India. In Danas opinion thought is an act of verbal. He seems to support Sapirs Hypothesis and mentioned that we the media informatics students came from different parts of the world. Though in Germany, we can be considered as a community but we have distinct thought process and it will eventually act as a barrier while we communicate with each other. And this distinct thoughts are somewhat influenced by the different language constructs we belong to. In some stage, I will not be able to express my inner feelings to Dana in a full sense as his language construct does allow him to think and follow my thoughts. Sharad being as an Indian got an opportunity to experience wide range of cultures and community in his country. He also agreed that language has some influence over the people as he has seen different concepts and views among the people using different language. In my opinion, it is necessary to take into account the close relationship which exists between language and thinking. Most commonly accepted idea about language and speech is that they are the way of expressing the internal thought process of an individual. People express what they feel with the means of language and speech. However, the construction of language is not evolved in a uniform way among all the people. Living in different context makes people from different parts of the world to perceive reality in different manner. The social and environmental context influence their way of living and thought. Due to perceiving the context in different ways, their use of words depends on that particular context. From generation to generation, the language is evolved while keeping the relation with social reality. As an example, in my country, Bangladesh, the landscape is flat and people live on farming. Therefore, large part of the thought process is based on the agricultural activitie s and have special part of language constructs generated to explain this process. Eventually, the new generations grow up with the special language constructs related to agriculture which influence their thought process according to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, describing the process of language influencing the thought process. However, I think it is not in that strong way according the hypothesis that language constructs the thought. It is clearly evident that Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was built on a partially viewed concept. Whorf analyzed several examples of Native American Language, Hopi, to support his hypothesis, which state that thought is strongly based on language. According to Whorf, the Hopi language does not contain any words, grammatical constructions, or expressions that refer to the English concept of time. He goes on to explain that it is possible in the Hopi language to express the world or reality in ways other than what many languages refer to as time. The Hopi view of reality is specific to the language and can only be best expressed if one is familiar with the language. In this example where Whorf feels language strongly influences thought, he is often criticized with circularity because he infers cognitive differences between two speakers from an examination of their respective languages, (Hopi and English). His proof of cognitive differences is only based on reiteration of the linguistic differ ences. But several other studies were done which supports the hypothesis including the research on perception of color in English compared with a small tribe from Papua New Guinea called Berinmo. However, I personally contradict to some extent with the basic idea of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. It is not entirely ignorable that language has some influence on the thought process, although it is not the only mean which drive our thoughts. It can only be considered a little part of a much bigger paradigm. As an example, we can consider the example of infants, who is yet to talk. However, it is widely accepted that children go through thought process before they even learn to talk. According to Piaget, every child has two different thought processes which are directed and undirected. Piaget says, Directed thought is conscious, i.e., it pursues an aim which is present to the mind of the thinker; it is intelligent, which means that it is adapted to reality and tries to influence it; it admits of being true or false (empirically or logically true), and it can be communicated by language. Autistic thought is subconscious, which means that the aims it pursues and the problems it tries to solve are not present in consciousness; it is not adapted to reality, but creates for itself a dream world of imagination; it tends, not to establish truths, but to satisfy desires, and it remains strictly individual and incommunicable as such by means of language. On the contrary, it works chiefly by images, and in order to express itself, has recourse to indirect methods, evoking by means of symbols and myths the feeling by which it is led. Therefore, this autistic thought is not influenced by languages and is evolved separately by the complex mental process. Same inference can be drawn for the physically retarded groups who can not speak and hear, but have their own thought process development of which is not blocked by any linguistic constructs. Language is not the driver of thoughts but thought can eventually result in language. Poets and laureates often enrich us with new and innovative language constructs to materialize their thoughts. So, in this case they are generating language with their thoughts. But there is always the other side of the coin. Language often acts as the catalyst for thought. If someone says a bitter word in a language which I dont know, it will not affect me. But if I am familiar with the word, it will certainly scatter some effect on my thought process and I will react over it. So, there are obviously many thought processes in individual which can only be motivated and initiated by the linguistic reality and not in any other way. In this context we can refer to George Lakoffs argument that language is often used metaphorically and that different languages use different cultural metaphors that reveal something about how speakers of that language think. For example English employs metaphors linkening time with money, whereas other languages may not talk about time in that fashion.So absence of language construct inhibiting the way of their thinking about time in the same way as English people do. So, the basic idea we infer from the above discussion that language and thought continuously move back and forth from thought to language and language to thought. Language helps us to think with a specific point of view and thought again develop the language. And thought is not only being expressed in words, it also comes into existence through them. Every thought relates one object to another and it moves, grows and develops, executes function and solves problem. This flow of thought occurs as inner movement which can be based on language and can also be without language. Bibliography Lev Vygotsky (1986) Thought and Language (newly revised and edited by Alex Kozulin) Ekkehart Malotki (1983) Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 20 Hopi Time Thomas Tsoi The Relation between Language and Thought http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/language/whorf.html http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/whorf.html http://www.angelfire.com/journal/worldtour99/sapirwhorf.html http://www.usingenglish.com/speaking-out/language-thought-sapirwhorf.html http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm !Content ends here!>

My Country Armenia :: History

My Country Armenia Everybody loves to go to different places.On weekends people enjoy going out of town.I like to visit my country Armenia. You and your freinds are going to take a trip to Armenia. Armenia is a small European country that was part of the Soviet Union. However, you will have to make some preparations and do some research so as to make the best of use of your time and money.So, my country Armenia has a lot of interesting and attractive places to visit for tourist. Now I want to introduce some of the beautiful places in my country Armenia. They are Yerevan, Echmiadzin and Lake Sevan. One fantastic place to visit in my country is Yerevan. Yerevan, the capital of Armenia is a big and beautiful city. It has a population of about one million people; also, it is a mixture of ancient old, and new. Yerevan was built on tragedy and dreams. The heart of Yerevan of the city is Republic Square. In the centre of the square towering over it stands a magnificent building. It houses the Museum of History of Armenia and the National Art Gallery. They are all built in the style of national architecture. In front of the National Gallery there is a beautiful fountain where the townspeople like to walk in hot summer evenings. This fountain is continued by a series of fountains in the park across the square. Also, Republic Square is the hub of major avenue and streets. The city is climb to the top of the hills, you will see a sweeping panorama. One of them is the Swallow's Fortress park. In the same park you can see the pride of the townspeople-Sports and Concert gall that graces the hill. It is a modern construction latest in architecture. Moreover, the cultural centre of the city is Theatre square on the site of which Opera-House is located. It is an impressive building with a beautiful collonade. The Opera-House overlooks a green are of parks, too. In one of the parks of Yerevan in a quiet corner is the Pantheon of the distingnished people of Armenia. In addition, Yerevan is a city of students. There are more than 20 higher educational institutions. Above all, Yerevan is a very hospitable city. Nowhere in the world you find such traditions of receiving guests as in Transcaucasia. Another fantastic place to visit in my country Armenia is Echmiadzin.

Negative Effects of Classism

Negative Effects Of Classism Have you ever been judged by the way you look or act? How about just for your income? Social classes have existed for many centuries, whether you are rich or poor, there has always been a large group of people who share a similar economic and/or social position. In society, citizens are put into classes based upon their income, wealth, property ownership, and job status. When citizens are put into a â€Å"class† whether it is high or low, it affects their way of life.For example; when the working class feels like they’re not good enough, it might be because someone in the higher class is acting ignorant or superior towards the lower class. When citizens are not treated equally due to their social status, this is called â€Å"classism. † As you may know classism is professed throughout all classes whether you’re a working class, middle class, or even a higher class. For starters, in an American society,  classism  is usually pointed in the direction of the â€Å"working class† as having the disadvantage.The â€Å"working class† is the lowest social group of people. They are employed for only minimum wage in manual or industrial work. Although our system in the U. S. is designed to allow mobility between social classes, discrimination against the lower classes is still perceived by the higher class. The higher class considers the â€Å"working class† as unreliable or lethargic workers who don’t want to put any effort in achieving in their life goals. Believing this way might be because of their background or where they come from.Secondly, many underclass citizens tend to be the most hardworking of all because every day they make just enough money to get by and that’s it. When working these low income jobs, it’s difficult to support a family and live life without the struggle of â€Å"money problems. † Most people in the working class didn’t pursue their life long goals or promotions in their lives because of their lack of motivation or dedication to succeeding. Most importantly, if the higher class didn’t have such misleading judgments on the â€Å"working class†, then maybe there wouldn’t be as much wrongful thoughts towards them.The middle class is a set of workers who are quite educated, wise, and overall more successful than the working class. The middle class is considered the average or the suitable of the three main classes, mostly because they make a much higher salary than the working class but not enough to be considered the higher class. The middle class is the majority of people in the United States. Occasionally the middle class consider thoughts and assumptions that the sociability of this country towards them are true which leads them to believe it and as well as act it out towards others.The reimbursements or the â€Å"benefits† of being in the middle class provide access to health care benefits such as Medicare or medicate, a home that’s stable enough to live in, a great secure job, as well as retirement security for the seniors of this class and most importantly many chances of a good education which comprises a college education as well. Since million of the households in this country are in the middle class, it’s hard to discriminate or judge against a class where a majority of the United States citizens in are in or close too.The â€Å"higher class† in America consists of people who have mostly inherited their money. Historically in some cultures, members of an upper class often did not have to work for a living, as they were supported by earned or inherited investments. The main distinguishing feature of upper class in the US is the ability to derive enormous  incomes  from  wealth  through techniques such as investment and money management, rather than engaging in wage-labor or salaried employment.Secondly, many unprincipled behaviors across the social classes have delivered a withering verdict on the upper echelons of society, studies have shown that privileged people behave consistently worse than others. For instance, in a range of situations the upper class has a greater tendency to lie, cheat, take things meant for others, not stop for pedestrians on crossings, and endorse unethical behavior. Most importantly, the upper and lower class individuals do not necessarily differ in terms of their capacity for unethical behavior, but rather in terms of their default tendencies toward it.In conclusion, classism will consist in all social classes’ whether it’s the higher class or lower class, people will make generalizations or stereotypes about other people in different classes because of their personal background, arrogances, and actions. Although there will always be different forms of oppression and prejudice, classism’s drastic income and wealth inequality and basic human needs te nd to go unmet. | |

Karl Marx - Capitalist Alienation Essay - 665 Words

Karl Marx - Capitalist Alienation THE TERM alienation in normal usage refers to a feeling of separateness, of being alone and apart from others. For Marx, alienation was not a feeling or a mental condition, but an economic and social condition of class society--in particular, capitalist society. Alienation, in Marxist terms, refers to the separation of the mass of wage workers from the products of their own labor. Marx first expressed the idea, somewhat poetically, in his 1844 Manuscripts: The object that labor produces, its product, stands opposed to it as something alien, as a power independent of the producer. Most of us own neither the tools and machinery we work with nor the products that we produce--they belong to the†¦show more content†¦Hence, Marx wrote, the worker feels himself only when he is not working; when he is working, he does not feel himself. He is at home when he is not working, and not at home when he is working. His labor is, therefore, not voluntary but forced, it is forced labor. It is, therefore, not the satisfaction of a need but a mere means to satisfy needs outside itself. Its alien character is clearly demonstrated by the fact that as soon as no physical or other compulsion exists, it is shunned like the plague. In capitalist production, goods are produced for the market in order to get a profit. What matters for the worker, as I’ve said, is that he or she gets an adequate amount for his or her labor. What is being produced is, in this sense, immaterial. It is also completely immaterial to the capitalists. So long as whatever they are making can find a market and be sold at a profit, they care not a whit whether they are selling pet rocks or bottled water. In this process, the capitalist sees the worker as merely a component of the production--a commodity (labor) to be squeezed as much as possible. Moreover, because the aim of production is profit rather than human need, the products of past labor--the machinery and materials, controlled by the capitalists--completely dominate living labor. Workers are literally slaves to the machine and the work process. It controls them, rather thanShow MoreRelated Karl Marx - Capitalist Alienation Essay709 Words   |  3 Pagesand a half ago, Karl Marx established a theory that today is known as the backbone to modern socialism and communism. Marx viewed the early capitalism of his own day as inherently exploitive. At the core of capitalist production is what is considered surplus value, the value left over after the producer (in Marx’s case, factory owner) had paid the fixed costs of production such as raw materials, machinery, overhead and wages. The left over amount was kept as profit, a profit that Marx saw that was earnedRead MoreEssay on Karl Marx and Capitalist Alienation1828 Words   |  8 Pages The concept of alienation plays a significant role in Marxs early political writing, especially in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1848, but it is rarely mentioned in his later works. This implies that while Marx found alienation useful in investigating certain basic aspects of the development of capitalist society, it is less useful in putting forward the predictions of the collapse of capitalism. The aim of this essay is to explain alienation, and show how it fits into the patternRead MoreKarl Marx s Theory Of Alienation Essay1686 Words   |  7 PagesSociologist Karl Marx concentrated deeply on economic problems and related these matters to social issues. 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Discuss the dimensions of this alienation in connection to Marx’s critique of capitalist society and comment on the contemporary relevance of this concept. Karl Marx is a critically renowned, prolific and revolutionary figure amongst historic academia and is considered to be one of the three founding fathers of Sociology. Working throughout the 19th century Marx’s work included the theory of ‘alienation’. Born in Germany, young Marx wasRead MoreEmile Durkheim vs. Karl Marx1689 Words   |  7 Pages------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Emile Durkheim vs. Karl Marx Durkheim vs. Marx Introduction: For so many years, authorities from each field have deliberated normative theories to explain what holds the society together. Almost each specialist, from structural functionalism, positivism and conflict theory perspective, had contributed their works trying to illustrate main problematic to our society. 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In some cultures your class could never be escaped in life, you had to wait for your next incarnation, while in other cultures the idea of wealth transcended a life and allowed for growth from one class to another. This is the reality of a capitalist society thatRead MoreKarl Marx, Alienation of Labor784 Words   |  4 PagesKarl Marx believed that there are four aspects of a mans alienation that occur in a capitalist society. The product of labor, the labor process, our fellow human beings, and human nature are the four specific aspects of alienation that occur in a capitalist society. Marx said that in the product of labor the worker is alienated from the object he produces because it is bought, owned and disposed of by someone else, the capitalist. In all societies people use their creative abilities to produce