Poet Shahril Nizam claims that in order to express himself, he must find the "right language." He is not referring to choosing between languages of different cultures, but rather the different languages within himself. Nizam claims that, “drawing and writing are just ways of externalising thoughts and ideas." He explains that sometimes it is difficult to be direct all of the time. He oscillates between feeling open with his writing and secretive, but by drawing he is able to subconsciously express his inner thoughts. Nizam says that by doing this he can express thoughts that he may not even understand, want to admit, or be aware of at the time. Drawing allows his mind to "disconnect", and to be "honest without revealing too much." The symbolism and imagery of his drawings are left open to the interpretation of the viewer and can mean different truths to different people.
This article reminded me of a discussion we had in class about what the language of the mind or thought is. We talked about how the language of thought can speak in words in multiple languages but also in pictures and images.
There are several theories describing what the language of thought entails. The Language of Thought Hypothesis explains thought as existing in a "mental language" sometimes called mentalase. The hypothesis explains that cognition is a computational process of mental representations. This cognition is different than spoken or written language and involves processing at a level involving conceptual information that is completely distinctive than the level of written symbols. The Language of Thought Hypothesis suggests that instead of being interpreted logically by mathematical structures, the language of the mind has more dimensions. In order to understand the language of thought, propositional attitudes (the attitudes the thinker has toward a subject or a claim) must be observed. Thinking involves much more complex understanding than a written sentence requires. The Language of Thought Hypothesis sees the language of the mind as being completely different than the language that a person speaks or writes.
There are several other theories behind the language of thought, such as the ideas of 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein believed that people who speak English think in the English language. Wittengenstein claimed that concepts that were nonfactual could not be expressed in language because they go beyond what can be thought of in the mind.
In considering mental language as being equvalent to a spoken or written language, it is also interesting to consider special cases such as deafness or aphasia. For example, those who are deaf cannot speak a language, yet still have thought. This may give evidence for some type of mental language that can be independent of a spoken language.
We have heard so many different ideas about what thought is and how it relates to our language. I am interested to hear opinions about this topic. Do you agree that the language we think in is the same as the language we speak? If we speak more than one language, can we then think in different languages? Or is our mental language really a "mentalase" in which we use a completely different process independent of our spoken language? Is this mentalase universal--do we all think in the same language?If it is a common "mentalase", why have some studies shown that different language can influence our thought processess in different ways? Can activities like drawing truly express the thought we are feeling inside, or is this a myth? Do people who say this just draw and then interpret what is drawn as being relative to their own reflections, or is drawing truly an outlet of the mind's language? Please comment :)
Links:
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/10/28/lifebookshelf/19286663&sec=lifebookshelf
http://accessingyourhigherself.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_thought
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/language-thought/
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/6s.htm
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2 comments:
Hey Autumn,
I find myself thinking in my native language most of the time when I am socializing. However, when I am in classes and I am thinking "academically" I think in English. Thus, I believe that some concepts can be explained better through the language you initially learned them in... This is a really interesting topic...
Agreeing with Crystal, I think this is a very intersting topic.
We're all bilingual, and I speak Korean and English.
Everytime I engage in a conversation with friends, I find myself speaking Konglish, a mixture of Korean and English, to express myself.
Because of this, I'm more comfortable hanging around Korean-Americans for they speak both languages and understand almost what I'm trying to say.
Sometimes, I like to express my thoughts through writing poems or short statements on my diary or other places. Although it may seem symbolic, it allows me to feel better for I feel as if my thoughts were written down on paper in a sense that I wanted to express.
Usually, I think in both of my languages though =)
It helps to keep both of my languages running. haah
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