interesting

[magicicada]

cislyn pointed me towards a very useful article on the Piraha indians.

Under Whorf's theory, people are only capable of constructing thoughts for which they possess actual words. In other words: Because they have no words for numbers, they can't even begin to understand the concept of numbers and arithmetic.

if there was ever a way to describe why everyone should learn a second language, this is it. this is why i study french. this is why my daughter will be learning spanish. learning a new language enables new thoughts which would be difficult or impossible to form without the words to express them.

Discuss.

Comments

[knobody.livejournal.com]

but english has more words than any other language. that's why we amerkins are all so smart! we have the most thoughts!

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

most potential for thought doesn't equal most thoughts ;).