Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Guy Mandude
And I'd like to suggest that though the Thai dictionary may be shorter, this does not mean that Thais experience anything less profoundly than a native English speaker. Anyone care to make the argument for linguistic determinism?
|
That's a really interesting question Guy. Kudos for bringing it up. I've had a few conversations about exactly this topic over the years.
I tend to think that words help us to define, qualify, categorize, organize, and otherwise make sense of the enourmous range of sensory inputs we are bombarded with.
I further think that when we have no words to describe an experience, though the experience may well be profound, it unfortunately is also difficult to make sense of, and thus the experience loses some of it's meaning.
In this way, I think that the greater the complexity of an individual's language the greater the complexity of meaning can be found in his or her experiences.
These are my thoughts - no evidence, no quotes, no studies - just impressions and gut feelings.