How Language Shapes the Way We Think
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| Language is an astonishing gift that lets us share ideas across time and space. (📷:tasminnews) |
Language is a unique human gift: it lets us express ideas across vast distances and generations. By uttering a sentence like “Imagine a jellyfish dancing in a library”, a person instantly places a vivid, never-before-seen image into another’s mind. But this power raises a profound question: does language merely label the world around us, or does it actually shape how we see that world? Charlemagne once said “To have a second language is to have a second soul”, implying that language creates a new identity. Shakespeare’s Juliet replied, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, suggesting that words may not alter reality. These contrasting ideas capture the age-old debate. Only in recent decades have scientists begun to test this question. As Boroditsky notes, “until recently, there wasn’t any data to help us decide either way.” Now, experiments are showing that the structure and vocabulary of our native language can indeed guide our thinking. In the sections that follow, we survey key findings from experiments on how language shapes cognition.
Language and Reality
This issue is often framed as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which proposes that our mother tongue influences the way we think. In the 1940s, linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf famously argued that if a language has no word for something, its speakers will find that concept harder to grasp. He highlighted differences in what various languages must convey. Although Whorf’s strongest claims were later debated, modern researchers have taken a more nuanced stance. Today’s studies suggest that our native language habitually guides which concepts we notice. In other words, language tends to direct our attention to certain ideas even if it doesn’t strictly limit our imagination.
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| (📷:empowervmedia) |
Spatial Orientation and Time
Language can dramatically affect how we think about space. English speakers give directions with terms like “left” and “right”, but some languages use absolute directions. For example, the Kuuk Thaayorre people of Australia never say “left” or “right”; they describe location using cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Every conversation specifies a compass bearing. Because of this habit, Kuuk Thaayorre speakers develop an “internal compass”. Researchers find that these speakers rarely lose orientation and can pinpoint directions effortlessly, as if they had magnets in their heads. Language also shapes how we visualise time. English speakers typically map timelines from left to right (our writing direction), while Hebrew or Arabic speakers map them right to left. In remarkable experiments, Kuuk Thaayorre participants placed events in chronological order from east to west (the sun’s path) regardless of their seating orientation. These findings show that linguistic and cultural conventions (like writing direction and spatial language) influence how people mentally organise space and time.
Numbers and Counting
The presence (or absence) of number words in a language can alter numerical cognition. Many cultures have exact counting systems, but some do not. The Pirahã language of the Amazon has no words for exact quantities. It only has terms like “hói” (meaning “one” or “a few”) and “hoÔ (roughly “two”), plus a word for “many.” As a result, Pirahã speakers can indicate small quantities but struggle with exact matching or counting beyond very small numbers. In fact, one experiment found that Pirahã speakers used their “two” word for five or six objects and their “one” word for one-to-four objects, confirming these terms are not exact counts. Gibson noted, “It is often assumed counting is an innate part of human cognition, but here is a group that does not count”. These experiments suggest that number words are a powerful cognitive tool. As Boroditsky explains, having a counting system is crucial: “if you don’t count, you can’t do algebra.” Without terms for “seven” or “fifty,” advanced math and technology are essentially impossible. In short, the vocabulary for numbers in a language can open or close the door to precise mathematics and systematic thinking.
Colours and Perception
Language can even tune our perception of colours. All humans see the same light spectrum, but languages carve it into categories differently. Russian, for example, has distinct basic words for light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy), whereas English uses a single category “blue”. Because Russian speakers habitually label these shades as different colours, their brains become highly attuned to that boundary. Experiments show that Russian speakers are faster than English speakers at distinguishing a light blue from a dark blue. Brain imaging confirms this: Russian speakers’ brains exhibit a sharp response when the colour passes the goluboy–siniy boundary, a reaction not seen in English speakers. These findings suggest that language categories can shape even fundamental aspects of sensory perception.
Grammatical Gender and Imagery
Many languages assign grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, etc.) to nouns, even inanimate objects. This seemingly arbitrary feature can influence thought in subtle ways. In experiments, German and Spanish speakers (both bilingual in English) described English nouns that have opposite genders in their other language. For example, “bridge” is feminine in German (die Brücke) but masculine in Spanish (el puente). German speakers (for whom Brücke is feminine) tended to describe a bridge as “beautiful”, “elegant”, and “fragile” whereas Spanish speakers (for whom puente is masculine) used “long”, “strong”, and “sturdy”. In fact, researchers found that bilingual participants listed adjectives in English that aligned with each noun’s gender in their native language. Such results hint that grammatical features can subtly influence the imagery and qualities we attribute to objects in the world.
Events, Agency, and Memory
Language also affects how we recount events, which in turn influences memory and blame. Consider an accident: English speakers often say “He broke the vase”, implying an agent even if the act was unintentional. Speakers of languages like Spanish or Japanese would more likely say “The vase broke” or “It broke itself”, leaving out any mention of a human agent. This difference in phrasing has measurable effects. In one cross-linguistic study, English and Spanish speakers watched the same accidental event. English-speaking witnesses (hearing “He broke the vase”) later remembered the actor more clearly than Spanish speakers did. Similarly, when subjects read descriptions of an accident, those given an active phrasing blamed the perpetrator more – one study found participants fined the actor 53% more when the report said “he tore the car” instead of “the car tore”. These experiments show that language frames not only our descriptions but also our memories and judgements of events.
The Beauty and Tragedy of Linguistic Diversity
Together, these examples reveal the astonishing beauty of linguistic diversity. Every language offers its speakers a unique lens on reality. As Boroditsky reminds us, “Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000”, one for each living language. Each tongue’s categories and expressions train its community to notice different aspects of the world, showcasing how flexible and creative human cognition can be. At the same time, this diversity is fragile. About one language dies every week, and experts warn that roughly half of today’s languages could vanish within a century. Each disappearing language takes a unique worldview with it. Boroditsky also notes that almost all psychological research to date has focused on Western undergraduates, leaving the vast majority of humanity’s languages and cognitive habits unexplored.
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| Language is a unique human gift. (📷:thoughtco) |
The evidence from cognitive science is clear: the particular language we speak does shape the way we think in many meaningful ways. Our native language guides our attention to space, time, numbers, colours, and events, influencing even our memories and social judgements. This does not mean people are prisoners of their mother tongue (humans can learn new languages and gain fresh perspectives). But it does mean that each language leaves a subtle fingerprint on its speakers’ worldview. In Boroditsky’s words, the answer to whether language shapes thought is a “resounding yes”. Embracing this helps us appreciate other languages, question our own assumptions, and become more mindful, creative thinkers.
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