A Brief Analysis of the Relationship between Thought and Language

Wang Dan

【Abstract】There are many disputes about the relationship between language and thought. Being a classical theory in the field of linguistics， the relationship between language and thought has been drawing the attentions of linguistics， psychologists and sociologists to carry out a deal of debates. This paper tries to conclude all kinds of opinions about the relationship between language and thought from different scholars， then come up with personal ideas after analyzing one by one in detail.

【Key words】language； thought； disputes； relationship

1. Introduction

The relationship between language and thought has been a matter of controversy for quite a long time. Language and thought are closely related to each other and mutually dependent. Without language， thought would not be formed， would have no form of existence， and would not be possible to be known to others； without thought， language would be nothing but sounds with no meaning or content. Because of the complexity of the relationship between language and thought， the different methods and theoretical background of it， different scholars hold different theories and views on the relationship between language and thought.

2. Theory of independence

The scholars who support the theory of independence believe that thought can exist prior to the language. That is thought can exist independently before the producing of language， and after the producing of language， there are still thought without the participation of language. The thought can be expressed by the other forms except the language（such as a painting painted by a painter， a song composed by a musician， a dress designed by a girl， etc.）. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato was the first person to put forward this point， he regarded the thought as a kind insight which can not be said through words. As what we often say that you may feel it but can not tell it.British philosopher John Locke（1997） was the follower of this point， he believed that the source of human knowledge was caused by the abstract thought from outside world， rather than language.

The deaf and aphasia can provide the most powerful examples for the above point. They can not say any words， but they are be able to live like a normal person. The lack of language did not influence them to know and transform the world， which proved that they can express and transfer information to the outside world without using language.

3. Theory of sequence

3.1 Thought is prior to language

This point originated in the 1980s， put forward by Piaget. He believed that language and thought were heterogeneous， thought were produced earlier than language and language was controlled by thought. Language only was the tool serving for thought， and it could be used to organize thought so that people communicate with each other.

Thought was the instinct of human. Piaget pay attention to childrens cognitive development， and put it into four stages： Sensorimotor stage， Pre-operational stage， Concrete operations stage and formal Operations stage. During the Sensorimotor stage（0--2）， we can see such a situation： a child who dose not begin speaking can think through shape， color and sound， he or she can express his or her desire through crying， laughing and dancing. For example， he or she would stretch his or her hand catch what he or she want when he or she see it. Therefore， Piaget thought that thought should be prior to language.

In our real life， writing articles or making a speech all need an early process to think， which is a phenomenon that thought is prior to language. And Engelss point that labor creates language also illustrates that language was created after thought.

3.2 Language is prior to thought

French philosopher Wendeles insisted that human actively control thought through language. He also believed that human could not consciously think without language， and it is the language makes human use the ability which is given by nature to think.

However in the pre-language stage， the thought of human was enslaved to their physiological function and the surrounding environment， rather than thought. And he believed that the initial language of human might be purely emotional， rather than ideaistic. According to this， we can see that the savages should be no memory， and so-called memory is just some illusion which is made up of their free imagination.

In fact， language is a proprietary treasure of human mind， the animal calls is purely an emotional release， it can not equal to the language used by human.

4. Theory of determinism

4.1 Thought determines language

Piaget sees thought driving on language. Piaget concludes that the thoughts of children come from the motion not from the language by the analysis of development stages of the children thoughts.

In Piaget's view， language development is related to cognitive development， that is， the development of the childs thinking determines when the child can learn to speak and what the child can say. For example， before a child can say， “This car is bigger than that one”， he/she must have developed the ability to judge differences in size. Children learn to talk ‘naturally when they are ‘ready without any deliberate teaching by adults.

4.2 Language determines thought

According to the concept of linguistic determinism，every language is a special view of the world in which most powerful evidence is Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The most important content of this Hypothesis is language determines thought. Whorf presented his evidence from his comparison between Eskimo and English. There are more than 400 kinds of description about snow in Eskimo， such as apun（snow on the ground） ，qanikca（hard snow on the ground） ，utak（block of snow）， etc. While there is only one description about snow in English， it is snow. Thus linguistic structure determines cognitive structure.

5. My view on the relationship between language and thought

5.1 Thought plays a leading role in language

Linguist Sapir said that language is a symbol system which can be used to express thoughts and feelings. That is to say， the sole purpose of language is to communicate. If we have no desire to communicate， we do not need language. In order to understand the thoughts of others or let others know your thoughts， you need language to express so that make others feel the authenticity of thoughts， which is so-called “language is the direct reality of thought”（Max 1950-1960）. In terms of the whole process of thinking， language is just a kind of tool to pass information. The content of thinking can be expressed through language， and the content of expression is determined by the thinking content and form. Different people will have different forms of understanding and expression for the same thing. What people create， especially new vocabulary is also a representation that thought plays a leading role in language.

5.2 Language promotes the development of thought

Bruno hold that the language training can facilitate the development of cognition. In the process of thinking， language plays a clear and ordinary role， especially in abstract thinking， it is more important， it can make thought more clear and incisive. The abstract thinking is a kind of form reflecting the objective world， it makes people to know the objective law and use it to transform the world to serve for the whole society.To make the abstract thinking produces greater power， people have to communicate ideas and experiences with each other， to make abstract concept can be understood. Language as an important tool to communicate not only can share personal thoughts， and make it become the collective wisdom， and can be handed down from generation to generation， constantly enrich and continuous development. We can get from the aspects of language teaching， such as early European， Latin learning occupies the important position in language teaching. Learning Latin is not used for the purpose of communication， but because of teachers think that the Latin is very strong logical language. They hope learners would improve their logic thinking ability through learning Latin. We can see that， therefore， Language promote the development of thought.

Conclusion： Although the relationship between language and thought is complex and inseparable.Because the two are essentially unified， interdependence， mutual conversion of each other. People express the thought， convey information by using language. Language and thought interact， influence and shape each other. They are seen as the two parts of a whole. Where there is thought， there is language， and vice versa.

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