Discussion 8 Language and Cognition

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Florida International University *

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MISC

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Linguistics

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Apr 27, 2024

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docx

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3

Uploaded by AgentElk4368 on coursehero.com

Discussion 8: Language and Cognition There is no way to disprove that language and cognition are intrinsically linked. Even the most private of our thoughts are spoken via language. There are a significant number of distinct languages spoken around the globe. Furthermore, the environment and how people interact socially vary from one location to the next, which in turn influences how people think. When we consider professional language and the languages of various professions, we find each one is like a microcosm of language. This is because the requirements and objectives of each work environment are distinct, which in turn causes a shift in the worker's way of thinking and their use of language. I found it quite interesting to observe how much language affects cognition, particularly when considering that it is more than just our ability to understand language. According to Boroditski (2011), people all over the globe interact with one another using an outstanding variety of languages, roughly 7,000 in total, and each language needs completely different things from its speakers. Furthermore, Boroditsky (2011) also stated that different languages pass on different cognitive skills, such as knowing which direction a person is facing, how one's writing directions influence how one organizes time, how one remembers events, and how one learns new things. Environment, society, and needs all contribute to the formation of languages. Wolf and Holmes (2010) mentioned that linguistic relativity claims that people who speak various languages have distinct ways of thinking. This idea is also applicable in the professional setting, where the disparity in environment and purpose affects not only the way people communicate but also the way they think. Both Marian and Shook (2012) and Bialystok et al., (2012) note the fact that knowing more than one language may change the structure of a person's brain to the point where growth,
productivity, and decline are less destructive and slower compared to those who only know one language. Many features come from various languages that can improve the way things are done, but the same features also have the potential to have downsides. The fact that different languages have different words for things that resemble the same but have nothing to do with each other, along with the fact that individual languages have different rules for assigning grammatical gender to their words, both contribute to a breakdown in language communication (Wolff & Holmes, 2010). There are also disagreements about knowledge of motion, color, numbers, spatial analogies, and classifications with diverse languages; speakers of these languages perceive these topics differently due to the varied methods in which they were taught (Wolff & Holmes, 2010). By studying the brain and how it responds to different stimuli, we can better understand which brain regions are involved with how individuals interpret language, particularly those fluent in more than one language, and improve people's cognitive abilities concerning communication using this information. Learning to speak a language uniquely contributes to its own set of mannerisms, cultures, and settings, all of which may be better understood with the assistance of the expertise of a person who is fluent in each of the examined languages. References: Bialystok,   E., Craik,   F.   I., & Luk,   G. (2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain.   Trends in Cognitive Sciences ,   16 (4), 240-250.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001 Boroditsky,   L. (2011). How language shapes thought.   Scientific American ,   304 (2), 62- 65.   https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0211-62 Marian, V., & Shook, A. (2012). The cognitive benefits of being bilingual.   Cerebrum: The Dana forum on brain science ,   2012 , 13.
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