Language is a marvelous tool, as the multitude of tongues attests. We in the Chihuahuan Desert Region are well aware of the diversity, regularly encountering various languages originating in both the Old World and the New. One question that philosophers have long argued is whether language is necessary for thought. The two extreme positions are that only the possession of language allows people to think, while the other argument holds that thought is independent of language; that language merely allows the communication of thoughts.
It's not unlikely that the real situation is somewhere between
these extremes, but recent findings indicate that the ability to think develops earlier
than does speech. A concept of tightness of fit is implicit in the Korean language, but
not in English. Long before they are able to speak, at about 5 months, babies
demonstrate the ability to distinguish tightly packed objects from loosely fit ones—an
ability retained in Korean but not integrated into the English language. Thus this
discrimination depends not on language, but the innate ability for thought independent
of speech.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.