Language as an Instrument of Thought | B.Ed Notes

language as an instrument of thought

There are many theories regarding the influences and relation between language and thought. As a method of fact, when we introspect, we seem to realize that we think in the language that we speak. The use of language is not only confined to it being the medium through which we communicate to our ideas to one another. It also fulfills an important function as an instrument of thought, not merely being its vehicle but giving it wings for flight. Almost all of our intellectual operations are carried of with the agency of worlds. language exercise an immense influence in promoting the development of our ideas, infixing them in the mind and in detaining them for steady contemplation.

Language is also an essential element in the process of reasoning. Words are the instruments by which we form all our abstractions, by which we fashion our ideas and by which we are able to glide among with a rapidity so great that we leave no trace of the successive steps of the process and we remains unconscious to the fact that we owe much to the potential of the reasoning faculty. Words are like tools under which the mind reduces the crude masses of its impression into clear and valid propositions.

language as an instrument of thought

Language is an instrument and the ideas are the focal point of education, but how well we expresses our ideas depends on how well we have mastered the language.

In the first place, if we are passionate about the subject matter, it helps to improve the communication process.

Secondly, if we know the subject matter well, it enhances the communication process.

Thirdly, if we speak from the heart and less from the paper, it improves the communication process.

Finally, if we have a desire to learn the native language and make a sincere effort to use it when we can, it enhances the communication process. 

Passion and knowledge are powerful agents of the communication process. Our ideas become incarnate in our words and we must make sure that we use our words to the best of our ability and that they match our passion and knowledge.

Human beings communicates with one another using a wide variety of languages, easch different from the others in numerous ways. But the question is do the languages we speak shape the way we see the worlds, the way we think and the way we live our lives?

language as an instrument of thought

Do people who speak different languages think differently? Does learning new language change the way we think? Such questions have proved to be controversial and have been a source of deliberation among philosophers, psychologists and linguists for a long time. The idea that language might shape thought was considered to be wrong. But language is a unique human gift and appreciation. It’s role in constructing our mental life bring us one step closer to understanding the very nature of human being.

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