a very interesting take, diamondback. i read the article, and i found it to also be a very interesting take.
unfortunately i dont have a readied link to provide here, but maybe try googling walter benjamin. many language theorists believe that thought IS language. im not necessarily talking about the classic spoken systems. in general language is thought to consist of two parts: a sign and a symbol. for the sake of not digressing too far from the original thread, let me briefly water it down here:
throughout our lives, our brains encounter stimuli through the filter of our senses. at first, our brains simply store the info. then we begin to categorize. finally we make judgments.
when we first look at a tree, there is just a sweltering collection of stimuli and no concrete object is stored in the brain. eventually, however, we distinguish the sensual data that constitutes tree from the data that constitutes sky and grass and flowers and so on. at this point, when we see a tree, our brain registers the collection of data as a sign. instead of processing every detail of the specific tree (which would make interpreting the rest of the world very time-consuming) we actually call forth information previously stored away for such an occasion. after the sign is created, we are able to produce a symbol that represents similar objects and transcendent definitions (for example, oak and maple and certain flow charts can be defined by the "tree" symbol).
that's language. every conceivable system, from english to mandarin, from sign-language to gruntings, requires that our brains are able to create the sign, and integrate the symbol.
if you take a specific, common system such as english, and study it from a structural standpoint, you can group the roots, and you can determine where certain linguistic threads originate without looking for a second at gender. nevertheless, to imagine that the fact that woman does not derive from the masculine root is a dangerous and inaccurate way to conceive of language.
to do so suggests that young children do not hear and adapt the language of their parents, making judgments about content (subconsciously and consciously).
give me a day or so, and i'll come up with some fascinating links, okay?
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