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Poll: MIT researchers make the case that language is a tool for communication, not for thought. Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "MIT researchers make the case that language is a tool for communication, not for thought.".
View the poll results »
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So now, during the so-called “silly season”, we devote ourselves to philosophical questions? Who am I to refute what the scientists at MIT said? Language is primarily a tool for communication, but I need to listen to my inner voice to be able to articulate my thoughts in language. Anyway, people who are unable to speak are more than able to think, aren’t they?
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...because many people can talk even without thinking before.
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Arthur Godinho 
United States
Local time: 02:44
Member (2009)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Without thought, there is no communication.
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 08:44
Member (2020)
English to German
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:
Who am I to refute what the scientists at MIT said?
Does being an MIT researcher automatically make people smarter than those who are not MIT researchers?
Personally, I am not a researcher and do not have any fancy titles and yet I am bold enough to disagree. As has been written here, there is no communication without thought (unless you market AI).
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We don’t need language to think, but we can use it to express those thoughts internally as well as externally.
At least, I think so.
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ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "MIT researchers make the case that language is a tool for communication, not for thought.". View the poll results »
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Christopher Schröder wrote:
We don’t need language to think, but we can use it to express those thoughts internally as well as externally.
At least, I think so.
I disagree. We need language to concretise our thoughts first and then to communicate them if we need to. But language helps us develop our thoughts first and foremost. At least, that's what I think.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:44
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| They may indeed be separated in the brain | Aug 5 |
A person who has had a stroke may think as well as they did before the stroke, but they struggle to use or understand language. There are many types of aphasia with different symptoms. Some people with aphasia can understand language, but can't speak.
https://www.webmd.com/stroke/stroke-talking-communication-issues
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Lingua 5B wrote: A person who has had a stroke may think as well as they did before the stroke, but they struggle to use or understand language. There are many types of aphasia with different symptoms. Some people with aphasia can understand language, but can't speak. https://www.webmd.com/stroke/stroke-talking-communication-issues
Thanks Lingua 5B. That's true or they may struggle to recall the word they normally use or used to use. Your article helped me with a brother who had a stroke last year and that's what he struggles with, though his speech has improved a lot. Who says language is not important for thinking? We have to formulate the words in our minds first and we do this automatically; it's only when you lose the capacity of doing it that you realise how important language is for thinking too.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:44
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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That quote says “they may think as well as before the stroke”, which is interesting. Wishing your brother fast and successful recovery, Josephine.
Evidence from brain imaging investigations and studies of patients with severe aphasia show that language processing relies on a set of specialized brain regions, located in the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere. These regions are not active when we engage in many forms of complex thought, including arithmetic, solv... See more That quote says “they may think as well as before the stroke”, which is interesting. Wishing your brother fast and successful recovery, Josephine.
Evidence from brain imaging investigations and studies of patients with severe aphasia show that language processing relies on a set of specialized brain regions, located in the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere. These regions are not active when we engage in many forms of complex thought, including arithmetic, solving complex problems, listening to music, thinking about other people’s mental states, or navigating in the world. Furthermore, all these nonlinguistic abilities further appear to remain intact following damage to the language system, suggesting that linguistic representations are not critical for much of human thought.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4874898/
[Edited at 2024-08-05 08:03 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 08:44
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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The title of the research: "Language is primarily a tool for communication rather than thought". That's not the same as what the poll title suggests.
Perhaps we should refrain from calling research bullshit without knowing what we are talking about. I'm pretty sure those researchers have a better idea than some translator shouting "I disagree", just because their gut feeling says so.
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Alex Lichanow wrote: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:
Who am I to refute what the scientists at MIT said? Does being an MIT researcher automatically make people smarter than those who are not MIT researchers? Personally, I am not a researcher and do not have any fancy titles and yet I am bold enough to disagree. As has been written here, there is no communication without thought (unless you market AI).
Anyone can have an opinion, but in my case I’m a translator not a scientist. Scientists also make assertions, called hypotheses, although in science, every claim must be supported by evidence and I have no evidence but my own experience to support my opinion.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:44
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
We support our opinion on individual experience, and scientists on studies with 200-500 people.
Terminology first, what does “thought” refer to, seems like that wasn’t clear to some.
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| Language is not the only way to concretise thought | Aug 5 |
We are naturally a very language-focused community here, but think of all the situations when other forms of expression are used.
People who work with children often make use of drawing, or drama in the form of role play with dolls, when children do not have words for what they want to express.
Modelling, building and design cannot be expressed exclusively in words.
Music and dance have to be interpreted every time.
I would never dismiss language as a tool ... See more We are naturally a very language-focused community here, but think of all the situations when other forms of expression are used.
People who work with children often make use of drawing, or drama in the form of role play with dolls, when children do not have words for what they want to express.
Modelling, building and design cannot be expressed exclusively in words.
Music and dance have to be interpreted every time.
I would never dismiss language as a tool for thought, but even when you are ´lost for words´, you may know exactly what you feel or think all the same! I know I think quite a lot in colours and images without words, and then add words when I know which language I want to communicate in. ▲ Collapse
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