LL-L "Language programming" 2009.01.19 (07) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 19 January 2009 - Volume 07
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language programming"

Beste Sandy,



You wrote:



I think this is probably the nearest thing I can think of to a specific
language "programming the brain". But does anything similar happen with
spoken languages?



Two days ago in the Dutch newspaper NRC an article about metaphors and
embodied cognition:



http://www.nrc.nl/wetenschap/article2122846.ece/Symbolisch_woordgebruik_heeft_een_fysieke_basis



In Dutch unfortunately. Embodied cognition looks very promising to me. Basic
concept seems to be that nobody's ideas are abstractions that are operating
completely independent from the outside world. They only get shape because
of the interaction our body has with that outside world. Not in the least
with one's mother, to start with.



Again, I wouldn't use the term "programming" as it's too deterministic.
"Formatting" sounds more appropriate to me (btw Dutch "vorming" can also be
translated as "teaching, education").



Wikipedia gives some more information about applying "embodied cognition" in
linguistics (also sign language) and robotics:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodied_cognition



The active use of (spoken) language also constantly rewires your brain I
think (yes, that's a metaphor *s*). If a person has to express and
communicate his ideas, quite often at some point he gets some new insight,
which may not have been created if he would have kept his ideas to himself.
If so, this may prove that language is not a neutral carrier of information,
but rather plays an active role in the management of that information.



Kind greetings,



Luc Hellinckx



PS: Steven Pinker believes the brain is "programmed" to pick up spoken
language easily, but not "programmed" to learn how to read and write. A
human being, he believes, will generally not spontaneously learn to do so (~
his book: The Blank Slate).

•

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