Language expresses the way we think more than the other way around

I'll start with an example from an Aboriginal community in Australia that I had the chance to work with. What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is they don't use words like "left" and "right," and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east and west. You would say something like, "Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg."

In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well. We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures because of some biological excuse: "Oh, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales." No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it. There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well.

Well, some languages don't have exact number words. They're languages that don't have a word like "seven" or a word like "eight." In fact, people who speak these languages don't count, and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities. So, for example, if I ask you to match this number of penguins to the same number of ducks, you would be able to do that by counting. But quaint country bumpkins who don't have that linguistic trick can't do that.

I used to have my word replacer change "folks" to "people", but I decided that the literal British interpretation is way funnier.

Having count words in your language, having number words, opens up the whole world of mathematics. Of course, if you don't count, you can't do algebra, you can't do any of the things that would be required to build a room like this or make this broadcast, right? This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone into a whole cognitive realm.

In English, it's fine to say, "He broke the vase." In a language like Spanish, you might be more likely to say, "The vase broke," or, "The vase broke itself." If it's an accident, you wouldn't say that someone did it... this has consequences. English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase." Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident.

Which is all very interesting. However, in the original thread, a certain TJ Downing points out this excellent rebuttal talk : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QglKeIIC5Ds

In it the speaker says that it's culture which influences language, far more than the other way around. Interestingly, languages which orient people along compass directions originate in very flat areas, and when speakers are placed in more varied terrain this way of speaking is lost. Correlation not being causation, remembering who broke the vase might also be a cultural thing, not a linguistic one. Language, the speaker argues, is an expression of culture and has only a modest influence on our worldview. You don't become more sensitive to certain things or more intelligent just because of the language you speak.

Personally I'm inclined to agree with that. Mathematics might arise because you have a need for it rather than because your language allows it. Once you need the concept of differential equations, you'll develop ways to express them - you won't develop epic poetry or algerbra just for linguistic funzies.

A friend of mine things that language is what allows humans to think differently from animals. That might be more plausible - all human languages seem to have a lot more in common with each other than with animal communications. Indeed, it's pretty common to insist that animals don't even have languages, though I'd bet money on that one being shot down.

Language is certainly, at the very least, a useful way of crystallising ideas into something memorable and preservable, and full of clever tricks (like mathematics) that would make certain modes of thought otherwise very difficult. But I think it's largely an expression of some deeper underlying thought processes - it's a tool to help the brain, not a substitute for the brain itself.

https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think