Language and thought

Abstract This chapter discusses linguistic relativity—the idea that the language one learns shapes the thoughts one can think—and its potential consequences for language acquisition. Various popular versions of linguistic relativity are considered: that language can alter category boundaries, that language can allow for combining concepts that otherwise couldn’t be combined, and that language can allow for the construction of new concepts. Experiments that purport to support each version of relativity are discussed, as are experiments intended to undermine that support. The chapter argues that, on balance, the picture of the language-thought relationship found in classical cognitive science is likely to be on the right track. That is, language acquisition changes how one’s linguistic system works but not the way one’s mind works more broadly.