From owner-freebsd-chat Mon May 27 0:13:24 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from postfix2-1.free.fr (postfix2-1.free.fr [213.228.0.9]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5F22437B404 for ; Mon, 27 May 2002 00:13:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from bluerondo.a.la.turk (nas-cbv-2-62-147-132-220.dial.proxad.net [62.147.132.220]) by postfix2-1.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id A2BAC8BC for ; Mon, 27 May 2002 09:13:19 +0200 (CEST) Received: (qmail 2390 invoked by uid 1001); 27 May 2002 07:12:30 -0000 Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 09:12:30 +0200 From: Rahul Siddharthan To: Terry Lambert Cc: pgreen , chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Language in danger: Language loss Message-ID: <20020527071230.GB2120@lpt.ens.fr> References: <3CF16722.F4236AC8@mindspring.com> <20020526225602.GC1562@lpt.ens.fr> <3CF173C7.8EC49B13@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3CF173C7.8EC49B13@mindspring.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.27i X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 4.6-PRERELEASE i386 Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Terry Lambert said on May 26, 2002 at 16:46:15: > Perhaps I've read too much, or perhaps I'm thinking more in terms > of abstract conceptualization, which I would argue requires the use > of words. It doesn't. As some American judge said, "I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it." The same for artistry, democracy, any other abstract concept. We can sometimes define them in words but we have to struggle to do so. > But I generally think in terms of words, even for simple > concepts like "I'm hungry". You're fooling yourself. What you're doing is, you first feel hungry, and then you tell yourself in English that you're feeling hungry, though the process happens so quickly that there is perhaps no noticeable time-gap. That's what I meant by "talking to myself" as opposed to "thinking." Babies, and animals, feel hungry too without knowing any language. Try switching your thoughts to a language in which you are not totally comfortable, but not so ignorant that you have to translate word-by-word from English, if you know such a language. You'll notice the gap between thoughts and words then. But very likely "talking to yourself" in this way is a process that helps reinforce concepts and aids further thought. - Rahul To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message