Language is temporal in so many ways! We use it to talk about the past, present, and future, we use phrases we've used before -- that our parents used even, and language and phrases trigger memories and create memories... Language helps us remember the present when we recite a phone number to dial it, and they help us relive the past through an old song lyric, and they help us plan for the future when we make to-do lists!
Animals live only in the present time, but humans are aware of the past and future, and language helps us conceptualize that. We have past and future tense verbs, for example. Language is what makes us essentially human. We even use it to give voice to our inner thought processes. I think in English. I asked my dad and he says he thinks in Spanish. I am so intrigued by the idea of thinking in a language.
And yeah, self talk. Just the way you phrase something affects how it will go. If you talk to a crowd of listeners about putting stray shelter animals to sleep, for example. You can say "put to sleep" or "killing" or "murder." It depends on how you feel and how you want the listener to feel... SO NEAT, OMG. Or like how you talk to your spouse. "I hate when you ____" versus "I feel ___ when bla bla bla." Both phrases communicate the same idea but take different approaches. It's so complicated!
You're pointing out a lot of cognitive things and internal intentions and processes~ I feel like you'd be good friends with Piaget.
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ninetydegrees
(no subject)
Animals live only in the present time, but humans are aware of the past and future, and language helps us conceptualize that. We have past and future tense verbs, for example. Language is what makes us essentially human. We even use it to give voice to our inner thought processes. I think in English. I asked my dad and he says he thinks in Spanish. I am so intrigued by the idea of thinking in a language.
And yeah, self talk. Just the way you phrase something affects how it will go. If you talk to a crowd of listeners about putting stray shelter animals to sleep, for example. You can say "put to sleep" or "killing" or "murder." It depends on how you feel and how you want the listener to feel... SO NEAT, OMG. Or like how you talk to your spouse. "I hate when you ____" versus "I feel ___ when bla bla bla." Both phrases communicate the same idea but take different approaches. It's so complicated!
You're pointing out a lot of cognitive things and internal intentions and processes~ I feel like you'd be good friends with Piaget.