#thought language

Origin of language

“Developmentally, dialogue comes before monologue, both for the human species and for the human individual”. - assignment origin of language week 2

I feel like that the reason that dialogue comes before monologue is that I see dialogue as the origin of language instead of monologue as the origin of language. You actually need communication between different people to create the language. This creates a language known by multiple people, who can spread the meaning of the words and sentences to others. 

For example, little children learn a language from the communication between their parents and themselves. Later on they learn from the communication with others like siblings, friends or teachers. Through this manner of learning the language is being spread to others and correcting into the right way. 

This is a great example on why you should start with dialogue while learning an new and foreign language. Start this with easy questions such as “What did you do during the weekend” or “What is your favorite movie or sports”, and let the student answer this. If the student understand this, he or she will answer you. If they don’t understand you can help him or her by correcting the mistakes. 

Monologues can actually be quite negative towards new learners, because when a student doesn’t grasp the language to a certain level yet he or she may not be confident enough to carry out the monologue by himself or herself. This could even lead to a disliking towards the language. 

Thought language

Yes, I do think that people think in language. Your thoughts are at least being translated in your head, which may seem hard to explain, but how else would you be able to tell a story if you don’t think in a language. In some cases this may be in a form of pictures instead of words. In which language people think, differs from person to person. I personally think in two languages, Dutch and English, but it really differs on the situation that I’m in. Right now I’m thinking in English because I’m writing in English right now. I think in Dutch when I’m talking to people who speak Dutch.

But if we consider the fact that we need to be able to think to form words, wouldn’t that already answer the question of people thinking in languages? Everything you say has been thought about, maybe not consciously but without thinking you wouldn’t have come up with that specific word. So yes, I think people so think in a certain language and sometimes even more than one language. 

Dreams

It has been proves that people dream, and that those dreams are thoughts while you are asleep. We stated in the paragraph “Thoughts” that people think in a certain language, so I would say that people also dream in a language. 

What language people dream in, would also differ from person to person, but I feel like it’s safe to say that this would be their native language since dreaming happens in the subconsciousness instead of the awake active part of the brain. However, I know from personal experience that it’s possible to dream in different languages. 

This is the same for blind or deaf people, because a blind person has amazing hearing and can grasp a language that way instead of seeing the actual words instead. So, it seems logical that blind people would dream in the language they have heard the most since that would be their native language. 

Deaf people are a different section in this subject, since they can’t hear a language but just see the words. Would that mean that they don’t dream in words? They have their own language, sign language, so that could mean that they dream in that language instead. 

People don’t only dream in language but also in images and “pictures”. Blind and deaf people have altered these things in their sleep but are still experiencing a version of this.

Resources

Origin of language

In the assignment it stated: “Developmentally, dialogue comes before monologue.”

I think that one of the reasons that dialogue comes before a monologue is because the dialogue is actually the origin of language.

I think dialogue is the origin of a language, because you need to communicate with others to create a language. Of course you could talk to yourself, but then you would create a language that only you would speak. To create a language that multiple people speak, you need to communicate and decide on the meaning of the words.

 Even now, when children are learning a language, they learn by communicating with their parents, other family members and for example teachers. These people help the children talking to them(input) and by correcting their mistakes.

So, naturally, in a class where you teach second language you should start with dialogues. You could ask the students simple questions that they can answer, you could talk to the student in simple English and check for understanding. What you should not do in the beginning is monologues, because the students might not have sufficient knowledge of the language yet and making them do a monologue might scare them so much that they will start to dislike the language.

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Thought language

In my opinion people do think in language, or at least that is how your thoughts are translated. It is difficult to explain, but when you think, you think in words even though you don’t even say them. Of course sometimes you can also think in images rather than words.

The language people think in differs per person of course, but in my case I think in two languages; Dutch and English. It really depends on the situation I’m in. For example when I’m at home or with my friends I think in Dutch because my family and friends are Dutch. Right now, while writing this text I am thinking in English, because I have to write this in English. I think that if I would learn to speak another language and I’m in a situation where I have to use that language I also start thinking it.

People always say “You should think before you speak” which would imply that speaking goes faster than thinking, but I think this is not the case. It’s not that you didn’t think about what you were going to say, you said it without thinking it through, which is different. I think that everything you say has crossed your mind and thoughts before actually saying it, but because it is such a normal thing to do, it happens unconsciously. Your brain takes care of so much on a daily basis, but you don’t consciously register everything. So even though it sometimes might seem that speaking goes faster than thinking, I think it is actually the other way around.

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Dreams

It is commonly known that your dreams are actually thoughts of your subconsciousness. But what language do you dream them in?

I think this depends per person, it would seem most logical to dream in your native language, but this isn’t true. Instead, you actually dream in the language you use the most in daily life, if you happen to have two dominant languages you could even dream in both of those languages.

This is also the case for blind and even deaf people. Blind people, of course, don’t have any trouble with their hearing, so they can hear the languages fine. So when blind people dream, they dream in their most dominant language.

Then there are deaf people and you might think: “How can they dream in their most dominant language, when they can’t hear and don’t speak a language?”. Well, they might not be able to speak a language, but they definitely know a language: sign language. Because they only use sign language they think and dream using sign language.

Besides dreaming in language people also see images when they dream. People that were born blind, of course, can’t do this because they have never seen anything. Instead of images or sight, they use other senses such as touch and smell. The longer people have lived with sight, the more they can see in their dreams.

 Resources

Grosjean, F. (16-03-2011). Thinking and dreaming in two (or more) languages. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201103/thinking-and-dreaming-in-two-or-more-languages