Alex Balgavy

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Controlling language controls thoughts

The amount of words we use changes how we act. People who speak Spanish are less likely to blame someone for dropping something, because the language is “the thing was dropped” rather than “you dropped the thing” - “se te cayó la cosa”.

Australian Aborigines speaking Guugu Yimithirr have no words for left, right, etc… Instead they use north, east, south, and west. As a result, they almost always know what direction they are facing, even inside buildings with no exterior view.

Deaf children in Africa using a made-up sign language that had not developed signs for describing positioning (under, over, to the right of etc.) and when tested, they could not find a hidden object, even when they watched it be hidden. They couldn’t tell themselves in their own minds where to look for it, and so they couldn’t find it.

Controlling language can control thoughts. If you take away words that help people visualize things you don’t want them to know, those ideas fade from possibility.