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Lately, I have been pondering whether the idea of linguistic determinism has empirical support.

Background: I know a couple languages, and I am proficient in 2 of them. So sometimes if I need to think through a problem, I use one of them to do one thing and another to do another thing.

I personally feel like I can accomplish more by using these two different languages. So, can this be true, do we just think the same way in, no matter that the language. Does language actually play a part in thinking? Or is it just me.

Also, say I did not know any language, how would I think? This is a rather ambiguous question here, but would that person think through their own concepts and schemas that they developed, in their 'own language'?

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to CogSci! Good question, I clarified a little bit and added a link. $\endgroup$ May 4, 2015 at 4:44
  • $\begingroup$ I would recommend the section of "if I didn't know any language, how would I think" being moved to a separate question. (: $\endgroup$
    – Seanny123
    May 4, 2015 at 18:44
  • $\begingroup$ The Wikipedia article linked to in the question reviews evidence for this hypothesis (I realize that link was added by an editor) - is there anything specific that you would like to know about that is not covered there? For the second question, see How does a language deprived person think? $\endgroup$
    – Arnon Weinberg
    Oct 26, 2021 at 1:44

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