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Languages most certainly helps us hone the way we perceive the world. But on the other hand, it's common for me to have concepts in my mind that seem crystal clear, and yet very difficult to capture in words. Sometimes to the point where it feels like once I manage to start describing it, the concept becomes permanently watered down. Some easy examples are the perceptual effect of looking at my infant daughter, or the experience of hearing certain pieces of music. But often, it's much more mundane. See also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ineffability. In that sense, language gives us a way to approximate concepts that we already have, to varying extents. But it's extremely useful, because we can then manipulate those approximations to generate novel concepts. I don't believe anybody would suggest that that's not the case. But strong Sapir-Whorf would suggest that this is how all thought originates. On another anecdotal note, I used to consider my internal monologue to be me, full-stop, and I have always thought of it as being a stream of words. But I've come to realize that it's not actually real words. Furthermore, at best, its the version of me when I'm under zero stress. However, if I'm upset or threatened, it's clear that "linguistic me" only has illusory control of my behavior, or even my thoughts. In fact, I have realized I often behave first, and then come up with the narrative to understand my own behavior. I posit that this is universal. I think we shape our thoughts to conform to much more primeval motivations, which are surprisingly complex in nature. The entire media industry exists to try to give us linguistic narratives to explain and shape these urges. And I say "shape" because it's not a one way process. I think we train our own behaviors with our thoughts, and when unstressed, we can even exercise linguistic self-control. |