Language, Thought and Communication

photo credit: professor-virtual.blogspot.com

Does language influence thought? Over the last century, there has been a lot of debate on this question. Current researchers, however, take it for granted that language and thought are related and that they interact with each other in complex ways. The question they ask now is what does this relationship imply?

19th century German Philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that language was directly connected to thinking. In the 1920s linguist Edward Sapir and later, his student Benjamin Lee Whorf theorised that thoughts are controlled or influenced by the language we speak. This thesis, also widely known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, is called linguistic determinism.

However, in 1994, psychologist Steven Pinker and other linguistic relativists countered the deterministic claims made by the Whorfians. The relativists believed that language and thought were not as intrinsically connected as previously thought.

We now take for granted that language shapes our perception of our world with researchers like Lera Borodotsky proving that the languages we speak in fact do shape our perception of the world around us. Current experiments and research have proved conclusively that peoples' relations with time, space, colour as well as the objects around them are certainly affected by language.

The structures, vocabularies and boundaries of the language(s) we know have indisputable influence on how we think. On the other hand, the structures, vocabularies and boundaries of the language(s) we know are also influenced by the histories, geographies, memories, values, attitudes--the realities--of a particular people.

Language is thus, both the begetter of our cultural thought-processes and our collective personalities and the result of our cultural thought-process and our collective personalities.


The author, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjee, is Managing Partner at Expressions@Work, a training, consulting and mentoring studio for the development of communication and soft skills

Diogenes on Communication

Diogenes de Sinope (called so because he was born in Synop which is now in Turkey) is also known as Diogenes the Cynic, the founder of Cynicism. He lived between 412 and 323 BC and died in Corinth (a place that is also famous or a particular style of ancient Greek pillars.)

Of course, cynicism didn’t mean then what it means now and the Cynics were actually the precursors of the Stoics, who came later with Zeno.

Like most of my icons, Diogenes was provocative, both in thought and life and he courted controversy so that he could bring in social change. The son of a banker, he was involved in a scandal about defacing currency in Synope and moved to Athens. Here, he challenged the Athenian ethos in every way imaginable. He slept in a tub in public view, ate in the market-place and did other unspeakable things in public against the prevailing social etiquette. He had no shame in begging and exulted in his extreme poverty. Among the many evergreen Diogenes quotes is this one: “He has the most who can make the most of the least.” 

Diogenes made a habit of arguing with Plato and disrupting his lectures on Socrates. He is also known as the man who lived after insulting Alexander. True to his flagrantly outrageous life, he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery.

We know about Diogenes of Sinope from the writings of another Diogenes (Laertius) who wrote a book called Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in which he writes anecdotes about Diogenes’ life and talks about his writings.

But why am I telling you about Diogenes? This post is not really a digression from the topic I thought I’d continue from my last post.

Diogenes de sinope is responsible for one of my most favourite sayings. In fact, whether or not they attribute it to him, this is one of the most used Diogenes quotes by people all over the world. I use it often to illustrate the importance of one of the most vital, most difficult to master, most underrated and least understood verbal communication skills: Listening.

We have been given two ears and one tongue so that we may listen more and talk less.

Thus spake Diogenes.

Image from: www.davemckay.co.uk/philosophy/diogenes/

If you're interested in knowing more about Diogenes of Sinope, you can read about him here and here:

The author, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjee, is Managing Partner at Expressions@Work, a training, consulting and mentoring studio for the development of communication and soft skills

Factors That Affect Perception: Stereotyping

Now let's talk about how our perception plays tricks on us!

image credit: creativereview.com

Stereotyping is one of the most common factors that affect and distort perception.

We have the tendency to classify our experiences and encounters, our feelings and thoughts, the people we meet and the things we see into groups and categories. We peg them to other, similar types of experiences and encounters, thoughts and feelings and people and things we have heard of or known or seen in the past. Thus, we label stimuli according to our own peculiar frames of reference.

The problem with this is that we tend to impose our opinions and feelings about a "class" to the individual experience, event or person. The moment we peg and label an individual experience to a category, we think we know its essence from our general impressions about that category. We no longer try to get an in depth, independent and personal knowledge of that object, experience or person as an exclusive and disparate entity that is to be evaluated and valued for itself.

Hence all darkness is evil and scary; women are emotional beings; a person with a disability cannot travel alone; white skin is better than black skin; fat people are lazy: our perceptions are constantly affected and distorted by the thousands of stereotypes we carry within ourselves.

The author, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjee, is Managing Partner at Expressions@Work, a training, consulting and mentoring studio for the development of communication and soft skills

Business Writing Skills: The Importance of Writing Well for Effective Organisational Communication

A very big HR recruiter once told me that strong writing skills were the number 1 talent he looked for in job candidates across all functions. Did I agree with him, he asked me or did I disagree with this approach?

This made me start thinking about the importance of writing skills in business.



Obviously, the recruiter did not mean that he was looking for creative writng talent in every job applicant. What he meant was that at job interviews,he actively sought a person's ability to express his ideas in short, clear, grammatical sentences with logically arranged and linked paragraphs.

In other words, he was looking for effective business writing skills in all the candidates he interviewed, whatever their level and profile. I agreed with him wholeheartedly. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of writing skills in business.

Why do we need good writing skills in organisations? And by good business writing skills, I mean prose that seems effortlessly written and is easily read and understood.

I consider writing skills extremely important in any organisational role.

Records must be kept, instructions must be given, reports must be written, actions must be explained, applications must be made, forms must be filled...the list is endless and applies to all levels of any organisation.

Someone who can write well can conserve organisational time and effort to a great extent--no need for down-the-line oral messages; fewer misunderstandings, therefore fewer re-works; complicated policies and issues put down clearly and succintly for all to follow...you see what I mean.

Also, putting something in writing (say talking points, or lists, or details of a phone call) organizes things in our minds and makes it easier for us to make logical, effective presentations or oral reports without losing the thread or forgetting some things.

Therefore, there is a place and a need for writing skills across all levels in business. Whatever your Key Responsibility Area (KRA), you would do well if you began trying to improve your writing skills.

Improving writing skills is sure to make you do better at your job and better business writing skills will, sooner rather than later, translate into faster growth up the organisational ladder for you.

Images from:
polon.co.uk
blog.dinogane.com
larrymonk.co.uk

The author, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjee, is Managing Partner at Expressions@Work, a training, consulting and mentoring studio for the development of communication and soft skills