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Although thinking involves much more than we can say, we would have far less access to that "more" without the language of thinking, according to Ms. Tishman and Mr. Perkins.
WHAT COMES first, a word or a thought? The relationship between thinking and language has intrigued scholars and artists for centuries. Anticipating Lev Vygotsky's view that thought is not only expressed in words but comes into existence through them, Emily Dickinson took this stand:
A word is dead When it is said, Some say.
I say it just Begins to live That day.1
Words and thoughts live through each other. One interesting realm in which to examine how this happens is that of the special class of words we have for talking about thought -- words for talking about the thinking processes that lead to products of thought such as ideas and theories. What is this "language of thinking" - what is its lexicon, what is it for, how does it work, and what role does it play in human development and education? We hope to shed some light on these questions by exploring the various ways we talk about thought and by looking at how, to borrow Emily Dickinson's phrase, the language of thinking makes thinking "begin to live" by shaping and regulating conceptual development.
What Is the Language of Thinking?
The language of thinking embraces the many ways we describe our own and others' mental states and mental processes. For example, we use the language of thinking when we talk about the thinking processes involved in developing a theory, examining a claim, making a decision, or creating a work of art. We use the language of thinking when we characterize others' mental states by saying things like: Julia believes that everyone should vote; Juan thinks that it will snow; Martin concluded that he doesn't like papayas; I suspect that you're telling the truth.
The English language has a remarkable number of finely nuanced terms for describing thinking. For example, consider the words guess, suppose, surmise, assume, and speculate. All of them concern forming an opinion based on inconclusive evidence. At the same time, each term suggests a subtle but important difference in the relationship of evidence to opinion. For another example, consider...