Between Language Domination and The Shape of Our Thought
As a person who has been studied languages as an obligation and an interest, language in some parts confused me. The first language that I learned from I was born and became the language I use to speak with parents is the Javanese language. Then, I also have to learn Bahasa Indonesia because it is the official language of my country. At the moment I go to primary school I have to learn English also. I feel strange and foreign because it grammatically emphasizes time sequence, the past, present, and future. Forward, when I was in high school, I have to learn Arabic. This bizarre feeling comes again; it has gender in objects! These odd, strange, and foreign feelings lead me to hypothesize that language plays a huge role in seeing the world.
Please keep in mind that I will not present numbers and data, but I will give you concrete examples of how primary language affects us.
The first thing that I notice about how language diversity influences its speaker to explain a condition is grammatical rules. Bahasa Indonesia teaches me to use the adverb of time to show a specific time that happens. For instance, when I want to tell that I bought food in Bahasa is, “Tadi saya membeli makanan.” Tadi here signifies the adverb of time, which means just now. Another case for English. It would change its verb to show the time. “I bought food.” These go as well when I want to tell you that my hand, unfortunately, is hurt due to fractionation. In English, I would say, “I break my arm.” When first time I heard it, that is ridiculous. Who would break their arm? But, in Bahasa, I would say, “Tanganku patah”. Tangan here means hand. These examples clearly show us how a language shape speaker’s focus on circumstances. Also, until now, I cannot find the equivalent word of “Mlempem.” Mlempem is a Javanese word that describes when the food is not as crunchy as before. I cannot find its synonym, both in Bahasa Indonesia and English.
Apparently, language influences how we talk to others or how we put a word of something and shapes us about our view of the world, how we classified them, and how we label them. Hence it forms our construction of mind and our cognitive indirectly. Further, it affects the way we tell our ideas to others. It makes sense enough when we cannot find an equivalent word in another language.
As a consequence, learning a language is complex and a bit challenging. Because not only retain its arrangement but also retain its perspective. Please underline that sense also play a significant role in language. Learning a language also means learning a different set of focus, of attention.
All linguistic processes happen and embed in our subliminal mind. Thus it impacts our domain of thinking and knowledge; mainly, it represents our abstract notions and thoughts. Language is basically our vital record of thinking, the way of life, and how we see the world, as language itself is a part of the culture.
“Language can be a powerful tool for shaping abstract thought” (Lera Boroditsky, 2001:20)
