Scope -Language

Initial discussion questions:

Is knowledge possible without language?
What kind of knowledge is knowing how to use language?
How do we know what we claim to know about language?
How can we balance the benefits of a single global shared language against costs of losing languages in a globalising world?
Do we have a moral responsibility to protect and preserve linguistic diversity?

The role of language in knowledge:

1) Is language essential to knowledge?

2) Is there any knowledge that cannot be transferred through language, and if so what would be an example?

How language shapes the way we thinkThere are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and right to the multiple words for blue in Russian -- that suggest the answer is a resounding yes. "The beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is," Boroditsky says. "Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000."

____________lost_in_translation.pdf

does_your_language_shape_how_you_think.docx

language_glossary__eal_.docx

How the language you speak changes your view of the worldBilinguals think differently depending on the language they're operating in.

Language TOK resources.pdf

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