bradams wrote:
I just want to ask one question about the Preface, which Dissident Heart has already quoted. If language is a window into human nature, then is each different language a window into a different human nature or are they all different windows into the same human nature?
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It will be interesting to see how he reconciles the fact that some thoughts are inexpressible in some languages with the thesis that there is an underlying human nature and that language is a window into the mind.
I am not a proponent of the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis (the wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis), at least not the strong version, that the language one speaks creates your world view. I'm more of the "it orders your world view" camp. So, in answer to your first question, bradams, for me, Language is a lot of windows onto the same human nature.
I also believe that all thoughts are expressible in all human languages. I think the confusion comes when people start paying attention to the lexical items that are unique to a given language, and confuse a word (or short phrase) with the thought. For example, Brazilian Portuguese has some beautiful words I learned years ago when I lived there, words that English doesn't have: "madrugada" which is the wee hours of the morning, when you haven't been to bed yet, and "saudades" a romantic, nostalgic longing. We don't have one lexical item that corresponds to these words, but the ideas are expressible in English, with some circumlocution.
Anyway...I, too, am looking forward to this book. Pinker is an engaging writer, and the topic is near'n'dear to my heart.