Do we think in words?

Writers, expressing ideas in words.  So how separate are thoughts and the words which express them.  And which comes first?

Do words come first?

The idea that words can shape thoughts is suprisingly contraversial.  Benjamin Whorf was an early linguist who studied different world languages.  He came to the conclusion that the language a person speaks determines the way they see the world - a person's ideas and world-view are a product of their words.

Words by Feuillu

This idea, known as linguistic relativism, implies that speakers of different languages must think differently - a notion that has largely been rejected nowadays; the modern theory of universal grammar states that at a basic level, all world languages are very similar.  The capacity of works of literature to be successfully translated is further evidence that thoughts are not closely linked to a specific language.

Having ideas as we write

If this is true, then do the ideas and feelings expressed in a piece of writing come to mind before the words used to express them?  Virginia Woolf certainly thought so, saying:

"a sight, an emotion creates this wave [a rhythm] in the mind ... then, as [the wave] breaks and tumbles in the mind, it makes words to fit it."

I'm sure most writers can identify with this - holding a thought in mind, while the words take their time to arrive!

Wave by Treehouse1977

Current views

However, both ideas are probably over-simplistic, and perhaps link to the outdated belief that mental processes are controlled by different brain areas.  Although there are brain areas associated with both language and imagination, the brain is densely interconnected, and activity spreads very quickly from one area to another.

Our conscious experiences relate more to the interaction between groups of cells than to the function of any particular area.  The connection between creativity and hallucinations shows the interaction between thought and language areas can be unpredictable and sometimes harmful.  This is an area where further research is needed.

The idea of linguistic relativism has made a comeback, in a weakened form.  George Lakoff (e.g. Lakoff, 1987) has suggested that metaphors we use are interconnected with the way we think.  For example, in English, we talk about time using money metaphors (spending time, etc), and use battle metaphors for debate (winning arguments, advancing a theory etc).

How important is metaphor to the way you use language?  Do you feel that it is just an add-on, or something more fundamental to your understanding and communication?

References
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Woolf, V., cited in Dick, S. (ed., 1983).  To the Lighthouse: the original holograph draft, preface.  London: The Hogarth Press.

Hallucinations and verbal fluency - the same brain processes?

An interesting study in the context of my previous post on creativity and mental illness. Creative writers are very quick at making links and spotting interesting combination of words, and this research study suggests that verbal creativity and hallucinations may involve the same brain systems.

It is known that there is a relationship between schizotypy - people showing some of the same symptoms of schizophrenia - and creativity.  Tsakanikos and Claridge (2005) found that among college students, some signs of schizotypy such as hallucinations showed a correlation with increased levels of verbal fluency. Verbal fluency is tested by seeing how many words of a given category people can say in a limited time, e.g. how many words beginning with 'n'.

Brain areas involved in language

The most common type of hallucination that schizophrenic individuals experience is hearing imaginary voices.  Why does this happen?  The research suggests that overactivity in verbal regions of the brain could be responsible.  Brain cells 'fire' (send out an electrical impulse) when they receive a certain amount of stimulation. It could be that schizotype individuals and people who are creative share a key trait: their brains need less stimulation for the verbal areas to fire, leading to both verbal fluency and, sometimes, hallucinations.

As well as being interesting from a creative writing point of view, this kind of research aims to delve into the causes of schizophrenia, which is a major disorder that leads to the hospitalisation of hundreds of thousands of individuals. In evolutionary terms, it doesn't seem to make any sense for genes for schizophrenia to be passed on, as it is not a survival avantage. This can be explained if the same genes, perhaps in a slightly different combination, can give us very advantageous traits such as a powerful and responsive grasp of language.

Tsakanikos, E.  and Claridge, G. (2005). More words, less words: Verbal fluency as a function of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ schizotypy.  Personality and Individual Differences, 39(4), 705-713.