A Review: Is LOT Universal among People Who Speak Different Oral Languages?

LOT, or ‘mentalese’ in Fodor's term, has been the subject of study by several philosophersfor many years, but recently, cognitive psychologists have also debated over thiscontroversial issue. It is clear that thought is manifested by words but the kind of relationshipbetween these two is still blur. The question is whether the people using different languagesthink differently? Whether an individual speaking English and one speaking Persian wouldthink differently just because of the language they use? Many people ask bilinguals or multilinguals what language or languages they think in. If they select just one of their languages,people conclude that it must be the language of their 'inner being'. It seems that thinking isindependent of language. When people do their activities e.g., walking, cooking, riding, etc.,their thoughts are not in a particular language. Consequently, LOT is universal or ‘thecognitive architecture’ of all human beings is the same. But it is just realized in differentforms of oral languages. In the meanwhile, animals are also equipped with LOT

کلیدواژه ها:

LOT ، ‘mentalese’ ، cognitive psychology ، oral language