If someone is born deaf

what language do they think in?

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You've never imagined something without using words? I can play a whole string of events in my head without using words.
 
AddleBoy said:
You've never imagined something without using words? I can play a whole string of events in my head without using words.
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I sometimes think in images but I usually narrate them as well. I actually find it quite difficult to think without using words.

This thread is actually pretty interesting now that I think about it. :hmmm:
 
I narrate my thoughts in Morgan Freeman and David Tennant's (Scottish, not Doctor) voice.
 
I never read something in someone else's voice either, in these for example

images


I always hear that in my own voice
 
I actually think in sexy talk language--I think in words and third person narrative, 'cause my life's such a movie liek OHMAGAWD. :monster:

But yeah I totally have this omniscient voice floating around in my subconscious or whatever that I hear sometimes when I'm contemplating on kicking kittens and slaughtering baby chicks. :mokken: Not that I ever, ever, ever, EVER would. The sexy language voice stops me from all this.
 
Einstein usually thought in images and diagrams, and generally resorted to language as a secondary step to communicate his ideas on paper to others (In a letter he wrote to a friend, he describes his difficulty to put his ideas in written language on paper. So instead, he also drew a diagram for him). Remember that language's primary use is for a medium of communication to others. No one needs actual language to think. Language is just a secondary representation of the underlying idea. It just so happens that once you use it for so long, it becomes a habit.

If you're deaf, you probably think in term of visuals, be it images or words. If you're blind, then you probably think in auditory words like most the people in this thread. If you're deaf and blind, then...something linked to touch, smell, and/or taste...or something. Can't really imagine what that'd be like, but it seems plausible imo.
 
coffeecup said:
Einstein usually thought in images and diagrams, and generally resorted to language as a secondary step to communicate his ideas on paper to others (In a letter he wrote to a friend, he describes his difficulty to put his ideas in written language on paper. So instead, he also drew a diagram for him). Remember that language's primary use is for a medium of communication to others. No one needs actual language to think. Language is just a secondary representation of the underlying idea. It just so happens that once you use it for so long, it becomes a habit.

If you're deaf, you probably think in term of visuals, be it images or words. If you're blind, then you probably think in auditory words like most the people in this thread. If you're deaf and blind, then...something linked to touch, smell, and/or taste...or something. Can't really imagine what that'd be like, but it seems plausible imo.
Click to expand...

This. Language is a way of communicating our thoughts, but it isn't the only way. Most people are just so used to using language in our thoughts that we can't really imagine not having language.
 
Einstein was a genius though, it is not surprising that he found it difficult to expound his ideas to others. Tesla had similar problems, not to mention he could visulalise anything in perfect 3D. I think everything in words almost. I imagine stories and flights of fancy in a combination of images and words.
 
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