the ultimate online exercise system!

As a linguist, I’m increasingly fascinated by the articulation of ideas – where do we get the words that we use so easily and effusively in our daily conversations?

If you try to observe yourself as you speak – try to “watch” your mind selecting and joining together words and verbal constructions – the mystery simply becomes more enticing. There appears to be a deep language well that operates at a pre-conscious level, linked directly to our conscious minds, and we appear to be able to dip into this well in what can best be described as a semi-conscious way.

Semi-conscious thought…

If we really stopped to think carefully about the next sentence we were going to utter, I suspect we wouldn’t say anything at all – the sheer sophistication of the language assembly process would defeat us as soon as we applied our conscious intellect. The relative youth of our conscious cognitive functions is especially apparent here, I think. Clearly a large part of our cognitive process operates at levels that cannot really be described as conscious at all.

So: it’s time I took another look at linguistic (neuro)science. Much has been written about our instinctual use of language (Steven Pinker immediately springs to mind), and while I find many of the observations brilliant, I still haven’t found a satisfactory discussion of the whole complex that underlies human mentation.

Most recently, I have enjoyed the argument that human reason is, for the most part, simply post-hoc rationalisation of decisions based primarily on personal preferences and impulses (interestingly enough, recent market research studies have shown strong indications that impulse and inclination play a much greater part in corporate decision-making than has ever been acknowledged. An interesting analysis of impulsive decisions appear here, but you only have to look at the current state of investment finance to draw your own conclusions!). But amusing though this is, it has little explanatory value – it’s simply an observation that counters what passes for generally accepted “wisdom”.

Brain, liver or heart?

The more you examine the process of thinking, the more fascinating it is. Over the millennia, philosophers have written reams about consciousness etc., but it’s the practical implications that fascinate me. I have more and more sympathy with ancient cultures that believed we actually thought with our liver, heart and other organs, not necessarily with our brains. I’d love to see academics tackle this process in more detail – if anybody knows of in-depth work into the nature of mentation/ideation, I’d love to hear about it…