“Language is the dress of thought” 18th century lexicographer .ppt

Four Languages A Swiss guy visiting Sydney, Australia, pulls up at a bus stop where two locals are waiting. Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen? he asks. The two Aussies just stare at him. Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais? he tries. The two continue to stare. Parlare Italiano? No response. Hablan ustedes Espanol? Still nothing. The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted. The first Aussie turns to the second and says, Yknow, maybe we should learn a foreign language. Why? says the other. That guy knew four languages, and it didnt do him any good. Polyglot animals A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along, when all of a sudden, a cat attacks them. The mother mouse goes, BARK! and the cat runs away. See? says the mother mouse to her baby. Now do you see why its important to learn a foreign language? “Language is the dress of thought”  18th century lexicographer Samuel Johnson: “The sayable defines and organises the thinkable” Emil Benveniste, French linguist (1902 – 1976) “He gave men speech, and speech created thought.” Percy Shelly the 19th century poet: “Thought is no more identical with language than feeling is identical with the nervous system.” Lecture in London on ‘Thought and Language” Samuel Butler, writer satirist 1890 “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” George Orwell 20th century novelist and essay writer “ The words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought.” Einstein, 1945 “Language is the light of the mind.” John Stuart Mill, writer philosopher (1806-1873) “If we clearly consider what our intention is when we speak, we shall find that it is nothing else but to unfold to others the thoughts of our own mind.” And “Since language is as necessary an instrument of our thought as a horse is of a knight, and since the best horses are suited to the best knights, … the best language will be suited to the best thoughts.”Dante