Thought

Thought creates a connection, fulfils a function, and solves a problem. The flow of thought is not accompanied by a simultaneous unfolding of speech. The two processes are not identical & there is no rigid correspondence between the units of thought & speech. It has its own structure & the transition from thought to speech is no easy matter. Thought does not consist of separate units. In the mind of the speaker the whole thought is present at once, but in speech it has to be developed successively. The transition of the thought to word leads through meaning. Thought is engendered by motivation. Behind every thought there is an affective-volitional tendency. To understand another’s speech it’s not sufficient to understand his/her thought & thus means we must know the motivation.

Conclusions:

1. Verbal thought is a complex, dynamic entity.

2. The relation of thought & word is a movement through a series of planes.

3. In reality, the development of the verbal thought takes the following course: from the motive which engenders a thought to the shaping of the thought, first in inner speech, then in meanings of words & finally in words. The development may stop at any point.

Language & thought from the point of view of cognitive linguistics

Language can reveal the mechanisms of cognition. It is a channel to penetrate into our minds. The world around us is not meaningful but rather acquires meaning through human mind. Meaning-construction is inferential process. Meanings are cognitive structures embedded in our patterns of knowledge. Our complex conceptual structures are manifested in language use & comprehension. Meaning is a mental representation may be structures & organized in different ways:

§ Schemas

§ Frames

§ Scenarios etc.

Schema is any cognitive structure that specifies the general properties of a type of object or event & leaves out any specification of details that are irrelevant to the type. It is an abstraction that allows particular objects or events to be assigned to general categories.

Frame is a data-structure for representing a stereotyped situation. Like being in a certain kind of living room, or going to a child’s birthday party. It is a collection of slots & fillers that describe a stereotypical item. It has slots to capture different aspects of what is being represented.

Scenarios are situation specific. The scenario-based approach is used in interpreting written texts. The success of scenario-based comprehension is dependent on the text-producer’s effectiveness in activating appropriate scenarios.