NEXT WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Using your reading of Whorf, Brown & Lenneberg, Broderick, and The Interpreter (about the Piraha and Dan Everett, by Colapinto), explain your current position on the relation between language and thinking. Do you think that as a speaker of English, you think differently than you would if you were speaking another language? A few of you already speak more than one language. In what ways do you think differently in different languages? In what ways do you think that your thinking is outside language? You need to be specific. Use examples and quotations where appropriate.
One strategy that I would suggest is to begin with something like an Appendix A and an Appendix B from the Summary Assignment. That is, make lists of quotations and facts that seem pertinent to the question. Pay special attention to examples of “thinking.” Thinking is mentioned more often than it is exemplified in some of the reading. Then write your essay around the quotes and facts that you have chosen. Don’t do the opposite. That is, don’t formulate an answer and then try to look for supporting evidence.
I’m thinking 1000 – 1300 words in length.