The Power of Language by Lindsay Kalkhoff

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-05 20:43:31 UTC

pg. 2

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-05 20:44:28 UTC

"Does language follow along our latest, most improved understanding of the world, or does our understanding of the world follow along with our language?"

pg. 4

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-05 20:45:53 UTC

"The labels we use matter. Something as simple as changing the labels we use to refer to someone- for example- instead of slaves, saying enslaved people or people who were enslaved- makes an immediate difference in how we mentally represent those we are speaking about."

pg. 5

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-05 20:48:24 UTC

"When you know multiple languages you are more attuned to how words make you feel because you already have firsthand experience with subtle linguistic variations."

pg. 6

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:46:26 UTC

"In older adults, multilingualism delays Alzheimer's and other types of dementia by four to six years and increases cognitive reserve."

pg. 6

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:48:05 UTC

"In children, learning a second language means early understanding that the connection between objects and their names is arbitrary- you can call milk or leche or moloko or you can use a made-up word. Understanding the reality and the symbolic system used to denote it are not one and the same leads to more developed metalinguistic skills that lay the foundation for even more advanced metacognitive processes and higher=order reasoning."

pg. 7

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:48:59 UTC

"Across the life span, speaking more than one language improves performance on executive function tasks, making it easier to focus on what matters and ignore what is irrelevant."

pg. 7

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:49:48 UTC

"Knowing multiple languages enables people to make connections between things in ways that others do not see and results in higher scores on creativity and divergent thinking tasks."

pg. 7

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:51:09 UTC

"Using non-native language renders people more likely to make decisions that are more logical and of grater social benefit."

pg. 11

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:57:22 UTC

"We come to see the world differently, and our brains are transformed as a result."

pg. 11

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 16:58:13 UTC

"But knowing multiple languages can lead to new ways of thinking that are otherwise unattainable."

pg. 12

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:05:13 UTC

"...every new language that we know makes us extract and interpret information differently, altering how we think and feel, what we perceive and remember, the decisions we make, the ideas and insights we have, and the actions we take."

pg. 12

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:06:28 UTC

"Similarly, in everyday life, the brain provides different answers depending on how the incoming input is organized by language."

pg. 12-13

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:44:58 UTC

"But one symbolic system can only get you so far. The acquisition and use of multiple symbolic systems change not only how our mind works but also the structure of the brain itself. The effect is more than additive, it is transformative."

pg. 13

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:45:55 UTC

"Speaking more than one language is the norm rather than the exception for the human species."

pg. 13-14

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:52:24 UTC

"Even in the United States, where monolingualism has traditionally been the norm, the segment of the U.S. population that knows more than one language is rapidly growing. Over one-fifth of people in the United States report speaking a language other than English at home- these numbers have doubled in the past forty years and continue to go up, with the estimate closer to 50 percent in the bigger cities."

pg. 15

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:53:45 UTC

"People who speak more than one language or dialect have different linguistic, cognitive, and neural architectures than people who speak only one language. For too long, these differences have been seen as noise rather than as signal, as problematic rather than as the prototypical complex systems of human nature that they are."

pg. 15

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:55:00 UTC

"A lack of understanding of people who speak multiple languages continues to result in an incomplete and inaccurate view of human capabilities, more limited personal opportunities, negative attitudes about immigrants and foreign languages, and biased educational and social policies."

pg. 18

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:55:55 UTC

"Because language and culture are tightly intertwined, language functions as a vehicle for culture, and changing languages also switches cultural frameworks."

pg. 19

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:57:24 UTC

"The finding that the accessibility of memories varies across languages- the Language-Dependent Memory phenomenon- has implications for interviewing bilingual witnesses in legal cases, accessing traumatic memories of events, and providing psychotherapy to bilingual clients."

pg. 19

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:57:51 UTC

"A native language packs more emotional punch."

pg. 19

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 17:58:51 UTC

pg. 21

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 18:00:14 UTC

"In essence, language makes people different, bringing to the forefront different aspects of themselves, "turning on" different identities [...] a different language can release a new aspect of your identity that lies dormant in your native language."

pg. 22

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-08 18:00:59 UTC

"Learning another language makes it impossible to process the environment around us without the constraints imposed by the the limits of a single language."

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-11 16:45:43 UTC

pg. 24-25

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:47:02 UTC

"For a long time, the scientific community thought that the bilingual brain switched between languages, turning one language off when not in use, turning the other language on, and alternating between the two."

"It became clear that even when not overtly used, the other language remains constantly active and is automatically processed by the bilingual brain."

pg. 26

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:48:42 UTC

"Instead, as the word unfolds, your brain co-activates all possible items in your mental registry that start with s and then, as more and more of the word is recognized- the auditory input is integrated with the visual input from your environment so that one final meaning remains, in a winner-takes-all fashion."

"In multilinguals, this parallel activation cascades across all the languages they know, so that in addition to the English words [...] the incoming sounds also co-activate words in the other languages."

pg. 26

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:51:56 UTC

"This allows the brain to remain open to all possible mappings of sound to meaning, regardless of language, so that it is always ready for any language input, even in unpredictable circumstances, and can understand and respond faster than if it had to reboot a turned-off language."

pg. 27

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:54:18 UTC

"The brain does not duplicate effort; instead, it changes how it processes information. In multilinguals, it expands its parallel-processing capacity and, in turn, changes higher-order cognitive processing necessary to control this parallel activation across languages."

"[...] we also found evidence of co-activation when words do not sound similar across languages but their translations do."

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:57:52 UTC

pg. 33

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 16:59:14 UTC

"The changes to eye movements in the absence of language input tell us that multilingualism affects not only the language system but other systems, too, and that parallel activation has repercussions for perception, attention, memory, and other cognitive functions.

pg. 34

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-16 17:00:23 UTC

"The best way to think about multilingualism is not as a fixed construct but as a mental state in perpetual flux. This mental state is constantly changing based on the information the brain receives continuously from the auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs."

pg. 36

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-29 17:04:18 UTC

"Research on creative cognition shows that people who have close relationships with someone from another country become more creative and score higher on creativity tests.

[...]

...boost creativity, workplace innovation, and entrepreneurship."

pg. 36-37

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-29 17:05:19 UTC

"A powerful link between multilingualism and creative thinking originates in the way in which knowing another language changes our cognitive architecture and facilitates the impressive parallel processing and co-activation."

pg. 37

lkkalkhoff — 2024-01-29 17:06:48 UTC

"But recent studies on the architecture of the multilingual mind show that knowing more than one language increases performance on many creative tasks. Because the brain keeps all languages co-activated and processes them in parallel, multilinguals see relationships among items and draw connections between seemingly unrelated things- a cornerstone of creativity."

pg. 37

lkkalkhoff — 2024-02-05 13:36:51 UTC

"But recent studies on the architecture of the multilingual mind show that knowing more than one language increases performance on many creativity tasks. Because the brain keeps all languages co-activated and processes them in parallel, multilinguals see relationships among items and draw connections between seemingly unrelated things- a cornerstone of creativity.

pg. 38

lkkalkhoff — 2024-02-05 13:38:38 UTC

"Speakers of multiple languages are likely to see relationships between items that single-language speakers do not see and to experience insights triggered by features and items that do not generate such associations or insights in monolinguals."

pg. 42

lkkalkhoff — 2024-02-05 13:39:44 UTC

"We often invoke immigrant roots and extraordinary work ethic to explain their achievements, but leave out the impact that knowing multiple languages has on the ability to connect ideas in ways that others don't see."

pg. 43

lkkalkhoff — 2024-02-05 13:41:09 UTC

"Openness to experiences is one trait that correlates highly with both creativity and multilingualism. And while learning another language will not take your creativity from zero to a hundred, it can help increase it from none to some, from some to more, and can give you the extra edge you need if you are already in a creative profession."

pg. 60

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:05:43 UTC

"We now know that a multilingual's languages rely on largely overlapping networks of the brain, with some variability depending on the properties of the language and its mastery, and that selective impairments to one language but not other can have multiple causes.

pg. 61

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:06:25 UTC

"Instead, a broad and highly interconnected and distributed neural network is used both within and across languages."

pg. 62

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:09:08 UTC

"Our capacity for language (all languages) can be considered an emergent property of the whole brain working in concert. Extending the concert analogy, speaking English versus French is less like playing the tuba versus the violin and more like the entire orchestra playing Beethoven's Fifth versus Tchaikovsky's Sixth. A person may selectively lose one language and not another despite their reliance on largely overlapping neural networks; even if two symphonies are played by the same orchestra, losing the violinists could be more detrimental for one piece than the other."

pg. 63

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:11:35 UTC

"While each individual neuron has a limited capacity, when many neurons connect and interact with one another, the sum becomes greater than its parts can self-organize in ways that enable complex cognitive function. In multilinguals with their many languages, the complexity of this self-organizing system is even greater. When two neurons respond to a stimulus (such as a spoken word), they begin to form chemical and physical pathways to each other, which are strengthened or weakened depending on how often they are coactivated together."

pg. 64

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:12:55 UTC

"[...] how the neurocognitive system functions can alter the physical structure of the brain."

pg. 64

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:13:48 UTC

"Learning another language doesn't just give you different words or more words. It rewires your brain and transforms it, creating a denser tapestry of connectivity."

pg. 64

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:14:33 UTC

"Bilinguals have been found to have increased gray matter density in frontal regions."

pg. 64

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:15:42 UTC

"A study in the journal Nature reported that bilinguals with higher second-language proficiency and earlier age of second-language acquisition had higher gray-matter density in several cortical areas."

pg. 65

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:17:21 UTC

"Although gray-matter volume and white-matter integrity both decline with age, knowing multiple languages can help slow that decline."

pg. 65

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:18:21 UTC

"Multilingual experience not only changes brain structures involved in language processing but also alters the connectivity among brain areas and structures that are not specific to language, and changes performance even when no language is involved."

pg. 65

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:19:19 UTC

"In addition to the structure, organization, and function of the brain, using multiple languages directly changes the chemical and metabolic concentration of cells."

pg. 65

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:21:10 UTC

"Language changing matter is an idea found in many religions, spiritual practices, mythologies, and cultures around the world. Prayers and chants are build on language."

pg. 69

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:21:41 UTC

"We see that language can indeed affect the physical world, including altering the physiology of our bodies."

pg. 71

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:24:08 UTC

"Bilingualism is another factor that has been shown to provide protection against the cognitive declines that are sometimes associated with aging and that are characteristic of dementia."

pg. 72

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:24:44 UTC

"[...] knowing multiple languages is beneficial for brain health."

pg. 72

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:25:26 UTC

[...] knowing more than one language delays Alzheimer's and other types of dementia by four to six years on average."

pg. 72

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:26:05 UTC

"[...] it is that the more interconnected networks make it possible to operate better with what remains."

pg. 73

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:26:51 UTC

"[...] Think of it as resilience against damage to the brain."

pg. 73

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:27:50 UTC

MOVIE I WANT SEE:

Still Alive

pg. 73

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:28:25 UTC

"Music is a form of rich auditory experience that benefits sensory processing as well."

pg. 74

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:32:01 UTC

pg. 75

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:33:42 UTC

"Both types of reserve appear to be improved by bilingualism and become more prominent when bilingual proficiency and exposure are kept high throughout life."

pg. 75

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:34:50 UTC

"[...] it seems that trilinguals show even larger advantages than bilinguals in some aspects of cognitive function. A population health study reports that the incidence of Alzheimer's is lower in multilingual countries."

pg. 77

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:37:03 UTC

"This suggests that bilingualism changes how we organize information from an early age and enhances are ability to think in terms of categories."

pg. 78

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:38:03 UTC

"Another cognitive advantage in children who grow up with two or more languages is being better at switching between tasks."

pg. 78

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:38:58 UTC

"Bilingual children tend to perform better on various versions of this task that requires one to flexibly change what dimensions they are paying attention to"

pg. 78

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:39:46 UTC

"Bilingual children are also better at focusing on what's important and ignoring what is not important."

pg. 85

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:44:08 UTC

"Because bilinguals are routinely switching between languages or having to ignore irrelevant and competing linguistic information, this form of mental exercise enables them to develop a more efficient control system."

pg. 86

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:45:13 UTC

"[...] confirms that multilingual brains may be making more efficient use of neural resources for language processing."

pg. 88

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:45:44 UTC

"If the brain is an engine, bilingualism appears to improve its mileage, allowing it to go further on the same amount of fuel."

pg. 89

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:46:21 UTC

"Multilinguals often become somewhat different versions of themselves when they speak another language."

pg. 92

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:48:05 UTC

"It seems that bilinguals not only use different spoken codes when switching languages but also change their nonverbal communication and body language."

pg. 93

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:49:14 UTC

"Speakers of languages that do not distinguish the future from the present in their grammar are more likely to engage in behaviors that benefit their future selves."

pg. 93

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:51:22 UTC

"A language primes information associated with it over information associated with other languages. Priming bilinguals with linguistic cues can elicit thoughts and behaviors consistent with knowledge, scripts, and schemas of the associated language and culture, including social judgements and consumer decisions."

pg. 94

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:53:00 UTC

"In psychotherapy settings, bilinguals are more likely to switch to a non-native language to discuss traumatic or distressing topics. Studies show that verbally induced fear conditioning decreases when using a foreign language and that literary works resonate differently in the native versus second language."

pg. 108

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:55:35 UTC

pg. 115

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 16:57:41 UTC

"To forbid not only certain words but entire languages is to forbid a certain way of thinking and of being in the world."

pg. 128

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:03:37 UTC

"The need to account for linguistic diversity and bridge the divides across languages and cultures is relevant to our personal relationships, our work, and our social systems. With the increased use of technology, interaction between speakers at different languages is becoming easier and more prevalent. Simply being aware that a person or group of people sees things differently in part due to their native language should increase the effort and thought devoted to cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication."

pg. 129

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:07:50 UTC

"The founding fathers, however, did not favor having one official language for the United States. Thomas Jefferson argued strongly against the idea. Founded as a nation of immigrants, in addition to the languages spoken by the many nations of people native to North American, the American colonies spoke not only English but also Dutch, French, and German. Indeed, the majority of U.S. presidents have been bilingual or multilingual. Presidents John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Garfield, and Chester Arthur knew several modern and classical languages. For President Martin Van Buren and for his First Lady Melania Trump, English was not even the native language- Martin Van Buren's was Dutch and Melania Trump's Slovenian. First Lady Grace Coolidge knew American Sign Language and had worked as a teacher of deaf students."

pg. 130

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:16:27 UTC

"Rather, they were decided by political ideology. Languages and dialects have always been heavily politicized around the world and used to incite and subdue national movements and national identity."

pg. 131

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:17:10 UTC

"Many of the grammatical phonological structures of African American English that are in contrast to Standard American English are patterns that are present in West African languages."

pg. 132

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:17:39 UTC

"Code-switching conceals impressive cognitive dexterity."

pg. 147

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:21:11 UTC

"Not teaching American children another language is part of a larger problem in the education system."

pg. 147

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:21:48 UTC

"The likelihood of learning another language is influenced not only by where you live but also by your socioeconomic class."

pg. 148

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:24:25 UTC

"This contrast in how society perceives multilingualism in different socioeconomic classes is rooted in biases that have nothing to do with the effects of multilingualism."

pg. 150

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:25:29 UTC

"Non-immigrant involuntary minorities, on the other hand, are more likely to view schooling as a one-way assimilation and acculturation into a dominant group and resist it either consciously or unconsciously."

pg. 151

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:26:21 UTC

"As a result, in non-immigrant minorities, schooling sometimes becomes equated with the dominant culture and a feeling of having to choose between success in "the white way" versus affiliation with one's own group."

pg. 162

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:27:45 UTC

"[...] but typically interpreters work with spoken language and translators work with written language."

pg. 163

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:28:38 UTC

Consecutive interpreting:

"the speaker pauses to allow the interpreter to translate what was just said."

pg. 163

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:29:45 UTC

Simultaneous/Synchronous Interpreting:

"Other times there is no pause and the interpreter has to simultaneously listen to what the speaker is saying and translate it into the other language while the conversation continues to unfold."

pg. 169

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:31:07 UTC

"One of the findings that consistently emerges across studies is that it is easier for bilinguals than monolinguals to learn new languages and symbolic systems. People who already know two or more languages learn new languages faster and better than speakers of only one language."

pg. 177

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:32:20 UTC

"Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing between the sounds /v/ and /b/.

pg. 177

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:35:05 UTC

"The relationship between natural human languages and artificial languages is a symbiotic one, meaning they mutually benefit each other. To understand what leads to successful language-learning outcomes, we need to understand the mechanisms behind language learning- and many important discoveries in this area come from careful experimentation with artificial languages. Artificial languages and artificial intelligence build on knowledge generated by human language and thought, and, in turn, generate new information that makes it possible to further advance human thought and learning.

pg. 190

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:38:11 UTC

"Most multilinguals, even highly fluent ones and those who have used their second language as their primary language for many years, will often revert to their first language when performing mathematical computations."

pg. 191

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:40:06 UTC

"This suggests that the differences in math performance between bilinguals and monolinguals observed in other studies are likely not due to quantitative differences with bilinguals knowing more words or having 'more' language but due to qualitative transformations to the cognitive system as a result of being multilingual."

pg. 200

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:41:28 UTC

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."

pg. 200

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:42:17 UTC

"But even more frustrating than realizing how little we humans know is realizing how little many wish to know, including some who are in positions of power."

pg. 204

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:43:29 UTC

"There is currently a major social movement to increase the representation of racial and ethic minorities in science and technology as well. To discussions of diversity, we must add linguistic diversity."

pg. 206

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:44:37 UTC

"The multilingual mind is a paragon of this marvel of the universe, and it provides a wonderous and surprising new view of human cognition. But although multilingualism is the norm in the world rather than the exception, lack of research on it has resulted in its devaluation."

pg. 211

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:45:51 UTC

"National policies and social frameworks directly influence linguistic diversity."

pg. 211

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:46:30 UTC

"When second languages are taught in schools and linguistic diversity is appreciated rather than marginalized, multilingualism becomes as common as literacy."

pg. 214

lkkalkhoff — 2025-02-07 17:49:07 UTC

"After only six months of taking an Introduction to Spanish course, monolingual undergraduate students performing an executive control task had electrophysiological brain responses that resembled those of bilinguals. Another study found improvements in attention switching after an intensive one-week Gaelic course, relative to a control group, in participants between the ages of eighteen and seventy-eight. [...] in cortical thickness in language processing areas after three months of language training."