Language as Determinant of Thought

Different languages carve up experience differently — Hindi and other Indian languages have distinct words for a mother's brother, a father's elder brother, a father's younger brother, a mother's sister's husband, and a father's sister's husband, where English uses just one word, 'uncle,' for all of them; English similarly has dozens of colour words, where some tribal languages have only two to four. This raises the question of whether such differences matter for how people think — does an Indian child find it easier to think about and differentiate kinship relationships than an English-speaking child, simply because more distinct words are available? …