Nicholas Simons | SYA 3110 | Foucault Essay Much of sociologist Michel Foucaults work centered around his studies

and beliefs about linguistics. Foucault believed that language was extra-psychological, or outside of each human being. It was not something that was developed internally, but something developed outside of each person and handed down over the course of generations. He emphasized that language should be entirely its own field of study, and that the individual speaker or units of speech were less important than studying how language develops as a whole. He said that the structure of language was found in the relationship between words, which pre-existed the speech or actions the words themselves are referring to, and that words should be analyzed in terms of their symbolism of what they represent. He believed in discursive formationthat ideas cannot be separated from language, and that language constrains the way we think and what thoughts we can think. He asserted that thought is a social phenomenon rooted and inextricably linked to language, not something that was located inside each individual. Applying these concepts to real-life situations, there are many examples that can be used to explain how language has a constraining effect on an individuals thought patterns. One of the first things that come to mind is the tip of the tongue phenomena. When someone has a word that they know is descriptive of an action, thought, or thing, but they cannot remember the word, it is interesting to note how they react. They become anxious, stutter, and simply cant think of a way to describe exactly what they are thinking of. Because they cannot think of the word, they cannot express or think of anything else. This shows how closely language and thoughts are linkedwe cant even think of something unless we have a word for it. Our difficult in expressing ourselves when a word is on the tip of our tongue stems from our inability to separate our thoughts from the language that describes them, just as Foucault asserts. Even other methods of communication, such as body language and wordless grunts and sighs, have words

Nicholas Simons | SYA 3110 | Foucault Essay that can be used to describe those actions and ascribe meaning to them. Even when someone does make a wordless communication to us, we still process it in terms of the words describing it. Without these words, like the tip of the tongue phenomena, we cannot accurately understand or express our own feelings. Going further on this same concept is the differences between different languages. Speak with anyone who is bilingual in one language or another, and at some point, they will say something to the effect of, Theres a perfect word for that, but it doesnt have an English translation. Because speakers of only English do not speak another language, we cannot understand the sentiments of those who are bilingual in this instance because they cannot put to words the thought that they are having. Sometimes, one word in one language can describe something so detailed that it can only be translated using an entire phrase or sentence into another language. Even when we do speak only English or another language, sometimes we find ourselves saying, Words cannot describe how I feel right now. All of these evidence Foucaults point that our thoughts are not severable from our language, and that our language constrains the way we think. George Orwell described it well in 1984 in describing how language is used to control society in his fictional dystopiaif enough words are removed from our language, we cannot think what we cannot express.