I was on chat, and we had a pretty unorganized argument about whether language was considered part of intelligence. We than decided that it would be a great question to ask you all, and it belonged on Main as a Topic of Discussion.

Here we go. Is language considered intelligent?

After are long argument, I concluded that language isn't really intelligence, but communication is. Whether you communicate through language or not, is your choice. How much you can get across through your communication depends on how intelligent you and the other person is.

However, language is a form of communication. Therefor, it is a form of intelligence. It is simply a humans way of communicating through words, rather than any other way. An example is that honey bees will communicate through dancing, as humans perceive it. When a bee finds a source of pollen, it will return to the hive and direct the other bees to the source by dancing. It will turn in the direction to head, wiggle a few times, then turn in the next direction, wiggle a few more times, etc. The direction the bee is facing is the direction that it's headed in. The amount of times it wiggles would be how many miles it goes.

This shows that the bees have some form of intelligence and aren't just mindless insects doing whatever and using a guess and check method. In the same way, a dog will communicate through body language. Even as a human, I can easily tell what my dog is saying or what it needs. There are obvious things like running to the door when it wants out, begging when it wants food, curling it's lips to say "back off" or "I don't like you," and etc. Then there are the more subtle things. It will always sit in front of me in a way of telling another dog not to get near me because she is guarding me, and therefor she thinks I'm hers. She will push against my hand if she wants to be petted. She will paw at me if she wants me to love her and spend time with her.

Again, this is proof that dogs are intelligent and aren't mindless creatures. I also hypothesis that dogs have their own language, but it is one that humans are unable to understand due to their ignorance and, maybe, their inability to hear certain things. In the same way, my sister could communicate with me when she lost her voice without sign language or writing things down, as could I with my friends when I lost my voice for two days, which was disastrous because I always have a lot to say.

What are we defining as language? Do we mean verbal language?
The older we get we normally tend to become more intelligent by using language to communicate information which adds to our intelligence. But having said that doesn't saying that language makes us smarter mean we're saying that anything that communicates through ways other talking are less intelligent?

So what are we saying if we define laguage only by verbal speech?
Deaf people use sign language and even though its called sign "language" doesn't the fact that there are no words used make us appear to be saying they are less intelligent than the rest of us? Some animals raise their young through the young copying the actions of their parents in order to learn the skills they need to survive. Do these count as a from of language but without words?

I think language is what everything uses to communicate its intelligence to others, its just the form that differs.

http://dollars-bbs.org/main/res/1335652376.html

Sounds like this thread, although replace "considered intelligent" with "limit the mind, allow it freedom, both, neither, or something else entirely".

>>4 Both discuss language, but they are each a different idea of language.

That one asks if language limits the mind. This one asks if it's considered intelligent.

>>3 As you can see with my post in >>2, I answered that question. "Language" as I see it is something that humans invented to communicate. Communication (excluding sign language), which you call nonverbal language, is when an animal (humans included) gets his point across without using language.

I guess I never defined that in my post, but I've implied that. Keep in mind that answers will vary depending on a person's definition of "language" and "intelligence". Since I know not everyone will use dictionary definitions here, answers will be relative to how you define these 2 words.

>>5 Sounds like the case of same diff.

>>6 Threads or Defining Language?

I would say that Language, if your term is not swearing, then yes it would count as intellagance. Because it adds you intellagance of differante speach which means you`ll be able to comunicate, respond and undersand what the forean(sorry for my spelling) person is saying to you

>>7 threads.

Sue me for being so literal, but everything we think about or learn is intelligence.
Okay, joking aside,

Yes, language is an intelligence. Language (speech and writing) is a really new concept for mankind but we seem to take it for granted. If you think about it, civilizations and organized societies have only been around for barely at all if you look at the whole time man has walked the earth. Before language, we would just use sounds to communicate (like crying, yelling, etc) but now we can put our emotions into words. Pretty intelligent if you ask me.

>>9 In my opinion, the other has to do more with creativity.

In my opinion, to learn a language takes determination more than intelligence.

"Language" and "Intelligence" : Two things that relate to each other more and more. I agree that verbal communication and how well it is done is a big part of how we show our intelligence. If someone uses big fancy words to explain or give their thoughts coherence, does it mean that they are more intelligent than those who use simple words instead? In my opinion, sometimes it's more difficult to speak plainly thus whoever manages to do so maybe uses his mind better.

Humans have lived with some sort of language as an integral part of their lives for so long that how someone uses it plays a big part in our perception of their intelligence. A counter-example would be if someone goes to a foreign country and doesn't understand the language there then the locals would probably consider him to be simple if he cannot manage to respond to what is being said. Lack of understanding would be perceived as simple-mindedness.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I'm thinking I do it in English. Translating thoughts into English has always come easiest to me as it is the language i feel more confident in. So in ages past when we hadn't evolved languages, what did people think in? Perhaps they thought and communicated on a different level when not being restricted by language. Of course, the question arises that how can a person think intelligently without doing it in some sort of language. Mental processes are not defined by our language; we just think they are which makes it so.

bump (: