Depict a flow chart of human aging through several stages of life, from baby to toddler to child and teenager to adult and elderly person. You probably imagined the youngest person on the left and the oldest person on the right. This may seem like the “natural” way to arrange things, but not everyone will necessarily agree with you.
Some studies have shown that people who use a writing system arranged from left to right – such as English and many other languages - tend to define time as progressing from left to right when thinking abstractly, whereas people who read text arranged from right to Left – such as Arabic, Hebrew, etc. – the order of time from right to left.
Likewise, some researchers have argued that people who read vertical writing in East Asian scripts can often imagine time flowing downward vertically, although you will find some researchers who argue that this is not entirely true.
Another example is the language spoken by Pormpurao, a remote Australian Aboriginal community, which does not use the words “left” or “right” at all. Instead, they use ‘north’, ‘south’, ‘east’ and ‘west’. Research has pointed to stories that Pormpurao tells using the flow of time that seems very unfamiliar to us: time flows from left to right when one is facing south, from right to left when one is facing north, toward the body when one is facing east, and away from The body when a person faces west.
Some psycholinguists argue that our mental representation of time is influenced by, and perhaps linked to, language.
These ideas are similar to those explored in the 2016 science fiction film Access, where humanity struggles to communicate with a mysterious alien being that has suddenly crash-landed on Earth. By understanding extraterrestrial “language”, humans eventually realize that aliens do not have a linear perception of time, effectively allowing them to experience the future.
The film deals with some very far-fetched ideas that require some artistic license, but the film’s fascinating linguistic themes are not far from reality.
A great example of this is whether we envision the future ahead of us or behind us. In most languages, the past is interpreted as something behind us, while the future is before us. However, for the indigenous Aymara people of South America, their language indicates that the past is before them and the future is behind them.
The English language has its own confusing elements like this. If you hear the phrase “Wednesday’s meeting is moved forward two days,” does that mean the new meeting will be on Friday or Monday? Polls show that about half of people will say Friday and the other half Monday, depending on whether they imagine themselves in motion relative to time or time itself moving.
In 2017, linguists conducted a study suggesting that bilingual speakers can think about time differently depending on the language they use. In languages such as English and Swedish, people tend to use physical distances to explain the duration of events, such as “short break “or”long vacation”.
Conversely, Greek and Spanish speakers tend to measure time by referring to physical quantities, such as “small break “or”big Vacation.” The flow of time is seen as an increasing volume, not a distance traveled.
Things get more complicated with bilingual speakers. For example, if someone speaks both Greek and English, they will change the way they interpret the movement of time depending on the language in which they are asked about it.
“By learning a new language, you suddenly become attuned to cognitive dimensions that you were not previously aware of. The fact that bilinguals switch between these different ways of estimating time effortlessly and unconsciously fits with a growing body of evidence demonstrating the ease with which Language can infiltrate our basic senses, including our emotions, visual perception, and now it’s clear. Our sense of time, Professor Panos Athanasopoulos, a linguist from Lancaster University who authored the study, explained in a statement.
This area of study falls within the category of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which posits that the language a person speaks can influence or shape their perception of the world and their cognitive processes. There are many critics of linguistic relativism and you will find many counter-arguments against it.
However, exploring these ideas is a good way to challenge your preconceptions and remind yourself that your way of seeing the world is not necessarily fixed.
The language we speak not only shapes the way we communicate and think, but also has the power to influence the way we perceive time and space. Our perception of time and space is deeply rooted in the linguistic and cultural frame of reference provided by our native language. Different languages have unique ways of expressing the passage of time or describing spatial relationships, which in turn impact the way we perceive and interact with the world around us. As a result, our linguistic background can radically alter our understanding of the concepts of time and space, often leading to diverse interpretations and experiences.