¶ … vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge. It shapes what we can know. Evaluate this claim with reference to different areas of knowledge. Response Question: Does vocabulary limit what we can know or limit what we can express?

The sentiment, "the vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge. It shapes what we can know" expresses only a partial truth. The vocabulary we have only shapes what we can express or communicate to others, but real wisdom and discovery, as encountered in various areas of knowledge, can transcend vocabulary. This is most immediate in the area of knowledge encompasses by the arts. Literature, music, art and poetry can often express the inexpressible, aptly conveying it to the spectator and imparting wisdom to that spectator. The spectator may be fully aware of this, and fully cognizant that he has been touched, but unable to express through words just exactly the thoughts and ideas that have now passed into him. For instance, the first stanza of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, a section of the poem entitled, "Burial of the Dead" has been lauded as some of the most profound and compelling in English literature. The poem begins: "April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain" (Eliot, 7). It's possible that no vocabulary will be able to aptly express the precise meaning and profundity of the sentiments...

Rather only what can be expressed by language can be communicated, but all that is known or understood on an intellectual or instinctual level by the poem can still be known.
The exact same phenomenon occurs in the area of knowledge encompassed by ethics. When confronted with ethical dilemmas one is able to often quickly and clearly assert when a situation is right or wrong, but often unable to articulate why exactly. For example: "A woman is cleaning out her closet and she finds her old American flag. She doesn't want the flag anymore, so she cuts it up into pieces and uses the rags to clean her bathroom" (Pinker). Alternatively, "A family's dog is killed by a car in front of their house. They heard that dog meat was delicious, so they cut up the dog's body and cook it and eat it for dinner" (Pinker). The average person will quickly be able to spot that something is wrong in these scenarios but many will be unable to articulate why exactly. This is a clear example of how vocabulary is not shaping what one can now, but merely limiting what one can communicate. The individual has no problem seeing the ethical issues in the above examples, even if one is unable to harness the right vocabulary words to express the apparent problems.

When it comes to history, what vocabulary cannot express does not…