Blog 1 Hellen Keller reading

 Blog 1

Hellen Keller reading

power of language (semiotics as in signs) in helping humans construct a world.


In this reading, Hellen Keller shares her first experience with thought. She lost her hearing and sight from a fever at a young age. Her teacher used signs to spell words in Hellens's palm when attending school. Unfortunately, without phonics and external validation from sight and hearing, it was challenging for Helen to understand the true meaning of the spelled letters. However, when her teacher took her to the well and let the cold water flow over Helen's palm while signing the letters W AT E R, Hellen could clearly comprehend their connection. She had the sensation of the cold water, and the letters were spelled to give the sensation and object meaning. From then on, she realized "everything had a name, and every name gave birth to a new thought."


Linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, suggests that language shapes a person's worldview and cognition. Hellen's cognition could fully develop when she could include her tactile senses not just for the spelled letters but also for references relative to her world.


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