Language Is Much More Than A Medium for Communication - A Discussion Based on Andy Clark's Work on Extended Mind

Abstract

This article discusses the contribution of language to human cognition based on Andy Clark's theoretical framework of the extended mind. For most of the research, language has been used as a communication system, and another aspect of language, the facilitation of cognition and extended mind, has been neglected. This article therefore draws on Andy Clark's theory of extended mind to demonstrate that language can also be seen as an external thinking or even an external artificial tool to help share the burden of thinking and facilitate cognitive development. In particular, the article discusses in detail the theoretical framework of expanded thinking and concludes with two main functions of language: language as a tool for expanding external memory and as a cognitive and computational spatial transformer of the brain. This supports the argument for language as a tool for extended mind.