Bob Yates writes: (snip) (Actually, this is not a very bizarre idea. Imagine that you lost your ability to say anything. Would you say you are incapable of thought? I have several cats. They are unable to use language but it is clear they "think." They know that certain sounds mean they will be fed and they are learning a quick "no" means to stop what they are doing.) (snip) My comments: The bell rings; the dog salivates. Has the dog then had a thought? Is response without reflection 'thinking'? Or are you proposing that the cats are engaging in some kind of interior reflection? Hard to tell with cats, I know. I don't think Lakoff and Johnson, or any of the cognitive linguists, would argue that 'language structures thought.' Rather, as I understand the argument, it is that metaphoric relations--where we understand one thing in terms of its being another--structure thought, language, and many other human activities. Metaphor is, for the cognitive linguists, not just a linguistic device, but a cognitive structure that manifests in language. Seth Dr. Seth Katz Assistant Professor Department of English Bradley University To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/