Language, Cognition, and Public Discussion
Drawing on personal experience and a review of relevant literature, this article considers language in public discussion at three levels. First, language is a medium of individual cognition: it shapes how people understand events and responsibility. Second, it is a medium of interaction: it affects trust, identity, emotion, and participation. Third, it is a medium of institutions and power: it influences which experiences can count as knowledge, who can speak for “everyone,” and which forms of agreement can be recognized as consensus. For Taiwan, these questions must be understood within a multilingual society and its language history.
