The Geometry of Thinking: From Perception to Language

Let’s talk about P-space (Perception Space) & L- Space (Language Space).

P-Space is the experience of the space around us.

According to psycholinguist Herbert Clark, “The child is born into a flat world with gravity, and he himself is endowed with eyes, ears, an upright posture, and other biological structure. These structures alone lead him to develop a perceptual space, a P-space, with very specific properties.”

L-space is the expressions of language that correspond to the P-space.

According to Clark, “the perceptual features in the child’s early cognitive development (his P-space) are reflected directly in the semantics of his language (his L-space).”

L-space coincides with P-space,

as such that “any property found in L-space should also be found in P-space.” In other words, “what we perceive informs the semantics of our language.”

If we can design the P-space purposefully, we can shift the L-space.

Imagine, creating new P-spaces which could lead to new narratives…