ELI5: When we are born before we learn any speech, what language do we think in?

I speak English, and only English, but rarely think in English. Only time language enters my mind is when I am trying to communicate my thoughts with another person. Like this post. For me, its pictures and 'feelings' (Hard to describe, but Ill try) when I am not communicating em. Like if you feel something, you don't have to consciously think "I feel this" to know what you're feeling. Ya just kinda know. Ever get one of those moments where you know what you want to say, but just can't find the word for it? Right there, on the tip of your tongue? You know what you want to convey; ya just have to find your language's lemme/lexeme (Correct word?) for that particular thought you want to convey. That is my thinking. That knowing, before you put the language to it and get it off the tip of your tongue.

Picture: We stand at a pothole and looking at it.

For you, you may think, "It's a pothole, a hole in the parking lot."

For me, seeing a pothole, I see pictures/video. A small crack in the parking lot. It starts to rain, and water droplets start to hit the parking lot. The cohesive nature of water takes effect, HOHOHOH start to stick together, beading up, until it gains enough mass to be pulled by gravity, some of it finding it's way into that crack. The water flow picks up, more and more, picking up speed and volume. Little bits of parking lot get picked up by the water, a car drives over it, chipping it just a little more. Water carries little bits out and along, downward. Gets deeper, as it cleans out, wider as it chips.

The dirt under the asphalt moves downward, getting closer together, harder. A gap between the foundation and asphalt, and it collapses downward to meet the dirt. Rain fills the slight hole in and starts to overflow. water runs out, water is replaced by the rain. Little bits get carried out, it gets deeper and wider.

Hopefully that kinda answers your question. It is nearly impossible to know how a human with no language, at all, thinks, as he/she needs language to communicate to you how they think. See the catch-22? That is an experiment that is either impossible or waaayyy off in the future, waiting on the tech to develop.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread