the aforementioned personality self-assessment people described themselves as more modest in Spanish since modesty is valued more highly in Mexico than in the USA. However, huge numbers of bilinguals are not biculturals. Therefore, on account of both the wealth of scientific evidence and the unsatisfactory nature of explanations, we can agree that the language we speak alters our personality. In summary, the languages we speak not only modify sensations as rudimentary as colour, but go so far as to permanently alter cognitive functions including memory and the very parts of our brain we use. This is attested by a fleet of rigorous empirical tests. It is clear that our mother tongue directs our attention, and most significantly that languages control us in what they force us to express. It is essential to note that languages do not restrain our understanding, only influence it to a great extent. This can go as far as to affect our personality. On a final note, I would agree with Guy Deutscher in saying that these ascertained effects of language are significant even if they do not constrain our thought, as it is the fundamental processes of memory, personality and perception which make us human and are central to our every moment as a conscious being. Chinese ‘takes more brainpower’ (30/6/2003), bbc news, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3025796.stm Rachel Collier, Language, Culture & Communication (January 2012), unpublished, written at Birkbeck, London Guy Deutscher, Through the Language Glass (2010), William Heinemann Do different languages confer different personalities? (5/11/2013), The Economist, http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/11/multilingualism G ender neutrality in genderless languages (25/6/2014), http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index/php?title=gender_neutrality_in_genderless_languages Francois Grosjean, The Bilingual Mind (31/10/2013), Psychology Today, http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201310/the-bilingual-mind Ray Kurzweil, How to create a mind (2014 edition), Duckworth Catherine de Lange, Bilingual Brain Boost: two tongues, two minds (8/5/2012), New Scientist Language and thought (4/2/2014), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/language_and_thought Linguistic Relativity (16/6/2014), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/linguistic_relativity rlg, Michael Mosley, Alien Hand Syndrome sees woman attacked by her own hand (20/1/2011), http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12225163 Mursal Saiq, dari: does language affect personality? (23/6/2014), discourse afghanistan, http://discourse.apn.af/dari-language-affect-personality/ Edward Sapir (19/8/2014), http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=edward_sapir Society for Neuroscience, The Bilingual Brain (1/9/2008) http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/language/articles/2008/the-bilingual-brain/ Bibliography
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