It seems common-sensical that what language you speak plays a
role in shaping how you think, but for decades the idea was out
of fashion. Noam Chomsky and his linguistic followers spurred
the shift, arguing that languages share a "universal grammar"
that renders their differences almost unimportant. But according
to research cited in a Wall Street Journal story by Lera
Boroditsky, evidence is building to show that people's thoughts
and cultures are, in fact, conditioned by whether they speak
Thai, Irish Gaelic, or Globish.  She describes her discovery
that speakers of Pormpuraaw, an aboriginal language in
Australia, conceptualize time in a distinctive way:   The same
holds, she argues, for ideas of causality. Taking these basic
cognitive differences into account, she concludes: