Psycholinguistics is a fascinating topic in general, and mostly scientists and researchers are split down whether language induces thought or is an expression of thought.
As far as I can tell, language, at the very least, influences thought even for things we take for granted or intuition like color (see 'Colour is int the eye of the beholder' related link - members of a Namibian tribe with a different linguistic taxonomy for color from western languages struggle to pick out certain shades of blue among greens even though they can easily pick out slight shades of green among similar greens because they have different words for them)
In my own native tongue (Serbian/Croatian), the word 'law' is synonymous with 'right', 'justice' and 'rule' (pravo, pravda, pravilo), while 'governance' (vlada) is a separate word. In my adopted language of English, 'law' is synonymous with 'rule' which in turn is synonymous with 'governance'. These concepts definitely influence how these 2 cultures approach both governance and law. English-speakers, I find are far more pragmatic, while my native tongue speakers are far more prone to emotional bursts (which can lead to public revolt and even civil war in the case of governance).
Psycholinguistics is a fascinating topic in general, and mostly scientists and researchers are split down whether language induces thought or is an expression of thought.
As far as I can tell, language, at the very least, influences thought even for things we take for granted or intuition like color (see 'Colour is int the eye of the beholder' related link - members of a Namibian tribe with a different linguistic taxonomy for color from western languages struggle to pick out certain shades of blue among greens even though they can easily pick out slight shades of green among similar greens because they have different words for them)
In my own native tongue (Serbian/Croatian), the word 'law' is synonymous with 'right', 'justice' and 'rule' (pravo, pravda, pravilo), while 'governance' (vlada) is a separate word. In my adopted language of English, 'law' is synonymous with 'rule' which in turn is synonymous with 'governance'. These concepts definitely influence how these 2 cultures approach both governance and law. English-speakers, I find are far more pragmatic, while my native tongue speakers are far more prone to emotional bursts (which can lead to public revolt and even civil war in the case of governance).