The way people formulate thought is largely dependent on the language with which they are speaking to themselves. Moreover, some things are easier to think about using a particular language over another. For example, I read of some physicist who claimed that it was easier to solve a quantum physics problem when he considered the problem using his American Indian language rather than using English, despite the fact that he was equally fluent in both.

When you aren’t talking directly to someone, the silence that could occupy your mind is usually filled with the chatter of your ego, mulling over worries, observations, obligations, etc. [note: this is all in violation of what Buddhists would have you do: put your ego to sleep, can’t meditate without an empty mind]. In any case, I’m interested in how different your thoughts might be if your ego spoke them to you using a language you had studied early on and were fluent in. The kinds of things you would be prone to say to people might differ as well, even further–> your personality could change.

Here’s a tasty question: if the language your ego spoke in your mind to you was not the same language you used to communicate with other people, would this cause any static or white noise? Regardless, you can see that in terms of potential for different thought structuring, linguists have a distinct advantage over the rest of us.