The relationship between language and thought has been debated for centuries, and (0) WHILE philosophers once assumed that the two were essentially inseparable, modern linguistics tells a rather different story. According 1 the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, our perception of reality is shaped by the language we speak — a claim that, radical 2 it may have seemed at the time, has since been partially vindicated. Studies of indigenous communities have shown that speakers of languages 3 no fixed terms for left and right rely instead on cardinal directions, navigating with a precision that others would struggle to match. Remarkable as these findings are, they do not prove that language determines thought entirely — 4 rather that it influences it in subtle and often surprising ways. Were it 5 for the painstaking fieldwork of a handful of dedicated researchers, much of this evidence would never have come to light. What makes the debate particularly fascinating is 6 far its implications extend beyond the academic sphere. In legal contexts, the precise wording of a question can influence a witness’s recollection of events — a problem to 7 the justice system has been slow to respond. Only by continuing to investigate the interplay between language and cognition 8 we hope to understand the true extent of this influence.