sentience > awareness > cognition > language > reason > logic > mathematics > op

sentience > awareness > cognition > language > reason > logic > mathematics > operations.

I am not sure anyone says language is required for cognition. Only that as we progress from cognition through language through reason etc we are increasingly distancing ourselves from sympathetic tests and moving towards entirely analytic tests. Most of this progression is limited by the ability to hold a concept (context) in short term memory (focus), independently of external stimuli (impulse), long enough to iterate through opportunities (search memory, find patterns, wayfind, then falsify (search for negative consequences.).

IMHO: language is not necessary, only visualization or perhaps better said, ‘experiential revisitation” which we can observe and judge.

The problem is that without language one cannot develop complex narratives, write them down, or use symbols. But that’s a qualification on top of the original claim: it’s probably correct to say that cognition does not require language, only that language improves our cognitive ability and is so (incredibly) valuable as a competitive technology that there is greater consequence to verbal (SYMBOLIC is what it means), cognition than EXPERIENTIAL cognition. And speech appears to be the gateway humans found for moving from experiential cognition to symbolic cognition.