Linguistic Intelligence: What Is It And What Is It For?

In our day-to-day lives, we communicate constantly, whether at a written, oral or other level (for example, through sign language in deaf people). And it is that language is the vehicle that allows us to interact, learn and express what we feel or think, move around the world … Linguistic intelligence has to do with all this, a type of intelligence that, as its name indicates, has related to the ability to use language effectively.

What else do we know about this type of intelligence? As we will see, it is part of the 8 types of intelligence proposed by the psychologist and researcher Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple intelligences. It is a highly studied and valued intelligence, especially in the academic field, although all of them are important. If you want to know more about her, keep reading!

Linguistic intelligence: what is it?

Linguistic intelligence is part of the theory of multiple intelligences proposed by the psychologist and professor at Harvard University Howard Gardner (Pennsylvania, 1943). In fact, in his theory we find up to 8 different types of intelligence. When we speak of linguistic intelligence, we refer to the ability to express ourselves through language. 

Thus, this type of intelligence encompasses all those capacities related to language, and refers to the communicative capacity that people have, either at a written level or at an oral level. That is, thanks to it we communicate effectively through words; it would be like a tool to do magic with language and, ultimately, to use it in a useful and beneficial way.

Features covered

Linguistic intelligence encompasses, in turn, a series of functions. It includes, for example, language learning, the communication of our ideas, a special sensitivity to language, a type of introspective or reflective thinking, etc.

It is a skill that allows us to reflect on our own ideas, on the knowledge that we are acquiring and building and on everything related to words.

One of the most studied intelligences

Linguistic intelligence, together with logical-mathematical intelligence, is one of the most studied intelligences and even more valued at an academic level.

In this sense, when intelligence began to be studied, the studies focused mainly on linguistic intelligence and in intelligence tests this took on abysmal importance, compared to other types of intelligence.

Multiple intelligences and linguistic intelligence

It was thanks to Gardner that the scientific community and, especially the field of psychology, realized that there were more intelligences apart from this: visuospatial intelligence, naturalistic, musical, spiritual, emotional … Thus, they were determining the intelligence of children solely based on the evaluation of linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence, forgetting all the others.

And they realized that intelligence went far beyond knowing how to read, write or use language correctly, and also included the ability to adapt to the environment, understand others, use one’s own resources to improve and advance, etc. That is, intelligence is a broad concept (not unitary) and that is why we are not talking only about one type of intelligence.

Where is it located?

As has been done with all types of intelligence, an attempt has been made to decipher which area or areas at the brain level were activated with linguistic intelligence. It has been postulated that this is “located”, above all, in the left hemisphere of the brain (which is the one related to language). Thus, in this hemisphere we find two key areas in the language:

• Broca’s area (related to the emission of the message, that is, with the motor part, planning and production of language).
• Wernicke’s area (related to language comprehension).

What is linguistic intelligence for?

We have seen what linguistic intelligence consists of and with what functions it is related. But what exactly is it for? Some of the characteristics, in terms of its functions, are the following:

• It allows us to capture the information and the nuances of the messages (orally and in writing).
• It allows us to communicate, transmit ideas and feelings, persuade others …
• It helps us to acquire new languages ​​and to take an interest in them.
• It expands the vocabulary and helps us to manage it effectively.
• It arouses interest in knowledge about the etymology of words, their meaning, etc.
• It makes it easier for us to enjoy reading and writing.
• It helps us to write correctly (at the syntactic and spelling level) and to edit our own texts.
• Promote puns and rhymes.
• It helps us adapt our language to different contexts and formats.
• It encourages the retention in memory of verbal and written data and information.

Linguistic intelligence helps us communicate

As we have seen, linguistic intelligence is one of the most valued at an academic level, because it implies a good command of the language and a good ability to use it effectively. However, both in school and in life there will be many intelligences that will help us to adapt, to advance and to function properly, since this cannot be limited only to the ability to speak and write well.

Linguistic intelligence is important because it allows us to communicate and make good use of words; in fact, there are professions in which it takes on even more relevance: politics, journalism, writing and poetry, teaching, law, social education, etc.

Be that as it may, knowing its functions can help us to deepen its knowledge and, by extension, to enhance it in any area of ​​our life.