Consciousness and the Limits of Language: You Can't Always Say What You Think or Think What You Say

Language has a rather odd relation with consciousness. On the one hand, many aspects of conscious experience cannot be adequately conveyed in words: the smell of a flower, the appearance of a face, the taste of a fine wine. Despite such inherent limitations, language nevertheless represents the primary tool that we have for demarcating conscious experience. Indeed, verbal reportability is the standard criterion for determining whether an event/process was consciously experienced. The verbal report criterion is unquestionably of great value in investigations of consciousness; however, trouble may ensue when verbal reports and conscious awareness are treated as identities. This chapter reviews usage of the reportability criterion and then explores the possible clarifications and implications that follow when subjective awareness and content reportability are distinguished.