The paper introduces a new perspective on abstract concepts (e.g. "freedom") and their associate words representation, the Words As social Tools (WAT) view. Traditional theories conceptualize language as a way to index referents, a shortcut to access meaning, or a way to access meaning through words associations. WAT goes beyond these theories by identifying additional functions of words and language: words are tools helping us to perform actions and change the state of our social environment, and language is a means to improve our thought abilities, to control our behavior and plays a predictive role, helping us to form categories. Most importantly, WAT proposes that language and sociality - along with interoceptive and metacognitive processes - are key for the grounding of abstract concepts (ACs) that are more complex, variable, and more detached from perceptual and motor experience than concrete concepts (CCs). We highlight four tenets of WAT and discuss each of them in light of recent evidence: a. acquisition: compared to concrete concepts, the acquisition of abstract concepts relies more on social and linguistic inputs; b. brain representation: abstract concepts recruit more linguistic and social brain areas; c. mouth activation: due to the relevance of language for representing them, abstract concepts activate more the oral motor system; d. linguistic variability: abstract concepts are more affected by differences between spoken languages. We discuss evidence supporting these four tenets of WAT, and its advantages and limitations compared to other views on abstract concepts. Finally, we outline a conceptual proposal that specifies how internal models supporting the representation and processing of ACs can be grounded on interoceptive, metacognitive, social, and linguistic experience.

中文翻译：

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词语作为社交工具：语言，社交性和抽象概念的内在基础。

本文介绍了关于抽象概念（例如“自由”）及其相关词表示的新观点，即词作为社交工具（WAT）的观点。传统理论将语言概念化为索引指称对象的方式，访问含义的捷径或通过单词关联访问含义的方式。WAT通过识别单词和语言的其他功能超越了这些理论：单词是帮助我们执行行动并改变社会环境状态的工具，而语言是提高我们的思维能力，控制我们的行为并起到预测作用的一种手段角色，帮助我们形成类别。最重要的是，WAT提出语言和社交性以及互感和元认知过程是使更复杂，更易变的抽象概念（AC）扎根的关键 比具体概念（CC）更脱离感知和运动经验。我们重点介绍WAT的四个原则，并根据最近的证据对它们进行讨论：习得：与具体概念相比，抽象概念的习得更多地依赖于社会和语言投入；b。大脑表示：抽象概念招募了更多的语言和社交大脑领域；C。嘴部激活：由于语言表达的相关性，抽象概念可以激活更多的口腔运动系统；d。语言可变性：抽象概念受口语之间差异的影响更大。我们讨论了支持WAT这四个原则的证据，以及与其他抽象概念观点相比的优点和局限性。最后，