Week 2: Abstract v. Mimetic "What Abstraction is Not" (Arnheim)

1) (Arnheim p.154) "Instead of relying on sensory experiences, abstract thinking was supposed to take place in words. It was believed, for example, that a creature deprived of speech would not abstract." Do you believe this to be true; that abstraction is only limited to words? Explain. 

2) (Arnheim p.155) "It is equally misleading to call concrete that which is physical and abstract that which is mental." Once something become physical, is it no longer abstract? Does this reflect in a way to architecture and design?