I think you would very much enjoy the work of
Stephen Pinker. His book "The Stuff of Thought" was about how through understanding language we can understand how the the mind works(which is the title of
another book of his).
Here's a couple videos of him discussing his ideas:
Steven Pinker on language and thought | Video on TED.com
You may also want to check out his
"The Language Instinct" for more on the mind, evolution, and language.
