Thinking without words.

I was thinking about words the other day, and I stumbled upon a quandary:
When we think, we contemplate in sentences. If we don't understand it, we can't find words to explain it. Finding the right word to fit an emotion, a situation, or a particular phenomenon is what helps us wrap our minds around something and understand it. When we learn new languages, we process in our native tongue and translate for a while before becoming fluent enough to possibly "think in another language".
So here's the question: What if we didn't have language?
We know that pre-born children feel pain and recognize certain voices (mother, father, common sounds, etc), but can they form a thought? Obviously not in the sense that we explain it, but could there be something else? Maybe that's why a 7 year old can't remember what it felt like to be in the womb, but a 70 year old can remember his/her 16th birthday. It's not the time elapsed, it's the language in which we frame memories and thoughts. Maybe. Because while that makes sense, I find it pretty impossible that babies, prior to learning to speak, cannot think. So where's the raw emotion, experience, or THING that we use words to capture? and does putting whatever it is down in words diminish its magnanimity? Maybe music is called the language of the soul, because it awakens love, hate, joy and pain without words. (Even in songs with lyrics, the words mean nothing without musical intent behind them and an inspiring texture)
I don't know, but I'll ask this: What would life be like if we needed to really feel and learn how to recognize others' feelings to communicate?