The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
To what extent, if at all, does
our language govern our
thought processes?
Grammar
• “In substance, grammar is one and the same in all
languages, but it may vary accidentally.” Roger
Bacon
• Chomsky – the propensity to receive grammar is
innate.
• Backed up by studies conducted by Kegl in
Nicaragua into deaf children who independently
developed what became known an Nicaraguan
sign.
• Consider some corresponding KIs after you’ve
compared languages around your table
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
1) Strong: Language determines thought and
that linguistic categories limit and determine
cognitive categories. (What we CAN and CAN
NOT think)
2) Weak: Linguistic categories and usage
influences thought and certain kinds of nonlinguistic behaviour. (Influences how we THINK
about things)
The ‘Strong’ Version
How language influences the way in which we CAN THINK …
• Research Case 1:
Peterson and Siegal
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/4110/whorf.html
• Research Case 2:
Numerical Differentiation – Piraha tribe
In Brazilian Amizon
“One, Two, Many”
First noted by Peter Gordon
The ‘Weak’ Version
How language influences the way in which we THINK …
• Research Case 1:
Spatial Orientation - Australian aboriginals
- Guugu Yimithirr
Research Case 2:
Colour Differentiation – Russian
vs.
Research Case 3:
Perception of things (Bridge) –
German/Spanish
- El puente vs. die Brücke
Back to our definition of knowledge
“Language is the dress of thought” Samuel
Johnson
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•
•
•
•
Quechua Incas
Particles are attached to nouns to signify:
Personal knowledge: “I know it for a fact”
Hearsay knowledge: “or so I’ve heard.”
What difference would this make if knowledge
claims were this distinction to be adopted in
English?
The Piraha Revisited – An extreme Empirical
Model
• What follows is the thesis of Dan Everett who had spent far
more time with the Piraha than Gordon and was the first to
decode their languge
• Piraha embodies a living-in-the-present ethos so powerful
that it has affected every aspect of the people’s lives
• do not think, or speak, in abstractions
• do not use color terms, quantifiers, numbers, or myths
• E.g. xibipío “When someone walks around a bend in the river,
the Pirahã say that the person has not simply gone away but
xibipío—‘gone out of experience,’
• Dan Everett, the Pirahã’s unswerving dedication to empirical
reality
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fa
ct_colapinto#ixzz27g0BOyJV
Experiment – you need to think in the
language for this to work (assuming it
will work at all!)
• Pictorial language:
•妖
•妄
Non Pictorial Language:
• Ghost
• Presumptuous
Here’s what you might have come up
with if the pictorial element of the
language governs:
“娱”[amusement], “耍”[playful], “婪
”[greedy], “嫉”[envy], “妒”[envy], “嫌
”[dislike], “佞”[to flatter], “妄
”[presumptuous], “妖”[evil], “奴
”[slave], “妓”[prostitute], “娼
”[prostitute], “奸”[rape], “姘”[have
an affair], “婊”[prostitute] and “嫖
”[prostitute]