Linguistic Relativism
Linguists such as Noam Chomsky, Benjamin Lee Whorf, and Edward Sapir have
suggested that there is relativity to language, and speakers of languages relate to their
realities differently from each other. This is to say that differences in language directly
lead to vast differences in the experience of the world and the mental processes of
thought. Under the ideas of linguistic relativism, it is held that languages construct a
speaker's reality and differences in languages make for irreconcilable differences in
reasoning.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which is a central idea in the field of linguistics,
essentially embodies the idea of linguistic relativism. Briefly, the hypothesis asserts that
as stated above, differences in language result in differences in thought and perception.
Radically speaking, the hypothesis suggests that human beings use language to construct
the means by which they relate to reality—Sapir stated in his studies that "Human beings
do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as
ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which
has become the medium of expression for their society" (Swoyer). Sapir's statements
suggest that without language, humans' ability to express and relate to and about their
surrounding realities would be highly compromised.
That being said, linguistic relativity is a natural way of explaining the differences
in color perception in speakers of different languages. Linguists (including Özgen) have
studied languages and their distinctions between colors and determined that some
languages draw linguistic lines between colors differently. Some languages discern only
between white and black, while others add more. Statistically, there appears to be a
pattern to how color distinctions are added:
Stage 1: Distinctions between black and white only.
Stage 2: Red is added to the distinctions.
Stage 3: Either green or yellow is added.
Stage 4: Both green and yellow are added in addition to red, black, and white.
Stage 5: Blue is added, for a total of 6 distinctions.
Stage 6: Brown is added for a total of 7 distinctions.
Stage 7: At this point, a full array of the 11 natural distinctions of color occurs, including
orange, purple, pink, and grey as compared to stage 6.
As this data suggests, the distinctions between colors that occur based on language
completely exclude some linguistic color distinctions. Language directly affects cultures'
perceptions of the reality, in this case based on color. It is worth noting that a wide
margin of languages operate under stage 7.
The ideas behind the perception of color can be easily applied in the field of
rhetoric and technical writing. Color can be an immediately engaging aspect of document
design—aesthetic choices are eye-catching and the connotations of color are important to
understand in formulating a document for a particular audience. Color schemes help to
convey moods and trigger psychological reactions, for better or worse, in readers.
Choosing whether to print in black and white, single-color schemes, multi-color schemes,
or full-color is a choice writers have to make based on the applications of their work.
Rhetorically, linguistic handling of color is much more abstract. The differences
in color perception of languages are worth noting, for writers and rhetoricians, but much
of the time languages with more limited color terms are not utilized in the realm of
rhetoric or professional writing. Nonetheless, the linguistic ramifications of discussing
color need to be considered. Knowledge of linguistic ties to psychological perceptions is
still highly studied and debated, but language choices even beyond just the realm of color
play a key role in allowing the audience of a technical document to adequately
psychologically relate. Because language enables humans to interact and refer to their
reality, it is important that an author use language to relate a reality broad enough to
allow a wide enough audience to engage with it.