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Welcome to the blog, dear readers! Today I would like to tell you about one interesting theory, which is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. It concerns the relationship of our language, culture and cognitive processes. I suggest you figure out what this connection is and why scientists are so eager to understand it.
The concept of «Sapir-Whorf hypothesis»
First of all, it should be noted that there are 2 options for how to briefly convey the meaning of the hypothesis.
- Strict wording. Language determines thinking, as a result of which linguistic categories determine and limit cognitive (that is, cognitive).
- Soft wording. Thinking, together with the categories of linguistics, are the determining factors influencing the influence of traditions and some forms of non-verbal behavior.
It is important to take into account the fact that the concept of the «Sapir-Whorf hypothesis» is not true. This is due to the fact that American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf did not work together on the relationship between speech, thinking and non-verbal behavior. In addition, both of them did not put forward their ideas as scientific hypotheses.
A bit of history
The origins of ideas about linguistic relativity go back to the distant XNUMXth century. Even then, the German philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt believed that language is the spirit of a nation.
But already at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, American anthropologists were trying to get closer to this theory. The group of scientists was led by Edward Sapir and Franz Boas. Sapir at that time was very critical of linguistic determinism. His point of view can be traced, of course, in his scientific works.
At that time, the scientist had a student who supported him in every possible way. His name subsequently became known, this is Benjamin Whorf. At that time, in addition to being a supporter of the theory of relativism, he was also studying the languages of the American Indians. Whorf successfully published his work, which dealt with the impact of linguistic differences on the cognitive abilities and behavior of different people. Another student of Sapir, Harry Heuger, introduced the concept of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to the scientific community.
And only at the beginning of the second decade of the twentieth century, the linguist from Germany Leo Weisgerberg clearly formulated the essence of the hypothesis of the teacher Sapir and the student Whorf.
The essence of the hypothesis
Let’s see what the essence of this hypothesis is. And its essence is as follows: the structure of human speech influences thinking and the ability to know the world around. That is, based on the language we speak, our perception of reality is formed. Accordingly, the world around us is perceived and evaluated differently by speakers of different languages.
A distinctive feature of this hypothesis is the idea that if a person knows two or more languages, he is able to think in different ways.
Based on the theory of linguistic relativity that we are talking about, the unique classification of the world around a particular person will be determined by the system of speech that he owns. After all, everything that enters our consciousness from the outside is images and impressions that are in a constantly changing stream.
Based on all of the above, we can determine the following main objects of the hypothesis. So, this list includes:
- awareness of time;
- mental potential;
- cognitive processes;
- perception of shape and color;
- understanding of cause and effect relationships.
Sapir-Whorf theory in examples
In real life, of course, there was confirmation of the linguistic theory of American scientists. First of all, I want to give two very striking examples of how the hypothesis works in practice.
Example 1
The hypothesis of linguistic relativity has been applied to the perception of the real world by native English speakers and American Navajo Indians. As a result, the difference in how these people interpret reality became clear.
Studying the classification of language forms, scientists found that Navajo children used the category of forms much more often when talking about certain objects. Children from English-speaking families used to categorize objects much less frequently.
Linguists interpret this fact as follows. They argue that the Navajo linguistic system contains a unique grammatical dependence of verbs and forms of objects that are spoken about or with which an action is performed.
Example 2
The result of the experiment served as confirmation of the hypothesis of linguistic relativity of Sapir and Whorf. Linguists worked with children from two groups. The first is African Americans, the second is Europeans. It is important to take into account the fact that all children have used English in their lives.
The essence of the task was that the subjects had to make geometric figures. The children coped with the task satisfactorily. However, there were those who had a hard time understanding what to do with the cubes. Difficulties arose among African-American children whose families have a low level of income. There were also such brilliant minds who were able to refute the theory of language relativism.
Having studied 78 languages, linguists and other scientists have confirmed the fact that speakers of different languages and, accordingly, different cultures, are very close in such a characteristic as color perception. This process is almost identical for them.
I would like to note that there are a number of scientists who do not perceive the result of this study as an absolute refutation of the hypothesis. This is due to the fact that the perception of colors depends on the characteristics of vision. From a biological point of view, all people perceive colors in the same way (or almost the same way).
Important points of the theory
Please note that the theory we are talking about today is verifiable through logical analysis or any other empirical methods. All methods that are used to confirm or refute this hypothesis are divided into 2 groups:
- direct (used in ethnolinguistics — the relationship of language, thinking and national culture is studied);
- indirect (work in the field of psycholinguistics — the relationship between language and human behavior is studied).
It is important to consider that all the main provisions of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis are based on 2 main ideas:
- Human language is a special system in which a person grows and thinks from birth. In addition, our awareness of the world around us occurs on the basis of speech. It is both a means and a way of cognition, which occurs on the subconscious level on the basis of speech skills. The society in which a person grew up and the language determines how this person will perceive his environment.
- The language system in a society is closely connected with the living conditions and the peculiarities of the cultural development of the society. In reality, there are simply no languages so similar in structure that it can be argued that they are used in the same social reality. Each society is a separate world, and the languages of each of these societies reflect a special perception of this world. That is, the more languages differ, the greater the difference in people’s perception of reality.
Sapir draws an analogy between language and mathematical systems. He argued that the speech form imposes on us an orientation in reality. Speech, according to the scientist, affects the perception of reality, our experience, and performs a heuristic function.
Whorf tested Sapir’s ideas based on specific sources. The result of the research of the scientist was the formulation, which ultimately embodied the whole essence of the hypothesis. And his conclusion came down to the fact that people accept the world as a stream of impressions. Accordingly, the human mind must perceive and organize it. This process occurs due to the language system that exists in our minds.
According to the works of Whorf, linguists have received a certain principle according to which the theory of linguistic relativity or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis functions: similar physical phenomena make it possible to reproduce a similar picture of the world, provided that language systems are similar (or correlative).
The fate of the hypothesis today
Scientists who are interested in the theory of linguistic relativity still cannot come to a consensus regarding the veracity of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Also, at the moment there is no evidence that can confirm or refute this hypothesis by 100%.
Many studies have been carried out on this subject. However, the results of these works can have many interpretations and be perceived from different points of view. This fact may explain why this theory does not have permanent followers who are professionals in their field.
The theory of Sapir and Whorf, as well as the interaction of language and thinking, quite often became an object of interest for representatives of various areas of science. Philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists and other scientists worked on the problem, in addition to linguists. The results of these studies served as the basis for the creation of artificial languages, and many writers drew inspiration from this to work on their works.
Conclusion
If you are interested in the topic of speech, then I recommend that you read an article about speech etiquette. Unfortunately, in the modern world, few people follow this. After studying this article, you will be able to correctly compose a conversation with any people.
Thank you, dear readers, for visiting this blog. I sincerely hope that my article aroused genuine interest in you.
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The material for the article was prepared by Yulia Gintsevich.