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John Lucy is a modern proponent of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. He has argued for a weak version of this hypothesis as a result of his comparative studies between the grammars of English and Mayan Yucatec. [5]
Linguistic relativity asserts that language influences worldview or cognition.One form of linguistic relativity, linguistic determinism, regards peoples' languages as determining and influencing the scope of cultural perceptions of their surrounding world.
The concept of linguistic relativity concerns the relationship between language and thought, specifically whether language influences thought, and, if so, how.This question has led to research in multiple disciplines—including anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and philosophy.
The hypothesis of linguistic relativity put forth by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, holds that the language we speak both affects and reflects our view of the world. This idea is also reflected in the concept behind general semantics. In a popular 1940 article on the subject, Whorf referred to Eskimo languages having several words for snow:
There is a strong and a weak version of the hypothesis which argue for more or less influence of language on thought. The strong version, linguistic determinism , argues that without language there is and can be no thought (a largely discredited idea), while the weak version, linguistic relativity , supports the idea that there are some ...
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis branches out into two theories: linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. Linguistic determinism is viewed as the stronger form – because language is viewed as a complete barrier, a person is stuck with the perspective that the language enforces – while linguistic relativity is perceived as a weaker form of the theory because language is discussed as a ...
Pages in category "Linguistic theories and hypotheses" The following 36 pages are in this category, out of 36 total. This list may not reflect recent changes .
A central claim in Whorf's work on linguistic relativity was that for the Hopi units of time were not considered objects that can be counted like most of the comparable English words that are described by nouns (a day, an hour etc.). He argued that only the Hopi word for "year" was a noun, the words for days and nights were ambivalent between ...