Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Group 4:
MC: Nguyen Thi Que Chi
Benjamin Whorf: Vo Nhu Tuan
Scholars/People: Xuan An - Truc Anh - Minh Trung
Sociolinguistics Channel
WHO ARE THEY?
Edward Sapir - American anthropologist-linguist
Sapir studied the ways in which
language and culture influence each
other, and he was interested in the
relation between linguistic
differences, and differences in
cultural world views.
Benjamin Lee Whorf - American linguist
Whorf’s views on the interdependence of language and thought have become known as Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
OUT OF USE
Does language affect behavior?
At Pihara tribe
Language of Pihara tribe contains only three counting words: 1 2 and Many They have difficulty in recounting numbers higher than three: cannot count to ten after 8 months learning Portuguese
WHAT DID THEY COME UP WITH?
• Language has power and can control how you see the world.
• Language is a guide to your reality, structuring your thoughts.
• There are certain thoughts of an individual in one language that cannot be understood by those who live in another language.
TWO VERSIONSYears later….
Linguistic Determini
sm
• Language determines thought• Linguistic structure determines cognitive
structures• True cross-cultural communication and
translation are impossible
Linguistic DeterminismHopis vs. English perception of time
• Time as a linear, objective sequence of events
• E.g. ‘They stayed ten days’
• Time as intensity and duration• ‘They stayed until the eleventh day’ • or ‘They left after the tenth day’.
Hopis cannot have access to modern scientific thought because their language doesn’t allow them to They can only gain the modern sense of time by learning English.
Ethnocentrism
Linguistic
Relativism
• Speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently
Ex:
Linguistic
Relativism
• There are cultural differences in the semantic associations of concepts
• Encoding of life experience in a language is not exclusively accessible to everyone, just more important for the native speakers
In English
In Vietnamese
The man who marries my mom’s older sister
uncle bác
My father’s younger brother uncle chú
My mom’s younger brother uncle cậu
The man who marries my father’s younger sister
uncle dượng
CONCLUSION
The work of Sapir and Whorf has led to two important insights: There is nowadays a recognition that language, as code, reflects
cultural preoccupations and constrains the way people think. More than in Whorf’s days we recognize how important context is
in complementing the meanings encoded in the language.
Controversies remain…
References
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and Culture. China: OUP.
University-Batna, H. L. (Producer). (2013). The Sapir-Whorp Hypothesis. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3QswCgdoU
Can Language Affect How You Spend Your Money? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7wLCbZ84M