From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Jul 29 2003 - 22:24:00 MDT
On Wednesday, Jul 30, 2003, at 10:12 Australia/Sydney, Terry W. Colvin wrote:
> At 11:22 AM 7/27/03 +0200, Frederick H. Cheeseman wrote:
>
>> There is a linguistic theory--known as the Sapir-Whorf
>> hypothesis--that
> the structure of a human language sets limits on the thinking of those who
> speak it; hence a language could even place constraints on the development
> of the cultures that use it.
>
>> Is this true ?
A response from a professional linguist.
Hi Barry
Please pass this on:
SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
There is a very large academic literature on the SWH (which owes more to
Whorf than to Sapir), not to mention discussion of works influenced by
it such as Orwell's '1984' and fringe/near-fringe theories such as General
Semantics/NLP which draw off it. It fell out of favour in the 1960s, partly
because of Chomsky's contrary focus on what is allegedly SHARED between all
languages. Nowadays most linguists would hold that it is valid to a degree
(which seems almost platitudinously true) but that Whorf much exaggerated it.
There is certainly evidence of a 'loop', ie other aspects of thought also
infuence language. There are also known cases where major linguistic
differences do NOT involve differences in thinking. Etc.
If/to the extent that the SWH is valid, it applies not only to words but also
to grammar.
SWH advocates would argue that if languages are sufficiently different one is
not even 'thinking the same thoughts' (ie it goes very deep). But, even if
the SWH is strongly valid, its effects would not be very noticeable with
related or similar languages such as English & Italian.
There is also a question as to how far the SWH is even really empirically
testable, especially in a 'strong' form.
I hope this helps.
Mark Newbrook
-- Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com > Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
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