Linguistic Relativity

Introduction:

Linguistic relativity is the notion that language can affect our thought processes, and is often referred to as the ‘Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’, after the two linguists who brought the idea into the spotlight. Whorf writes how “Language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual’s mental activity” (1956:212), and I will explain how it is able to do so. In this essay I will argue that certain ways of mental categorization, spatial cognition and reality interpretation, based on the characteristics of our specific variety of language, influence our perception of the world. I will discuss how languages divide up nature differently, and the cognitive repercussions of doing so, before identifying contrasting methods of thinking about space and location, and then will finish by looking at how grammatical differences have the power to predispose a particular vision of reality.

Categorisation varies across different language groups

One noticeable difference between some languages is the different ways in which they categorise the various aspects of their environment. Whorf believed that cross-linguistically there is “divergence in the analysis of the world”, and that “languages dissect nature in many different ways” (1956:214), allocating objects and actions to sets of categories which may be different to other varieties.

Setting out to test this claim, Choi and Bowerman (1991) asked both Korean and English-speaking children to separate a set of actions, including “joining two Lego pieces”, and “putting toys in container” (1991:96), into two groups. The English children classified the scenes as either belonging to an ‘on’ group (e.g....

... middle of paper ...

...Spatial Language Facilitates Spatial Cognition: Evidence from Children Who Lack Language Input. Cognition 127, pp. 318-330.

Haviland, J. (1998) Guugu Yimithirr Cardinal Directions. Ethnos 26 (1), pp. 25-47.

Lebra, T.S. (1992) Self in Japanese Culture. In Rosenberger, N.R. eds. Japanese Sense of Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 105-120.

Lucy, J. (1992) Language, Diversity and Thought: A reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Piaget, J. (1954) The construction of reality in the child. New York: Basic Books.

Suzuki, T. (1978) Words in context: A Japanese perspective on language and culture. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International.

Whorf, B.L. (1940) Science and Linguistics. In Carroll, J.B. eds. Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 207-219.