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