Linguistic Determinism
Linguistic determinism is a theory suggesting that language shapes and influences the way people think and perceive the world. It proposes that the structure and vocabulary of a language directly impact an individual's cognition and worldview. This concept implies that different languages may lead to distinct thought patterns and cultural perspectives.
4 Key excerpts on "Linguistic Determinism"
eBook - ePub- A. P. Foulkes(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...5 Linguistic Determinism and literary freedom There is a point of view known as Linguistic Determinism which has been associated variously with the writings of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Edward Sapir, Benjamin Whorf, Emile Durkheim and, more recently, of L. S. Vygotsky (Lyons 1968, pp. 432ff.; Cherry 1978, pp. 306ff.; Eco 1977, pp. 76ff.). The so-called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which represents the extreme form of Linguistic Determinism, holds that language does not reflect ‘reality’, but rather creates it according to the structures and limits permitted by the language of a given culture: in Sapir’s words, ‘we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation’ (Whorf 1956, p. 134). Observing how linguistic factors could predominate over obvious physical ones (Whorf 1956, pp. 135ff.), and at the same time investigating the expressive possibilities of non-Indoeuropean languages, Whorf spoke of a ‘linguistically determined thought world’ which ‘not only collaborates with our cultural idols and ideals, but engages even our unconscious reactions in its patterns and gives them certain typical characters’ (Whorf 1956, p. 154). Each language ordains the forms and categories by which we not only communicate, but also analyse the external world, notice or neglect relationships and phenomena, channel reasoning and build ‘the house of consciousness’ (Whorf 1956, p. 252). The mind, in short, uses language in order to ‘make a provisional analysis of reality and then regard it as final’, and ‘Western culture has gone farthest here, farthest in determined thoroughness of provisional analysis, and farthest in determination to regard it as final’ (Whorf 1956, p. 263). Even if we accept this view, or a modified form of it known as ‘cultural relativity’ (Lyons 1968, p...
eBook - ePubLanguage, Culture, and Society
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
- James Stanlaw, Nobuko Adachi, Zdenek Salzmann(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...What this means is that we must have a mental construct or schema in our heads for how reality works—in this case, a world where gender is important, indeed so important that it is encoded in our particular language. Noting that speakers of a particular language might neglect objects or events that speakers of another language normally take into account, John Carroll also restated the hypothesis of linguistic relativity and determinism in a more modest but more acceptable form: “Insofar as languages differ in the ways they encode objective experience, language users tend to sort out and distinguish experiences differently according to the categories provided by their respective languages. These cognitions will tend to have certain effects on behavior” (Carroll 1963:12). SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Today, people from a variety of disciplines are coming together to study some of the most basic problems of humanity: What is the nature of knowledge? What is the nature of thought? How is the mind structured? What, if anything, is innate or biological? What is cultural or environmental? Just what can we think about—or can we not think about? Linguistic anthropology has much to contribute to these discussions. There is no question that languages differ—if only superficially, as contemporary universalist linguists would add. But linguists would agree that any nontechnical utterance can be expressed with reasonable accuracy in any language, although usually not on a word-by-word basis. When it comes to technical subjects, some languages have highly specialized terminologies that may be lacking in others—one could hardly expect to give a report on quantum chromodynamics in, say, Hopi. Yet Hopi has specialized areas in its lexicon that are not matched in English...
eBook - ePubThe Cognitive Sciences
An Interdisciplinary Approach
- Carolyn P. Sobel, Paul Li(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...This view was subsequently interpreted to mean that we cannot—and cannot learn to—think in any way but the way in which our language dictates. Because many felt this interpretation was incorrect—and was threatening to groups that might be politically affected by it—the hypothesis was rejected by the establishment. In fact, there was a strong reaction against it, because it seemed to predict that if one’s language lacked some forms of expression its speakers were incapable of conceptualizing what such expressions express. Consider, for example, the construction that is second nature to English speakers: “If I were you …” Of course I know perfectly well that I am not you. That is precisely why I put it in this way, using an if construction, paired with the special form were of the verb to be. There are languages that lack a construction of this sort, called a counterfactual, as it is counter to what is in fact so. A weaker version of the hypothesis was considered somewhat more acceptable at the time, namely, that the constructions of language make it relatively easier or more difficult to think in certain ways. The effect of language on thought was for a period a topic many were unwilling to engage in. Like the question of the origin of language itself, there has not always been enough information available for scientists to study effectively the relation of language to thought. More recently, information from previously unstudied populations has led to a revival of interest in this issue, as we see in the next chapter. Ferdinand de Saussure Another approach to the field of linguistics was introduced earlier in the 20th century, when attention turned from the focus on historical-comparative studies to the principles governing the structure of language still being spoken. The theoretical ideas introduced at this time by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) were extremely influential, essentially redefining the field...
eBook - ePub- Vivian Cook, Benedetta Bassetti, Vivian Cook, Benedetta Bassetti(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Swan, M. (2009). We do need methods. In V. J. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), Contemporary applied linguistics, Volume 1 (pp. 117–136). London: Continuum. Wilkins, D. A. (1972/1980). The linguistic and situational content of the common core in a unit/credit system. Reprinted in J. Trim, R. Richterich, J. Van Ek, & D. A. Wilkins (Eds.). (1980), System development in adult language learning. Oxford, UK: Pergamon. Wilkins, D. A. (1976). Notional syllabuses. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 23 Translation and bilingual cognition Juliane House In this chapter I first discuss the impact of linguistic relativity on translation, both in its strong deterministic version and its current version. Second, I present arguments for the theoretical possibility of translation, and propose the notion of ‘linguistic–cultural relativity’. Finally I briefly touch on recent neurolinguistic research on the organization of two languages in the brain. BILINGUAL COGNITION AND THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF TRANSLATION Linguistic Determinism and translation Broadly speaking, the hypothesis of Linguistic Determinism suggests that language strongly influences thought and behavior. Von Humboldt (1836) was the first influential propagator of the idea that languages as a priori frameworks of cognition determine their speakers’ Weltanschauung, and he believed that languages have an ‘inner form’, a spiritual structure which corresponds to its users’ thought processes...
