User:Alyangleo/Linguistic Relativity

Linguistic relativity is the idea that the language a person speaks changes how that person views the world. There is a strong and weak version of linguistic relativity. ‘Strong linguistic relativity’ means that the language someone speaks determines how that person views the world. ‘Weak linguistic relativity’ means that language affects, but does not determine, how someone views the world.

History

The idea of linguistic relativity comes from the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. This hypothesis is named after the linguistic anthropologist Edward Sapir and the linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf. Sapir and Whorf did not publish any works together and did not create the name ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.’ The works of both Sapir and Whorf demonstrate the idea of linguistic relativity. The term ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis’ was created by other scholars.

Popular Examples

One popular example of linguistic relativity can be seen with speakers of the language Guugu Yimithirr. In this language, the cardinal directions of north, east, south, and west are often used to describe a location instead of words like right, left, towards, or behind. Speakers of Guugu Yimithirr are able to identify where north, east, south, and west are with ease. Speakers of other languages, like English, usually cannot identify north, east, south, and west easily.