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That's called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and has largely fallen out of favor in modern (Chomskyan, universal grammar) linguistics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wik
by wheels 16y ago
That's called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and has largely fallen out of favor in modern (Chomskyan, universal grammar) linguistics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoYes, although most people who talk about the SWH don't actually quote what was originally said. The Wikipedia article is pretty good, but should be regarded as a starting point rather than as definitive. There is still some dispute over some of the related issues. I know some linguists who separate SWH from "Linguistic relativity." It is clear that there are ideas we can have without necessarily having the language to express them, but similarly, in groups with fluent polyglots the language in use shifts regularly according to the subject/topic. It seems clear that polyglots will prefer one language over another, and that seems to be correlated with the subject, but research in this subject is hard, and clear, unambiguous and uncontroversial results are rare.
- phuff 16y agoAnd modern, Chomskyan, universal grammar linguistics has fallen out of favor among most post-modern linguists everywhere outside of Boston ;)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]