15 items | 2 visits
List of web items for and against the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Updated on Nov 04, 13
Created on Nov 04, 13
Category: Science
URL:
Linguistic Influence on Thought:
The structure and lexicon of one's language influences how one perceives and conceptualizes the world, and they do so in a systematic way.
"While “futured languages,” like English, distinguish between the past, present and future, “futureless languages,” like Chinese, use the same phrasing to describe the events of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Using vast inventories of data and meticulous analysis, Chen found that huge economic differences accompany this linguistic discrepancy. Futureless language speakers are 30 percent more likely to report having saved in any given year than futured language speakers. "
an article that has some simple illustrations of linguistic relativity
Part of the supposition is that Eskimo languages would have a focal vocabulary with several extra words to describe snow, which is specifically the point of Boas's theory. They deal with snow more than other cultures, just as artists have more words to describe the various details of their profession — what a non-artist calls "paint", the artist identifies as "oil paint", "acrylic paint", "tempera", or "watercolor". This does not mean that these two individuals are observing two different objects, nor does it mean that the artist would be confused by the idea that oil paint and acrylic paint are related. Likewise in English, the words "blizzard", "flurry", "pack", "slush," "drift", "sleet," and "powder" refer to different types of snow, but all are recognized as varieties of "snow" in a general sense.
good cartoons and illustrations including the doctor.
15 items | 2 visits
List of web items for and against the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Updated on Nov 04, 13
Created on Nov 04, 13
Category: Science
URL: