Chapter 8 - Culture, Language, and Thought Flashcards
(7 cards)
Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956)
-advocate of linguistic relativity
-believed that different languages lead people to view the world differently
-used the example of the English language only having one word to describe snow, while the Inuit language has many words that distinguish among falling snow, wet snow, etc., leading to different perceptions of snow between English-speaking cultures and Inuit culture.
define linguistic relativity
the hypothesis that one’s language determines the nature of one’s thought.
What were two major criticisms of Whorf’s snow example?
1) it was based on casual observation, not systematic research.
2) he overestimated Inuit snow terms and underestimated English terms like “slush” and “blizzard”.
What does recent research say about snow vocabulary in different climates?
Consistent with Whorf’s ideas: environmental factors, such as climates, shape peoples communicative needs, thus influencing the category systems used in their language.
**languages spoken in colder climates have richer vocabularies for describing snow than the English language.
**some languages spoken in warmer climates merge ‘ice’ and ‘snow’ into one concept.
How was Whorf’s hypothesis tested beyond snow vocabulary?
through cross-cultural comparisons of how people perceive and categorize colours.
**some languages use one word for both blue and green.
According to research, how do colour categories in language affect thinking?
in a study of participants who speak African languages that do not have a boundary between blue and green, findings indicate that they have more trouble making quick discriminations between blue and green colours than English-speaking participants do.
What is the current consensus on linguistic relativity?
a weak version is supported: language influences thought, especially in fine-grained distinctions, but it doesn’t fully determine it.
