Can Your Language Influence Your Thoughts? The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (ENGL 306A Group 1 Padlet) by

Background

k65ma — 2021-06-15 17:21:19 UTC

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as the theory of linguistic relativity, is a principle based on two core tenets (Swoyer):

Linguistic Diversity: that languages differ in significant ways from one another, and
Linguistic Influence on Thought: that the syntactic structure and lexicon of a language systematically influences its speakers’ conception and perception of the world.

These two claims underlie the proposition that speakers of different languages, through the influence of linguistic forces, come to understand the world in different ways.

Image source: Whorf's Science and Linguistics (cited in full in References).

References

k65ma — 2021-07-22 11:34:49 UTC

Ahearn, Laura. Living Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (Primers in Anthropology). 3rd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2021.

Babbel USA. "Linguistic Relativity: Does Your Language Change How You See The World?" YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqM7Q_Y2M7E.

Boroditsky, Lera. "How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think?" Edge.org, Edge. 11 June, 2009.

Chen, Keith. "Could Language Affect Your Ability to Save Money?" TED, June 2012. https://www.ted.com/talks/keith_chen_could_your_language_affect_your_ability_to_save_money.

Chsasl. “Deaf vs. Hearing Culture - Honorifics | Asl - American Sign Language.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 July 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4AX4bArB-4.

Clarke, Mark A., et al. “LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY AND SEX/GENDER STUDIES: EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS.” Language Learning, vol. 34, no. 2, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, June 1984, pp. 47–64, doi:10.1111/J.1467-1770.1984.TB01003.X.

Gerrig, Richard J., and Mahzarin R. Banaji. "Language and thought." Thinking and problem solving. Academic Press, 1994. 233-261.

Guiora, Alexander Z., et al. “LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT AND GENDER IDENTITY ATTAINMENT.” Language Learning, vol. 32, no. 2, 1982, pp. 289–304, doi:10.1111/J.1467-1770.1982.TB00973.X/ABSTRACT.

Holloway, Max. "Second Languages Around the World". MoveHub. https://www.movehub.com/blog/global-second-languages/

Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Beyond Good and Evil." The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Translated by Helen Zimmern, https://gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm

Raymond, Eric S. "How to Become a Hacker." http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

Samuel, Steven, et al. “Grammatical Gender and Linguistic Relativity: A Systematic Review.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 2019 26:6, vol. 26, no. 6, Springer, Aug. 2019, pp. 1767–86, doi:10.3758/S13423-019-01652-3.

Sapir, E. “The Status of Linguistics as a Science.” Language, vol. 5, no. 4, 1929, pp. 207–214. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/409588. Accessed 22 July 2021.

Skerrett, Delaney Michael. "Can the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis save the planet? Lessons from cross-cultural psychology for critical language policy." Current Issues in Language Planning 11.4 (2010): 331-340.

Slobin, Dan I. “Language and Thought Online.” Language and Thought Online | Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought | Books Gateway | MIT Press, 14 Mar. 2003, direct.mit.edu/books/book/1917/chapter/52675/Language-and-Thought-Online.

Swoyer, Chris. “The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Spring 2015 Edition, Stanford University, 2003, stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/spr2015/entries/relativism/supplement2.html.

Whorf, Benjamin. “Science and Linguistics.” Technology Review, vol. XLII, no. 6, 1940, pp. 3–7. BYU Library, contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/p15999coll16/id/104388.

Sapir and Whorf

k65ma — 2021-07-22 11:35:56 UTC

Sapir and Whorf popularized the notion of linguistic relativity, but did not themselves make the distinction between the strong and weak hypothesis. Instead, they each made claims of varying strength about the impact of language on cognition, through their personal experiences of various languages and cultures.

Interpersonal Relations

a34hu — 2021-07-23 16:51:16 UTC

Languages cause people to think before they speak in various ways when addressing other people. One way this is manifested is through honorifics.

Honorifics
In English, there are certain honorifics such as "sir" or "madam" but are not widely used in today's speech. Typically, one says "you" to address someone directly. However, in many languages, honorifics are ingrained in the culture and must be used when addressing someone older, more senior, or with higher status. Slobin gives us an example in Spanish:

"Imagine, for example, that the political balance in the United States shifts, and Spanish becomes the official language. Americans now would have to know—in every encounter—who is tú and who is Usted" (Slobin).

In contrast, the deaf culture in America does not often use honorifics when addressing others. They omit them because few people know their language so members of the community are much closer and likely know and care about each other. They simply show respect by using their sign names.

In the short video (<2 min) connected to this block, the differences in the use of honorifics is explained between hearing and deaf culture. Use subtitles if you do not know American Sign Language.

The use of honorifics in society are typically used to categorize people and can influence how much respect is given by the speaker.

Image Source:
“Respect Elder.” Kapampangan, aimeereyes14.blogspot.com/2021/03/kapampangan_29.html.

Sappir-Whorf in Other Contexts

jtparkin — 2021-07-23 20:48:07 UTC

It is not difficult to find examples of how the idea of linguistic relativity draws popular interest outside of linguistics.

Philosophy
Even before the ideas of Sappir or Whorf, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about his thoughts on the connection between language, culture, and philosophical belief. In Beyond Good and Evil, he writes (Nietzsche):

The wonderful family resemblance of all Indian, Greek, and German philosophizing is easily enough explained. In fact, where there is affinity of language, owing to the common philosophy of grammar—I mean owing to the unconscious domination and guidance of similar grammatical functions—it cannot but be that everything is prepared at the outset for a similar development and succession of philosophical systems, just as the way seems barred against certain other possibilities of world-interpretation. It is highly probable that philosophers within the domain of the Ural-Altaic languages (where the conception of the subject is least developed) look otherwise "into the world," and will be found on paths of thought different from those of the Indo-Germans and Mussulmans

This suggests that there was speculation on ideas similar to the Sappir-Whorf hypothesis before its development as part of modern linguistics.

Nietzsche in 1882 (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nietzsche1882.jpg)

Call to Action

mtsirlin — 2021-07-26 16:32:02 UTC

Many organizations nowadays value diversity - a diverse group of people, from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds provide for a richer, more comprehensive set of perspectives. After a comprehensive review of Linguistic Relativity, we can say with confidence that language itself is a key contributor to the way one sees the world. We urge you, the reader, to be mindful of this! A person who speaks a different language likely sees the world in a way you don’t. Perhaps this world view is limited in some sense - as is your own. But by learning from each other, you can overcome such limitations! So go out there - learn other languages, if for no reason other than to perceive the world through a different lens. At the very least, show some interest in other peoples’ cultures - and language is a great place to start.

When striving for diversity - be it in the workplace or elsewhere - consider providing equal and equitable opportunities for linguistic minorities, in addition to ethnic and cultural minorities (although there may be some significant overlap here). Moreover, the benefits of being fluent in several languages extends far beyond the field of translation: consider how multilingualism can provide a positive impact on your field, even if there is no direct link to language. Certain tasks are deeply connected with the concept of language, and share many of the same benefits with learning a new language: For example, learning the language of Math, or learning a programming language all contribute to a unique way of reasoning about certain problems.

Due to the influence of language on thought itself, a diverse set of languages corresponds to a diverse set of perspectives. All we suggest is to be mindful of this fact - use it to make the world better, more equitable, and more interesting for yourself and everyone around you.

Comment below what your takeaways are!

(Image source: https://www.earth.com/news/language-impact-perception-earth/)

Language, Space and Time

mtsirlin — 2021-07-26 16:35:00 UTC

The language you speak may influence your perception of space and time! No, this isn't something straight out of the movie "Arrival", where the aliens' language allowed them to move back and forth through time -- but rather something much more applicable. Behavioral economist Keith Chen found a fascinating pattern: languages without a concept for the future correspond with high savings rates (Chen): in languages such as German or Mandarin, the phrases for "It rained yesterday", "It rains today", and "It will rain tomorrow" translate to the English "It rain yesterday", "It rain today", and "It rain tomorrow" -- these languages do not have a past, present and future tense of the word "rain", and likewise with other verbs.

What Chen discovered, was that people who speak futureless languages -- all else being held equal -- are 30% more likely to having saved money in any given year. What's more, futureless language speakers are 25% less likely to smoke! (Chen) Presumably, the negative effects of smoking are seen to be more immediate to futureless languages, as opposed to being delegated to a later point in time for futured languages.

Sappir-Whorf and Gender as a Case Study

tjchow — 2021-07-26 16:40:07 UTC

Gender loading is a linguistic construct in the context of grammatical gender. For example, in English, the gender of a noun is dictated by its biological sex; inanimate objects like “cup” are referred to with the pronoun “it”, while a female lion would be referred to as “her” (Clarke et al.).

Languages vary in terms of markedness for gender. Hebrew, a language where nouns and their modifiers are overtly marked for gender differs vastly from English, where nouns and their modifiers are not overly marked for gender. The gender assigned to objects also differs depending on the language. An object that takes feminine grammatical grammar in one language may take masculine grammatical grammar in another (Clarke et al.). While a formal grammatical gender system has been deemed unnecessary in terms of language communication, an exception is when referring to individuals, usually human.

The perception of gender is a psychological construct, where the distinction between male and female cannot be viewed as wholly binary in terms of what is masculine and what is feminine. What is deemed feminine in one culture may also wildly differ from another culture (Clarke et al.).

Image source: “Gender Confused? Grammatical Gender Explained.” Thə Definite Article, www.thedefinitearticle.org/linguistics/gender-confused-grammatical-gender-explained.

mtsirlin — 2021-07-29 20:56:34 UTC

On the other side of the spectrum, cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky has conducted research on languages with different concepts of direction. For example, speakers of Kuuk Thaayorre (an indigenous Australian language) do not have words for "left", "right", "up", or "down". They only have words for the cardinal directions: North, South, East, West. Borodistky conducted a test, involving sorting pictures in chronological order, several times and in different conditions (Boroditsky).

English speakers laid out the pictures left to right, Hebrew speakers laid them out right to left. However Kuuk speakers arranged them from east to west, regardless of changes in position. Sometimes the pictures would go from top to bottom, other times from left to right, depending on the orientation of the subject (Boroditsky). This shows that Kuuk speakers are passively able to orient themselves in any situation -- something many of us struggle to do -- due to the way their language deals with direction.

How does your language influence your perception of time? Answer in the poll above!

mtsirlin — 2021-07-29 21:12:35 UTC

Start Here!

k65ma — 2021-07-31 13:03:44 UTC

Do you speak a second language?

Have you ever had difficulty trying to translate a word or phrase from that language to English, or vice versa? Maybe one word in your second language needs several English words to describe it, or the other way around.

Do you relate concepts and ideas together differently in a second language, compared to English? What if the grammatical structure of a language changes the way you perceive and categorize the world?

That is,

Do different languages cause their speakers to understand the world differently?

This is the linguistic relativity hypothesis, an idea popularized by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf.

We begin to explore this idea in Background.

Image source: freepik. "Hand drawn group of people speaking different languages." Freepik Company S.L., https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/hand-drawn-group-people-speaking-different-languages_2661248.htm.

Edward Sapir

k65ma — 2021-07-31 13:11:31 UTC

Similar to Whorf, Sapir claims in a 1929 paper titled The Status of Linguistics as a Science:

“The fact of the matter is that the ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same worlds with different labels attached.”

Again supporting what is now known as the strong hypothesis.

Image source: Canadian Museum of History. "Edward Sapir, 1913."Canadian Museum of History, https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/et0924be.html.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

k65ma — 2021-07-31 13:12:18 UTC

Whorf claims in his 1940 paper, Science and Linguistics:

“We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way [...] no individual is free to describe nature with absolute impartiality but is constrained to certain modes of interpretation [...] We are thus introduced to a new principle of relativity, which holds that all observers are not led by the same physical evidence to the same picture of the universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are similar, or can in some way be calibrated.“

Appearing to propose the strong hypothesis.

Image source: Benjamin Lee Whorf Papers (MS 822). "

Benjamin Lee Whorf as an assistant secretary at The Hartford." Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, https://findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:4344755.

The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

k65ma — 2021-07-31 14:48:34 UTC

The linguistic relativity hypothesis is qualified by the strong hypothesis and the weak hypothesis (Ahearn):

Strong hypothesis: linguistic determinism; the idea that language completely determines how an individual thinks about the world, and that the bounds of a person’s language determines the bounds of their understanding of the world
Weak hypothesis: the idea that a person’s language and its innate categories influence (rather than determine) their thoughts and conception of the world.

The strong hypothesis is mostly rejected by modern linguists, while experiments and research have provided some empirical evidence to the weak hypothesis (Ahearn).

For a brief introduction to this hypothesis, take a look at the video below!

k65ma — 2021-07-31 14:58:34 UTC

Legend

k65ma — 2021-07-31 15:22:02 UTC

a34hu — 2021-08-01 17:17:34 UTC

jtparkin — 2021-08-01 19:48:08 UTC

Programming
As programming languages are designed to describe actual processes, it's unsurprising that they would have differing expressive power depending on how they are designed. A direct comparison to natural language does not make sense in this respect. However, the idea that a programming language can affect how you think even when you aren't using it directly is discussed by some programmers. In his guide on "How to Become a Hacker", Eric S. Raymond writes (Raymond):

LISP is worth learning for a different reason — the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use LISP itself a lot.

In a way, programming may be an interesting case study. Since programmers learn how to express their ideas in a form that has many artificial constraints, if Sappir-Whorf-like ideas are true this could have significant effect on thinking processes (despite the lack of similarity to natural language).

Lisp-style programming languages have the unique feature that the programmer writes their code directly as a syntax tree. (Public domain code from the Alexandria library: https://gitlab.common-lisp.net/alexandria/alexandria)

tjchow — 2021-08-01 21:17:35 UTC

The relationship between gender loading in languages and the perception of gender has been subject to several studies, specifically whether grammatical gender influences concepts, where a speaker of one language may think of one object as more “masculine” than a speaker of another language. A study in 2003 concluded that there can be a learned relationship between grammatical gender and how one conceptualises gender of objects (Samuel et al.). The study suggests that the influence of grammatical gender is human-made, rather than there being a relationship between grammatical gender and biological sex.

This conclusion is important given the growing awareness of the perception of gender and its lack of binary. Of course, with languages that have maximal gender loading, the question remains: how can we adapt these languages to include space linguistically for those who do not identify with the traditional perception of gender? Would native speakers be willing to adapt?

Image source: Heavener, Cheyenne. “Gender in English: How English Forces Speakers to Conform to a Gender Binary.” Drury Mirror, Drury University, 12 Apr. 2021, www.drurymirror.org/2021/04/12/gender-in-english-how-english-forces-speakers-to-conform-to-a-gender-binary/.

tjchow — 2021-08-01 21:18:51 UTC

Currently, advocates for more gender-neutral languages have encountered resistance. In September 2017, a school textbook promoting a gender-neutral version of French resulted in the banning of any usage of gender-neutral French in all government documents. France’s highest authority on the French language, The French Academy, has also voiced opposition (Guiora et al.). There is no a direct relation between gender loading and perception of gender, but could the possibility of a more gender-neutral language promote inclusiveness and awareness for those who don’t identify with traditional gender terms?

Samuel et al.'s 2019's paper perhaps sums it up best:

Perhaps most importantly, it needs to be empirically established that grammatical gender itself is not a cultural label but a concept with psychological reality before any influence can be reasonably attributed to truly linguistic processes.

scseguna — 2021-08-02 03:57:11 UTC

scseguna — 2021-08-02 03:57:42 UTC

As mentioned above the Sappir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that language directly impacts an individual's thoughts and that people who speak different languages perceive the world differently (Skerrett).

The Influence of Language on the Perception of the World

scseguna — 2021-08-02 03:59:27 UTC

Image Source: ncjs.us. "The Influence of Language on the Perception of the World." National Collegiate Journal of Science., https://ncjs.us/the-influence-of-language-on-the-perception-of-the-world/

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:00:45 UTC

The Sappir-Whorf hypothesis is important for a variety of reasons beginning with the idea that it supports our understanding of the field of linguistics. More specifically linguistic processes such as the role that linguistics plays on an individual's thoughts and worldviews.

Large Scale

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:01:37 UTC

On a larger scale, this hypothesis can be utilized to support our understanding of linguistic diversity.

How Is this done?
By analyzing sounds and signs of different languages we are able to recognize differences between languages. These differences help us understand linguistic diversity. This is possible because our world is largely determined by our language limits and these differences and judgments are associated with linguistic diversity (Gerrig & Banaji).

(See Example on Gender)

Small Scale

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:02:33 UTC

On a smaller scale, this hypothesis is used to understand how linguistics can influence an individual's thoughts (Ahearn).

How Is this done?
By analyzing the thoughts of individuals who speak the same language we are able to compare these thoughts to others who speak different languages. This allows us to understand how linguistics can influence thoughts and the way that individuals perceive the world based on the language they speak (Gerrig & Banaji).

(See Example on Interpersonal Relations)

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:04:30 UTC

This is important because by understanding and recognizing differences we are able to maintain, support, and promote global linguistic diversity.

Linguistic Diversity

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:04:53 UTC

Image Source: npld. "NPLD our languages in Europe." The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity., https://www.npld.eu/about-us/objectives/

scseguna — 2021-08-02 04:05:39 UTC

Besides this hypothesis being important for understanding cultural diversity and how language impacts individuals' world view it is also a useful tool for other fields. More specifically the Sappir- Whorf hypothesis is used in psychology, anthropology, and philosophy.