Linguistic Relativity: speakers of different languages think and behave differen

Started by Siege, May 27, 2009, 09:24:46 PM

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Siege

Mindblowing.
Is this why arabs are such a bunch of retards?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis

Quote


The linguistic relativity principle (also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) is the idea that the varying cultural concepts and categories inherent in different languages affect the cognitive classification of the experienced world in such a way that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it. The idea that linguistic structure influences the cognition of language users has bearings on the fields of Anthropological linguistics, Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Cognitive science, Linguistic anthropology, Sociology of language and Philosophy of language, and it has been the subject of extensive studies in all of these fields. The idea of linguistic influences on thought has also captivated the minds of authors and creative artists inspiring numerous ideas in literature, in the creation artificial languages and even forms of therapy such as Neuro-linguistic Programming.
The idea originated in the German national romantic thought of the early 19th century where language was seen as the expression of the spirit of a nation, as put particularly by Wilhelm von Humboldt. The idea was embraced by figures in the incipient school of American anthropology such as Franz Boas and Edward Sapir. Sapir's student Benjamin Lee Whorf added observations of how he perceived these linguistic differences to have consequences in human cognition and behaviour. Whorf has since been seen as the primary proponent of the principle of linguistic relativity.
Whorf's insistence on the importance of linguistic relativity as an important factor in human cognition attracted opposition from many sides. Psychologist Eric Lenneberg decided to put Whorf's assumptions and assertions to the test. He formulated the principle of linguistic relativity as a testable hypothesis and undertook a series of experiments testing whether traces of linguistic relativity could be determined in the domain of color perception. In the 1960s the idea of linguistic relativity fell out of favor in the academical establishment, since the prevalent paradigm in linguistics and anthropology, personified in Noam Chomsky, stressed the universal nature of human language and cognition. When the 1969 study of Berlin and Kay showed that color terminology is subject to universal semantic constraints, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was seen as completely discredited.
From the late 1980s a new school of linguistic relativity scholars, rooted in the advances within cognitive and social linguistics have examined the effects of differences in linguistic categorization on cognition finding broad support for the hypothesis in experimental contexts.[1] Effects of linguistic relativity have been shown particularly in the domain of spatial cognition and in the social use of language, but also in the field of color perception. Recent studies have shown that color perception is particularly prone to linguistic relativity effects when processed in the left brain hemisphere, suggesting that this brain half relies more on language than the right one.[2] Currently a balanced view of linguistic relativity is espoused by most linguists holding that language influences certain kinds of cognitive processes in non trivial ways but that other processes are better seen as subject to universal factors. Current research is focused on exploring the ways in which language influences thought and determining to which extent.[1]



"All men are created equal, then some become infantry."

"Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't."

"Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!"


Razgovory

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?  I thought that wasn't even used anymore.  I think 1984 was based on these ideas (well the Newspeak part at least).
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

dps

Yeah, it's not a new idea, which Siegy would be aware of if he was a Westerner.    ;)

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

PDH

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

dps


BuddhaRhubarb

re article: well d'uh....

in a mind blowingly simplistic way yeah of course culture and language are all tied up. sure.
:p

Queequeg

Quote from: Siege on May 27, 2009, 09:24:46 PM
Mindblowing.
Is this why arabs are such a bunch of retards?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis
This is the language of al-Kindi, ibn Khaldun, Geber, Avicenna and Averroes.  How many great minds has Hebrew produced? 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

Razgovory

Quote from: Queequeg on May 27, 2009, 11:37:44 PM
Quote from: Siege on May 27, 2009, 09:24:46 PM
Mindblowing.
Is this why arabs are such a bunch of retards?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis
This is the language of al-Kindi, ibn Khaldun, Geber, Avicenna and Averroes.  How many great minds has Hebrew produced?

Maimonides.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Queequeg

Quote from: Razgovory on May 27, 2009, 11:43:24 PM
Maimonides.
That's a fair one, though he was nowhere near as prolific on non-theological matters as some of the Arab thinkers I mentioned.  Really, in terms of intellectual heft the only languages that can compete with Arabic are Greek, Chinese, Latin, Sanskrit, Italian, French, German, and English. 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

HVC

Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

jimmy olsen

It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Martinus

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 28, 2009, 01:12:58 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 12:39:48 AM
Low blow. :lol:

Nah, merely a cheap shot. HVC certainly won't be crying into his pillow because of it.  ;)

Unless he is also biting it at the time. :P