The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Worlds Shaped by Words

Ana Ontaneda
February 26, 2009
Anthropology 1001/TV24A

Benjamin Lee Whorf claimed language, "may be shaped by the world, but in turn shapes the world." David S. Thomson mentions how Whorf studied various languages but ended up studying the structure and lexicon of the Hopi Indians in Arizona. Whorf was also influenced by a cultural anthropologist and linguist, Edward Sapir and together they formed what is now known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The most clear definition of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is that "we dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language (Thomson 115)." Whorf later discovered that to the Hopi, the past and future were just abstractions. There was no such word for past, present or future in their language. Therefore they did not think of postponing things until two days later. They just stopped when they wanted to and started when they wanted to. This is contrary to more developed language such as English. There is a past, present, and future in english, as well as other fancy forms of verb tenses. This is why we are able to postpone things or create a deadline for projects. Had we not known that there is a "future" we would probably not have deadlines, nor calendars. I have once experienced a young girl trying to explain to her mother something I had once told her in English. The girl was Chinese and I could tell that the young girl could not fully explain it to her mother without including similar vocabularies, or explanations that were not a translation of what I said but resembled it. Another example of why we can only perceive what our language allows us to perceive is when you're asked to name shades of blue. Unless you were an artist or a painter, many people would probably only recite navy, baby blue, dark blue or light blue. Artists are more exposed to different variations of blue than we would be. Therefore we can't perceive their language and only those who have the same perception can.

Bibliography
Thomson, David S. “The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Worlds Shaped by Words.” Conformity and Conflict: Reading to Accompany Miller, Cultural Anthropology, 4 ed., ed. Spradley and McCurdy. Pearson, 2008, Chapter 12.