1884-19391884-1939

Edward SapirEdward Sapir

1884-1884-19391939

About language:

“… though a dynamo capable of generating enough power to run an elevator were operated almost exclusively to feed an electric doorbell“

Sapir, E. Language, 1921

Ishi was a Yahi Indian, the last survivor of his group. In the last summer of his life, Ishi worked with linguist Edward Sapir, who collected word lists, paradigms and half a dozen long tales from him. These were written in Yahi in a set of 6 notebooks. Part way through the summer, Ishi became too ill to work any more.

V. THE CREATION OF THE YANA. 

"Where is your father?" said Lizard to Cottontail Rabbit. "I have no father." "So! It seems that neither of us have any father. There are no people here. Let us make people!" They marked out a ring on the ground with a stick. "Wherewith are we going to make people?" they said to each other. (Cottontail Rabbit said,) "Put sticks down on the ground."

EDWARD SAPIR TOGETHER WITH YANA MYTHS COLLECTED BY ROLAND B. DIXON. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 February 19, 1910

V. THE CREATION OF THE YANA. 

"Where is your father?" said Lizard to Cottontail Rabbit. "I have no father." "So! It seems that neither of us have any father. There are no people here.

Let us make people!" They marked out a ring on the ground with a stick. "Wherewith are we going to make people?" they said to each other.

(Cottontail Rabbit said,) "Put sticks down on the ground."

YANA MYTHS COLLECTED BY EDWARD SAPIR WITH ROLAND B. DIXON. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 February 19, 1910

Yana is a Hokan language that is no longer spoken. Beginning with Sapir (1917), researchers have identified three or four geographical dialects of the Yana language: Northern, Central, Southern, and Yahi (fig. 1). Each dialect is considered to be part of a linguistic continuum rather than a sharply defined linguistic unit (Golla 1994; A. Kroeber 1925b:338). Yana is clearly a single language in which all dialects share a basic common structure, lexicon, and phonology. Among the unique linguistic elements found in all Yana dialects is the rare use of gender specific forms, in which the speaker uses different dialects depending on whether he or she is speaking to a man or a woman (Miller 1996:230; A. Kroeber 1925b:337). The fact that Ishi used these conventions is solid evidence of his essential Yana identity.

Yana is a Hokan language that is no longer spoken. Beginning with Yana is a Hokan language that is no longer spoken. Beginning with Sapir (1917), researchers have identified three or four geographical Sapir (1917), researchers have identified three or four geographical dialects of the Yana language: dialects of the Yana language:

Northern, Central, Southern, and Yahi. Each dialect is considered to Northern, Central, Southern, and Yahi. Each dialect is considered to be part of a linguistic continuum rather than a sharply defined be part of a linguistic continuum rather than a sharply defined linguistic unit (Golla 1994; A. Kroeber 1925b:338). Yana is clearly a linguistic unit (Golla 1994; A. Kroeber 1925b:338). Yana is clearly a single language in which all dialects share a basic common structure, single language in which all dialects share a basic common structure, lexicon, and phonologylexicon, and phonology.. The Human Remains of Ishi, a Yahi-Yana Indian,in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Yana=polisintéticasYana=polisintéticas

 • Ya-banauma-wil-dji-gumma-ha‘-nigi

• ya -varias personas moviéndose • banauma -todos• wil -a través • dji -al oeste• gumma -ciertamente • ha' -vamos • nigi -nosotros

• Vamos cada uno (de nosotros) y movámonos ciertamente hacia el oeste a través (de los creek). proel.org

THE THEFT OF FIRE AND THE THE THEFT OF FIRE AND THE BURNING OF THE WORLDBURNING OF THE WORLD

• Behold! The men went off, five of them. They walked in a circle around the village. "Where shall we go?" (they asked one

another). "Let us go to the south under the ground." The five men proceeded south under the ground, went off south in the night-time. Arriving in the south, they came up from the ground at K!

ū'wiha.  Coyote was sleeping; (on their arrival) he arose and said, "Well, where are the people all going to?" "I do not know," said the people there, talking to Coyote. Coyote talked to the rocks, talked

to the cooking-basket, talked to the house. "You, tell me, Rock! where are they all going to?" "I do not know," said the rock, said

the house. "Where are they all going to?" (he asked the) brush for cleaning acorn flour. "They have all gone out to hunt deer." "Hê!" (exclaimed Coyote), "Why didn't they tell me that?" Now Coyote

went to the east, but the five men had already gone a great distance to the south. Coyote ran around the village in a circle, but

did not find any tracks. Coyote asked the acorn mortar, "Mortar Woman! Where have the five men all gone to?" "They have all

gone to the south." "Indeed!" "Yes." Now Coyote ran…)

Sapir-WhorfSapir-Whorf hypothesishypothesis

Pensamiento luego lengua= Chomsky

Simplificando…

Lengua luego pensamiento= Sapir-Whorf

Existen hechos que parecen difíciles de explicar si aceptamos la hipótesis Sapir-Whorf en su versión fuerte. Así por ejemplo se ha podido comprobar que los bebés, chimpancés e incluso las palomas son capaces de categorizar y agrupar categorías de objetos en conceptos.

Sin embargo, la cuestión parece diferente cuando consideramos la hipótesis débil.

Los experimentos han mostrado que las memorias visuales tienden a ser distorsionadas de modo que con el tiempo los recuerdos visuales tienden a parecerse a las voces comúnmente más usadas.

Parece razonable aceptar que el lenguaje que uno habla tiene influencia sobre la memoria y la manera en como se codifican en ella algunas cosas, pero es dudoso que el lenguaje sea en realidad el que provee los patrones de pensamiento del individuo (ciertos experimentos muestran la existencia de pensamiento no verbal).

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