Linguistic Relativity

Elizabeth Zamudio

English Language II

U.T.N F.R.V.M

2010

Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Principle

Boroditsky’ hypothesis

Strands of research

Detractors’ point of view

Conlusion

Benjamin L. Whorf’s Principle:

Differences in the way languages encode

cultural and cognitive categories affect the

way people think.

Lera’s Hypothesis:

The languages we speak shape the way

we see the world, and the way we think.

The “Structure Centered” Approach:

Differences in grammatical systems and

language uses.

Many languages have a grammatical gender

system. Nouns are assigned a gender.

The “Domain Centered” Approach:

Semantic domains compared across linguistics

and cultural groups

Research in the domain of space:

The “Behaviour Centered” Approach:

It observes different behaviours between

linguistic groups.

Languages differ and their speakers also differ in

how they perceive and act in similar situations.

Detractors’ point of view

In spite of the fact that languages express ideas

in different ways, meanings and thoughts of the

speakers are equivalent.

When you are learning a new

language, you are not simply learning

a new way of talking, you are also

learning a new way of thinking.

Works Consulted & Cited

“www.Wikipedia.org.” Linguistic Relativity. Web. 20 Nov. 2010 <http://wikipedia.org>.

Boroditsky, Lera. “How Does our Language shape the

way we think?” Max, Brockman. What's Next? Dispatches on the Future of science. Vintage Books original, 2009.