Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The language relationship between language, thought and reality has always been a fascinating subject for linguists and philosophers.

Special attention was paid to it in the 20th century when Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf published their opinion to this subject. Whorf was a student of the linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir. Whorf’s version of this idea is now called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Whorf claimed, based on his study of several languages that the language of a culture provides a window into how the members of that culture think. He said that the structure of the language one habitually uses influences the manner in which one thinks and behaves.

The term “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis” was first introduced by J.B Carroll and states in general that a human’s language shapes his perception of reality or in other words, that the world is largely predetermined by the language of people culture.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis