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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis asserts that humans’ use of linguistic communication relates to their specific cultural norms. Edward Sapir developed and published the conceptual framework for this hypothesis in the 1920s. In 1956, Benjamin Lee Whorf published his work developing this hypothesis based on his work using the Hopi and English languages. Sapir and Whorf's ideas have been commonly known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which has also been referred to as linguistic relativity. This hypothesis counters notions of universal and objective meaning and use of language. This hypothesis further posits that language frames human expression instead of human expression framing language. In other words, the grammatical structure and function of language shapes human thought processes and the manner in which humans perceive reality. The relevance of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis for identity formation is that it challenges the commonsense notion that a preexisting identity creates and shapes language; rather, the hypothesis argues that identity is formed and informed by language.
Sapir's Concept of Language and Social Reality
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis asserts that the function and structure of a culture's language shapes the perception and behavior of those in that culture. Therefore, language use and development is relative to the culture that uses it. Sapir believes that language and behavior mutually influence each other. Language use predisposes choices and interpretations of everyday behavior and interaction. The “real world” is composed of the language structure of cultural groups. Thus, the world cannot exist objectively or in a manner that separates human interaction from cultural linguistic expression. Reality is subjective relative to the development and form of language. Further, language does not merely reflect social reality, it determines it.
Sapir's views are often linked with determinism, the notion that human cognition and behavior can be causally linked to prior occurrences. In the instance of language, Sapir argues that linguistic systems determine perceptions of social reality. He further contends that cultural groups of different language systems will operate under different frames of reality for making sense of their social world and their behavior in it. Sapir derived these ideas while a student of Franz Boas, who has often been credited as the founder of anthropology, which is a field closely related to communication and language as it regards human behavior. Boas believes that each language has its own paradigm (worldview) and that language serves as a mediator between humans and their understanding of reality. Like Boas, Sapir asserts that language classifies and categorizes human experiences. Sapir built on the relationship between language and behavior by asserting that language determines human behavior. He believes that this causal relationship between language and behavior is automatic and involuntary. Because of the nature of language and behavior, it may be difficult for people to understand how language causes and frames their actions.
Whorf's Principle of Linguistic Relativity
Sapir's protege, Benjamin Lee Whorf, developed Sapir's ideas into what he coined the linguistic relativity principle. Whorf's linguistic relativity principle has also been referred to as linguistic relativity as well as linguistic determinism. In Language, Thought, and Reality, Whorf explains linguistic relativity as “the forms of a person's thoughts are controlled by inexorable laws of pattern of which he is unconscious. These patterns are the unperceived intricate systematizations of his own language shown readily enough by a candid comparison and contrast with other languages” (p. 252).
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