The-Sapir-Whorf-hypothesis

TheSapir-Whorftheory,namedaftertheAmericanlinguistsEdwardSapirandBenjaminLeeWhorf,isamouldtheoryoflanguage.Itcanbebrokendowntotwoassumptions---linguisticdeterminismandlinguisticrelativism.Thelinguisticdeterminismreferstotheideathatlanguageweusetosomeextentdeterminesthewayweviewandthinkabouttheworldaroundus.Thisconcepthasgenerallybeendividedintotwogroups—strongdeterminismandweakdeterminism.Thestrongdeterminismmeanslanguagedeterminesthoughtandtheweakdeterminismholdsthatlanguagemerelyaffectsthought.Andthelinguisticrelativityclaimslanguagewhichdifferingradicallyintheirvocabularyandstructureexpressesdifferentculturalmeanings.Itheldthatdifferentlanguagesaffectpeoplethinkingindifferentwaysrespectively.Inaword,differentlanguagesmeansdifferentthoughtanddifferentculture.Inmyopinion,thestrongdeterminismoveremphasizesthatlanguageshapethewayonethinksbutignorestheimpactthatculturehaveonlanguage.Nevertheless,weakdeterminisminsomedegreeexplainstherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthought.Toputitsimply,languagedonotdeterminethoughtbutinfluencethought.Firstly,thelanguagesystemthathavedevelopedforalongtimeandcontainsalotofinformationofculture,ratherthantheprimitivelanguage,caninfluencethought.Plentyoffactors,includingtheobjectivenaturalandsocialenvironment,helpstoshapehumanbeings’thought,butlanguagedonotplayaconclusiverole.Secondly,languageisnottheonlywaytoproduceandexchangeideas,butweacknowledgethattheadvancedwaytoexchangeideareliesonlanguage.Forexample,babies’intelligencedevelopedbeforetheycouldspeak.Andtwopeoplemayglareateachotherandsaynothing,buttheyjustunderstandeachother.Theapplicationofbodylanguagecanalsoprovethis.Thirdly,languageplacessomelimitationsonhowapersoncanexpresshisorherthoughts.Forinstance,onewenttoastorelastnight.Hewillsay“Iwenttothestore.”WhileinIndonesian,onecannotsay“Iwenttothestore.”Instead,onesays“Igotothestore”whethertheactionoccursinthepastoratpresent.Culturecanalsoinfluencelanguage.Ontheonehand,Culturecanexpandthecapacityoflanguage.Forexample,intheancienttime,therearenowordslikedemocracyandscienceinChina.OnlyaftertheNewCultureMovementthesewordsaregeneralizedinthewholecountry.Andinrecentyears,therearealotofnewwordsbroughtbyInternetCulturelike“diaosi”---meaningsomeoneshort,poorandugly.AndalotofwordsandphrasesarethetotallynewmeaningsbecauseofthewidelyuseintheInternet,forexample,“buysomesauce”----nowmeaningitisnoneofsomeone’sbusiness.Ontheotherhand,culturecanabolishsomelanguage.WiththepromotionofsimplifiedChinesecharacter,thetraditionalcharacterishardlyusedinthemainlandofChina.AndwiththepromotionofvernacularChinese,especiallyaftertheNewCultureMovement,theancientChineseisrarelyseeninourdailylife.Comparingtoday’slanguagewiththeancientlanguage,notonlyChinesebutalotofotherlanguagesarejustdifferent.ButwehavetopointoutthatCultureisobviouslynottheonlyfactorevennotthedecisivefactorbutplayasignificantrole.TheSapir-Whorfhypothesis,sufferingsomedrawbacksthough,caughtpeople’sattentiontotherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Languageisthecarrierandproductofthoughtandculture.Ontheonehand,itpromotesthedevelopmentofculture.Ontheotherhand,italsolimitthought.Andwhenlanguagecannotsatisfytherequirementofthought,languagewillbeupdated.Nowwecanconfidentlydrawtheconclusionthatlanguage,cultureandthoughtareintertwinedandinteracted.