North South University

Course: Psychology 101

Semester: Fall 15

Assignment: A Critical Estimate of Linguistic Relativity Theory

Prepared for: Dr. Hamida Akhtar Begum

Prepared by: Syeda Sirajum Muneera Ahmed

Date of submission: November 15, 2015

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The principle of linguistic relativity

The principle of linguistic relativity impresses that language of a person has influence on the
persons cognition. This theory although can be traced all the way back to Plato is credited to be
the brain child of Benjamin Lee Whorf (primarily) and Edward Sapir (secondarily). The theory is
acknowledged in two versions; the first version is dubbed determinism which claims human
thoughts and actions are bound by the restraints of language (Liguistlist.org). The other version,
coined relativism states that linguistic category and usage influence thought and certain linguistic
behavior.
The fame of this principle is somewhat oxymoronic. While some have totally discounted the
theory because Whorf was fire prevention engineer by profession and had no formal schooling
on linguistic or psychology had called his passion and observations a mere hobby (Internet). The
legibility of his theory has been outright questioned time and again. Some have even said Whorf
was a fan of Einstein and Whorfs theory has spanned literally from the Theory of Relativity.
Furthermore, feminists hopped on gender discrimination accept the principle and dedicate
inequalities in the grammatical structure of gender enforce the subordination of women in many
male pronouns for god and anything powerful debates. (Beek)
However, the most ironic controversy among all these is with the name of the principle. Many
linguists and neuroscience enthusiasts took opposition (still do) to the theory and dubbed it
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis in an attempt to demote the status of the principle. Linguists like Naom
Chomosky and Steven Pinker had much to do with this movement (Pernanda). This approach,

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on the contrary seems ludicrous if on take note that these very people are reverent advocates of
the superiority of thought process over language had resort to something trivial as semantics.
Certain experiments and observations have been carried out after the conceptualization of this
principle has time and again proved the credibility of the hypothesis. In fact, professor of
cognitive psychology, Lera Boroditsky has done exemplary research on the principle of linguistic
relativity; here are some of the examples: (Ted ED.Ideas, 2013)
1.

Navigation and Pormpuraawans

In Pormpuraaw, an Australian Aboriginal community, you wouldnt refer to an object as
on your left or right, but rather as northeast or southwest, writes Boroditsky (an
expert in linguistic-cultural connections) in the Wall Street Journal. About a third of the
worlds languages discuss space in these kinds of absolute terms rather than the relative
ones we use in English, according to Boroditsky. As a result of this constant linguistic
training, she writes, speakers of such languages are remarkably good at staying
oriented and keeping track of where they are, even in unfamiliar landscapes. On a
research trip to Australia, Boroditsky and her colleague found that Pormpuraawans, who
speak Kuuk Thaayorre, not only knew instinctively in which direction they were facing,
but also always arranged pictures in a temporal progression from east to west.
.

2. Blame and English Speakers

In the same article, Boroditsky notes that in English, well often say that someone broke a
vase even if it was an accident, but Spanish and Japanese speakers tend to say that the
vase broke itself. Boroditsky describes a study by her student Caitlin Fausey in which
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English speakers were much more likely to remember who accidentally popped balloons,
broke eggs, or spilled drinks in a video than Spanish or Japanese speakers. (Guilt alert!)
Not only that, Boroditsky argues, but theres a correlation between a focus on agents in
English and our criminal-justice bent toward punishing transgressors rather than
restituting victims.
.
.
3. Gender in Finnish and Hebrew
In Hebrew, gender markers are all over the place, whereas Finnish doesnt mark gender at
all, Boroditsky writes in Scientific American . A study done in the 1980s found that, yup,
thought follows suit: kids who spoke Hebrew knew their own genders a year earlier than
those who grew up speaking Finnish. (Speakers of English, in which gender referents fall
in the middle, were in between on that timeline, too.)

In 2004, professors of psychology, Elizabeth Spelke and Susan Hepos with a series of
experiments showed thought precede language in children and babies (Harvard University
Gazette). They reasoned that people of different languages if assumed to notice different
things and make different distinction have a specific yet distinctive perception of the world.
As such the duo experimented on whether the same ideology hold true in case of babies who
have modest grasp on language.

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While they managed to prove that in babies thinking takes precedence over language.
Nevertheless, language reduces sensitivity to thought distinctions not considered by the
native language and differences in niceties of thought not reflected in a language go
unspoken when they get older (Cromie, 2004).

The all-consuming nerve-ending debate on relativity vs. determinism is further ignited by the
school of gestalt psychology (of which Whorf was a fan of too). If the school is taken into
account relativity wins over determinism as gestalt psychology proposes that the whole of an
object is more important than its individual parts. As such the principle of will be one of
many factors in engineering the thinking process.
Besides if we consider things like motherhood, heart-break, pain- irrespective of culture and
language people act and respond to in these instances in similar fashion. It is improbable to
establish mothers in Dani or Zuni tribe, Eskimos or French think differently on the
safekeeping of their children. Or Chinese speaking people feel less pain than the English.
Often times, no matter how sophisticated is the language in grammatical sense a person can
still find oneself too overwhelmed to verbalise own feelings. Furthermore, the principle of
linguistic relativity seems a latent champion of eugenics and racial discrimination. Then
people speaking particular language and or who have a better grasp of language (bilinguals
and such) have superior thinking process. Therefore, people of a particular community or
linguists are likely to excel at innovative ideas and pursuits. As such all discoverers and
inventors have been linguists?

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These debates weaken the foundation of determinisms but most of the experiments shows
that relativity cant be completely disregarded. Besides, until the nature vs nurture debate is
settled with empirical and logical proof linguistic relativity theory cant be ignored.
Bibliography
1. Cromie, W. J., (2004, June). Which comes first, language or thought? Harvard University
Gazette. Retrieved from http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/07.22/21-think.html
2. Gross, J. (2013). How language can affect the way we think. Ideas.ted. Retrieved from
http://ideas.ted.com/5-examples-of-how-the-languages-we-speak-can-affect-the-way-wethink/
3. Penaranda, N. (na). Linguistic Relativity. Retrieved from
http://mason.gmu.edu/~bpenaran/LinguisticRelativity-BNP.pdf
4. Beek, W.(na). Linguistic Relativism- Variants and Misconceptions. Retrieved from
https://staff.fnwi.uva.nl/b.bredeweg/pdf/BSc/20052006/Beek.pdf

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