Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH),History,Strong and weak.
However, you are able to separate strong and weak versions within the hypothesis. Within the very best form, generally known as as linguistic determinism, language determines thought. While the idea of linguistic determinism is most likely untenable, a weakened version is much more plausible, because it just signifies that language will influence the way you see and consider our planet.
Most critics favor the theory of linguistic relativity (also known as the “weak” version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) over the hard-set determinism. Linguistic determinism states that society is in some way confined by its language, that language actually determines thought and culture (Language Files, p696).
For instance, in weak determinism language does not define one’s view of the world, whereas, in strong determinism this view is defined strictly by language. The second division of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is linguistic relativism.
There are strong and weak versions of the hypothesis. The strong form, often attributed to Sapir and Whorf themselves, says that the way a language is structured puts hard limits on the ways people can think. This is the concept behind things like George Orwell's Newspeak. It's also nearly universally dismissed as complete bunk.
In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH) states that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it. This controversial hypothesis is named after the linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir and his colleague and student Benjamin Whorf.
This essay will examine the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of language relativity and it will attempt to define the concept as well as to establish whether it was a turning point for reconsidering the correlation between culture, thought and language.. strong determinism and “weak’ determinism. According to the first, language and thought are.
However, I think it is not in that strong way according the hypothesis that language constructs the thought. It is clearly evident that Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was built on a partially viewed concept. Whorf analyzed several examples of Native American Language, Hopi, to support his hypothesis, which state that thought is strongly based on language.