The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
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Based solely in my experience, i would say that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis applies in various degrees in different areas of the same language. My fist language was my mother’s tongue. My native language was the tongue of the country I grew up in. My dominant language is the language I learned in school which I use most of the time for decades. Knowing three languages by full prolongues immersion I can tell you that Everyday things, like asking for directions, ordering food and drinks, and requesting for others to do certain things and complete certain actions, can be translated very accurately from one language to the next even when the words and syntax are different. That’s what I call human level communication. All humans have basic needs and those seem to be very similar regardless of culture and other differences. Then there are other levels of communication that are increasingly difficult to convey in another language. It has to do with how two cultures perceive the same object, action or idea. In classical Hebrew for instance most objects are named after the actions associated to them. Spanish tends to favor naming objects by their shape or appearance. English tends to mix both naming methods. Hebrew uses physical objects to describe and name abstract ideas. English names those ideas and abstracts by using unique words or borrowing from another language. Spanish is similar to english in this sense. Hebrew does not have present past and future as we see it in English or Spanish. Hebrew has finished, unfinished and continuous modes that can be used to express scenes that happened in the past, future or happen over and over. Since present and past are somewhat irrelevant to the Hebrew writer, it’s been very challenging to translate classical Hebrew to English, Spanish and other languages whose mindset differ from that of Classical Hebrew. When I think in English, my ideas flow faster and I feel that my brain can fly into different realms easily. When I think in Spanish I feel that I can run fast and explore a more two dimensional world but I can’t fly in every direction because the language is a bit more demanding in terms of verbal tenses, gender concordance and square concepts that cannot be expressed but one way. This is due to the semantic range of English and Spanish concepts and it is also due to how rigid or preset English syntax is as opposed to Spanish. The rigidity of the English syntax allows me to think multidimensional ideas. It’s like flying in multiple directions like a bird. I can convert any noun into a verb and any word into an adjective or adverb just by changing the position of the words and perhaps sometimes even the tone. In Spanish, complex ideas must follow a specific path because the position of the words require that the morphology of the word itself be changed to match the syntactic role assigned to it. You can’t “Chair” a meeting in Spanish. You can’t “Yessir” anyone in Spanish. It’s impossible to “Floor” someone or “Book” a hotel room in Spanish. You can express those concepts in Spanish but you must change the words to very specific words to express the literal meaning in english but you can’t convey the feeling and depth of semantic range that you have in the original english expressions. The rigidity of the english syntax accounts for the flexibility we see in english to smoothly convey complex ideas and shades of meaning virtually impossible to convey in Spanish. I may be using some terms in very unlearned ways but I hope to express how a language can influence the way you think in many aspects all the while being able to express most everyday needs and simple thoughts and desires. I didn’t even touch on cultural perception of certain words and expressions which influence how we use or not those words thereby shaping our train of thought.
Lol
@@slugmess my point exactly
Thanks for sharing your experience, I feel the same when speaking Bosnian.
Very interesting perspective and I can relate to it as a trilingual creative writer and academic. Although most of my referential knowledge has been read in English I find myself enjoying poetry and literature in Spanish and Portuguese rather than in English, which makes sense psychologically due to: 1) The reason behind language acquisition, and 2) The syntaxis of English vs Romance languages.
@@RamekinkDoes the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis have something to do with Derealization?
One of the good examples of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the movie 'Arrival'.
In different cultures, language significantly influences our perception of time and reality.
For example, reading and writing from left to right, right to left or top to bottom accordingly shapes our thinking to be linear, and consequently, we perceive time to be linear and sequential.
But what if we had a language that was not linear but circular?
Such a language might lead us to perceive time as circular(non linear) rather than sequential.
Mangarri/Yangman Indigenous group in the Never Never also view language and time differently. Time is now, there is only now.
I read a study that talked about how the type of innovations that are made in a country are also affected by the structure/syntax of their languages but I sadly can't find the study anymore. Does anyone here know which study I'm talking about?
Also like their unit systems determine how efficiently they can do calculations, read and write information .etc
Would Lacan be a Hard Linguistic Determinist?!
Can the same effect be applied to different religions ?
Religious Relativity ?
Can a particular ardent follower of a particular religion get influenced in their perception of relating various ideas and experiences ?
Example,
An Islamist thinking, perceiving and behaving in a particular unique different way because of his/her religion they follow ardently ?
A Christian thinking, perceiving and behaving in a particular unique different way because of his/her religion they follow ardently ?
The french language is spoken in a flat rhythm, like french mood. English uses a lot of prepositions and can be very practical, as Brits/Americans are. German has a possibility to chunck words to make more complex words, what can come in hand for phylosophers and writers.
My point is that language is s subproduct of culture as well as religion, so your assumption is totally correct, to my mind, off course.
@@icaroalencar99 French Sociologist Emile Durkheim had done some serious research and analysis into this area of religion...
Elementary Forms Of Religious Life - Emile Durkheim
Primitive Classification - Emile Durkheim & Marcel Mauss.
_________
Book - The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi & Michael Argyle.
The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience is the most comprehensive survey available of theories and research on religion from the perspective of psychology. Religious belief is never evenly distributed, and is correlated with such variables as social background, gender and personality characteristics. Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle use findings in these areas to test numerous explanations of the origins and functions of religion in human culture. They also consider social consequences of religiosity, religious experience, religious attitudes, the effect of religion on health, the acquisition of beliefs, conversion, and the benefits or otherwise of religion. Their main conclusion is that religiosity is first and foremost social, and is learned like other kinds of social acts." "Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi and Michael Argyle are renowned for their clear, analytical approach, and this new state-of-the-art study of psychology and religion is no exception. It will be welcomed as an update to their previous work in the area by social psychologists, sociologists and theologians worldwide.
No wonder there is a push pull, miscommunication.
I do that push-pull inside my little sister too sometimes
@@mjolninja9358weirdo
In my opinion, all languages have more or less the same mentality and expression. It is the culture, genetics and environment that matters more for the perception and life style of the person. I disagree with Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
But cultures ate directly related to languages. There's no culture without it's own language, dialect or particular accent. The way a culture shapes a person is reflected in the language transmitted to that person. I feel this when I speak basque. English and spanish are more or less close, so if I think in both of this languages my way of think doesnt change much. But If I think in basque I have to approach things and organize information in a very different way
interesting hypothesis but the effects, if they exist, are very small I am not convinced by the arguments.
@@juliannaruffini I mean , arent all nations, races and languages technically almost the same but with different cultures , genetics , mentalities and geographical locations?
@@cheerful_crop_circle genetics is the same. I come from german only speaking environment and imersed myself (in Syria, Kairo )in the arabic langauge. After a few weeks I dreamt in arabic. There is no mystery, only new words and different grammar.