Sapir Whorf hypothesis is an extremely important theory (or at least basis for theoretical discussion) within the field of linguistics. Moreover, it has implications for the very definition of reality as it is perceived by people. One of the key tenets of this hypothesis is the relationship between culture, language and thought. The hypothesis poses the notion that language influences thought. The degree that it influences thought is up to debate. There are some adherents who believe that language determines thought and that "meaning is locked within the grammatical and semantic structure of individual languages" (Collin, 2013, p. 282). Others believe that language merely "influences" (Wenzel, 2011, p. 458) thought. What is less mutable is the concept that culture helps to determine language, and in this way ultimately helps to influence thought. The fundamental notion of this hypothesis is that the words one uses -- which are specific to various languages -- greatly impact what one thinks about, as well as how one thinks about it. This tenet is predicated on the viewpoint that people think in terms of words, or in terms of language. To this end, there are various points of stratification about "reality" (Carnes, 1970, p. 263) to which language ultimately confines a thinker....
People do not necessarily think outside of those terms, because they have no terms to categorize or to figuratively 'voice' their thoughts.Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
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