5.2 Language and Worldviews Notes

Language and Worldviews

Language: Three Sets of Questions

• FHow are meanings made?

• What does it mean to speak a language? Does it impact the way we see the world?

• How do we learn a language? Language and social interaction.

• How are interactions socially and culturally shaped?

• Language and power, language and ideologies: How do differences or inequalities (e.g., gender, race, age…) get created, reproduced, or challenged through language?

Today’s Question: Does the Language We Speak Impact the Way We View the World?

• If you were raised speaking a different language, would you perceive the world differently? Would you categorize objects, experiences, or ideas differently?

• If you were raised without a language, would you be able to think? Would you be able to reason in complex ways?

Learning Objectives

• Understand “linguistic relativity.”

  • What is it?

  • Who are the main scholars?

  • Why is it important?

• Know and understand the three different angles from which to study linguistic relativity.

• Formulate an informed answer to the question: Does the language we speak shape the way we view the world?

Quotes on Language and Worldview

• Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.

  • “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” - Wittgenstein

• یک زبان جدید یک زندگی جدید است

  • “A new language is a new life.” - Persian proverb

• 学一门语言༌就是多一个观察世界的窗户

  • “To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.” - Chinese proverb

Initial Survey Responses

• Does the language you speak shape the way you view the world?

  • 84% Yes, of course!

  • 0% Nope, not at all.

  • 16% Possibly… maybe… I'm not quite sure.

• If you were raised speaking a different language, would you see the world differently?

  • 80% Yes, I think.

  • 0% Nope, no way.

  • 20% Possibly? Maybe? I'm not sure…

• If you were raised without any language at all, would your lack of language prevent you from thinking? Would you be able to formulate thoughts?

  • 63% Yes, I believe you can.

  • 32% Nope, you need language for thinking.

  • 5% No answer provided.

Questions Regarding the Role of Language on Our Thinking

• If we grant that we use language (inner or private speech) for thinking, how much do we rely on it in our daily life for thinking?

• Are there thoughts that we can only entertain through language? Are we capable of thought without language?

• Then does the specific language we speak influence our thinking? Does it impact the way we view the world? If so, how? To what extent?

Language and Thought: Philosophical Perspectives

• Aristotle: Spoken words are symbols of mental experience, and written words are symbols of spoken words. Mental experiences are the same for all, as are the things our experiences are images of.

• Plato: When the mind is thinking, it is simply talking to itself, asking and answering questions. Thinking as discourse, silently to oneself.

How do Languages Interpret Experiences and Influence Thought?

• Language influences thought, which in turn influences culture. Language and culture both influence thought.

The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

• The proposal that the particular language we speak influences the way we think about reality.

Challenges and Implications of Linguistic Relativity

• Challenges in studying linguistic relativity:

  • How do we separate language from thought from culture? Everything is already linguistically mediated.

  • Which came first: the language patterns or the cultural forms?

• Other Implications:

  • More than one “reality”? A question of commensurability.

  • International law? Ethical/Moral relativism?

  • Limits to individual freedom and agency?

• Important distinction: Determinism vs. relativity.

The Interplay of Language, Culture, and Thought

• There exists a mutually influential relationship among language, culture, and thought, but language shapes culture and thought more than people might realize.

Franz Boas

• “Father” of anthropology in North America

• Focused on disproving racist assertions about “primitive” languages, races, and cultures.

• All linguistic and cultural practices are equally complex and logical.

• Language might facilitate certain types of thinking and could provide a way of understanding patterns of culture and thought.

Benjamin Lee Whorf & Edward Sapir

• Empty gasoline drums example: perception is influenced by language habits.

• “We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.”

Whorf and Hopi Notions of “Time”

• Comparison between English and Hopi language regarding time.

• English:

  • Treats time as units that can be isolated and counted (three days, five months ago, in two hours).

  • Focus on schedules, historical sequencing.

• Hopi:

  • Non-objectifying, cyclical notion of time, time as part of the flow of events.

  • Focus on “eventing.”

Grammatical Categories and Time Perception

• English:

  • Obligatory tense markers indicate when something happened (future, present, past).

• Hopi:

  • Grammar marker of validity:

    • “wari” – “running, statement of fact.”

    • “era wari” – “running, statement from memory.”

    • “warikni” – “running, statement of expectation.”

• Does that mean that Hopi cannot conceptualize time? No.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Grammatical categories of particular languages will lead speakers to think about things in different ways.

  • Linguistic Relativity: (Moderate version).

  • Linguistic Determinism: (Strong version).

How to Study Linguistic Relativity? Three Questions & Angles

• Three Questions:

  • Which aspects (of language)? affects which aspect of thought?

  • Which shape (aspects of thought)?

  • How strong (is the influence)? does the way we describe things change our world view.

• Three Angles:

  • Semiotic relativity: language-in-general.

  • Structural relativity: linguistic structures.

  • Discursive relativity: language use.

Semiotic Relativity (Language in General)

• Main line of enquiry: Does having any language influence thinking?

• How do the cognitive processes of humans who know at least one language differ from animals or from humans who never learned a language?

• Tests and studies in this category include looking at nonhuman communication and child development

Cognitive Effects of Knowing a Language

• Knowing a language, particularly the ability to use conventional symbols and complex grammatical structures, has an identifiable cognitive effect.

• Animals:

  • Focus on here-and-now, no abstract concepts, no complex relationships, no theory-of-mind.

  • Animals who learn human language appear to enhance some abilities, but remain limited.

• Children:

  • The language you speak has an effect on your ability to hear and produce sounds in natural speech contexts (e.g., aspiration in Swahili).

  • Theory-of-mind research: Does the development of language facilitate the development of theory-of-mind?

Structural Relativity (Linguistic Structures)

• Main line of enquiry: How does speaking one or more specific languages (e.g., Hopi versus English) influence thinking?

• How do specific structures within a particular language, such as grammatical categories, influence thinking or behavior?

• Tests and studies in this group focus on how morphosyntactic configurations of meaning affect thinking. Tests are usually comparative across languages.

Examples of Structural Relativity

• Single words: (do not change your view) In Fill, there's no word for pollutants.

• Semantic domains and grammatical categories:

  • Grammatical categories (habitual or obligatory): e.g., noun classes, pronouns

  • Semantic domains: kinship, color (words learned in reference to each other)

  • How languages see colors differently: Linguistic variation can influence the way colors are perceived.

Relative vs. Absolute Spatial Frames of Reference

• Absolute frame of reference: Maintain a constant awareness of their position, run a mental compass in the unconscious background.

• Approximately one third of the world’s languages use absolute spatial frames of reference.

Discursive Relativity (Language Use)

• Main line of enquiry: Does using language in a particular way influence thinking?

• Can language use (rather than linguistic structure) have an impact on cognition?

• Examples: Illegal or undocumented, metaphors for time or illness.

Summary

• Linguistic relativity: The proposal that the language we speak influences or shapes the way we view the world. This relationship is predispositional rather than deterministic.

• Remains controversial because of its supposed implications.

• Three Different Angles:

  • Semiotic: Relation between having language and cognitive development.

  • Structural: Relation between grammatical structure and habitual thinking.

  • Discursive: Relation between word use/ways of speaking and thinking about particular topics.

Key Terms

• Linguistic relativity

• Linguistic determinism

• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Boas and language

• Whorf

• Hopi concept of time

• Three angles (Semiotic, Structural, Discursive)

• Theory of mind

• Semantic domains

• Colors in language

• Absolute vs. relative spatial frames of reference

• Metaphors