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HowRelevantistheSapir-WhorfHypothesis…
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termsofthemesthatarecentraltorelativity,i.e.thought,language,andbe-
havior.ItishopedthattheanalysiswillhelpputtheSapir-WhorfHypothesis
inperspectiveandevaluateitstenetsagainstcurrenttrendsinpsycholinguistic
research.Thesecondobjectiveofthepaperistoreexaminetheextenttowhich
language-basedtestsprovideaneutraland/oraccurateviewofconceptual
processessuchasnon-verbalcategorization.Thisisvitalforunderstandingthe
controversysurroundingthehypothesisandtherationalebehindsomeofits
subsequentmodifications.
Whorf’sViewsonKeyRelativisticVariables
ThoughtandThinking.FollowingtherecommendationsofWatson,ear-
ly20th-centuryAmericanpsychologyabandonedinvestigationsofconscious
thoughtandmentalactivityonthegroundsthattheywereunobservable.
Accordingly,atheoryclaimingthatthinkingtakesplaceinalanguageandthat
4thegreatestlightuponit[…]isthrownbythestudyoflanguage’(Whorf,
1956,p.252)musthavearousedintenseinterestandattention,nottomention
controversyandcriticism.Insuchaclimate,Whorf,whohadnobackgroundin
psychologyandgainedrecognitioninacademiaprimarilyasanexpertonMaya
hieroglyphsandIndianlanguages,advancedtheviewthatlinguisticdiversity
sparkedoffcognitivedifferencesinspeakersofdifferentlanguagesasafunc-
tionofcontinueduseofthepatternsoftheirnativelanguageforexpression.
Theevidencequotedinsupportoftheseclaimswaslinguisticandbehavioral,
andisthesubjectofthefollowingsections.
Althoughmanycontemporaryanalystsconsiderthenotionofhabitual
thoughttobethecornerstoneofWhorf’shypothesis,itdidnotreceivemuch
attentioninhiswriting.Infact,hiscollectedworks(Carroll,1956)containonly
onearticledevotedtothesubjectwithonlyonespecificexplanationofwhat
thetermmeanttoitsauthor.Itreadsasfollows:
By4habitualthought’and4thoughtworld’Imeanmorethansimplylan-
guage,i.e.thanthelinguisticpatternsthemselves.Iincludealltheanalogical
andsuggestivevalueofthepatterns[…],andallthegive-and-takebetween
languageandthecultureasawhole,whereinisavastamountthatisnot
linguisticyetshowstheshapinginfluenceoflanguage.Inbrief,this4thought
world’isthemicrocosmthateachmancarriesaboutwithinhimself,by
whichhemeasuresandunderstandswhathecanofthemacrocosm.(Whorf,
1956,p.147)
