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HowRelevantistheSapir-WhorfHypothesis…
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voices,tenses,andthelike.Thecategoriesareattemptstosegmentandinterpret
experience.Therulesof“patternment”andpatternsofsentencestructureare
specifictoeachlanguageandguidementalactivity.Whorfborrowedtheidea
thatthesentenceisthemainunitoflinguisticstructureandthereforeshould
beusedasatemplateinlinguisticanalysesfromBloomfield.Whatismore,in
atrulystructuraliststyle,hemadeastrenuousefforttodescribecarefullythe
linguistictermsusedinhisresearchandanalyses.
Surprisinglytosome,Whorf’sunderstandingoflexicalsemanticswasquite
vague.Infact,hedidnotseemtobefamiliarwiththeFregeandistinction
betweensenseandreference(cf.Goddard,2003).Thisisdemonstratedinno
uncertaintermsbythequotationbelow:
Thatpartofmeaningwhichiswords,andwhichwemaycall“reference,”
isonlyrelativelyfixed.Referenceofwordsisatthemercyofthesentences
andgrammaticalpatternsinwhichtheyoccur.(Whorf,1956,p.259)
Toputthingsinperspective,itshouldbenotedthatinhislifetimeAmerican
linguisticswaspreoccupiedwithphonologyandmorphology,whilesemantics
wasunderdevelopedsince,likeallthingscognitive,itwasconsideredtobe
beyondthereachofscientificinvestigation.
YetanotherthemerunningthroughWhorf’sworkwasthatoflanguageas
aculturalphenomenon,ormorespecifically,asan“especiallycohesiveag-
gregateofculturalphenomena”(1956,p.65).Itisasharedknowledgeofthe
aggregatethatmakesitpossibleforthemembersofaparticularspeechcom-
munitytocommunicate,asexplainedintheexcerptbelow:
Wecutnatureup,organizeitintoconcepts,andascribesignificancesaswe
do,largelybecausewearepartiestoanagreementtoorganizeitinthis
way-anagreementthatholdsthroughoutourspeechcommunityandiscodi-
fiedinthepatternsofourlanguage.Theagreementis,ofcourse,animplicit
andunstatedone,BUTITSTERMSAREABSOLUTELYOBLIGATORY
(Whorf,1956,pp.213-214).
ThebeliefthatculturalnormsarecodifiedinethniclanguagesinspiredWhorf
(1956,pp.138-139)toaddressthequestionofaninterplayofcultureand
linguisticnorms.Hewasparticularlyinterestedtofindoutiftherewere“trace-
ableaffinitiesbetween(a)culturalandbehavioralnormsand(b)large-scale
linguisticpatterns.”Theanswerwasaffirmative,althoughWhorfconceded
thatthetwowererelatedratherthancorrelated,makingtherelationmuch
weakerthansomeofhiscommentsseemedtosuggest.Theconclusiontobe
drawnwasthatlanguageandcultureshouldbestudiedasawholesincethey
