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    Languages mold our views of the world, and different lang... — Carmelics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    Languages mold our views of the world, and different languages do so differently

    Philosophy of Language
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Ethnographic evidence from American Indian languages such as Hopi shows that linguistic structures vary significantly across language families
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    • 2.Speakers dissect nature along lines laid down by their native languages
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Chomsky's universal grammar thesis holds that all human languages share deep structural properties rooted in innate cognitive architecture.
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    • 2.If a universal generative grammar underlies all languages, surface lexical differences cannot fundamentally mold distinct world-views at the cognitive level.
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    • 3.Cross-linguistic translation, while imperfect, is sufficiently achievable to indicate that speakers of different languages access a shared conceptual space.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Whorf's Hopi data has been empirically refuted: Malotki (1983) documented extensive tense and time reference in Hopi grammar and culture.
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    • 2.A hypothesis built on demonstrably false ethnolinguistic data cannot serve as evidence for the broader claim that language structures cognition.
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    Related

    A hypothesis built on demonstrably false ethnolinguistic data cannot serve as ev...Chomsky's universal grammar thesis holds that all human languages share deep str...Cross-linguistic translation, while imperfect, is sufficiently achievable to ind...Ethnographic evidence from American Indian languages such as Hopi shows that lin...
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    If a universal generative grammar underlies all languages, surface lexical diffe...Speakers dissect nature along lines laid down by their native languagesWhorf's Hopi data has been empirically refuted: Malotki (1983) documented extens...

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    When we speak, we talk about the world, not merely someone's understan...76%Values, despite their objectivity, vary in expression across cultures.76%Natural language is an imperfect mirror of intelligible thoughts.75%Human languages are manifestations of cosmic articulation rather than ...74%

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    SEP: relativism
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    An influential form of descriptive cultural relativism owes its genesis to linguistics. Benjamin Whorf, inspired by his teacher Edward Sapir, who in turn was supervised by the social anthropologist Franz Boas, used ethnographic evidence from American Indian languages, such as Hopi, to argue that languages mold our views of the world and different languages do so differently, because “we dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages” (Whorf 1956: 213). In the case of the Hopi, the
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    Details

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    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit