ANTHRO 9 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Benjamin Lee Whorf, Edward Sapir
Document Summary
Cultural object of study in its own right (linguistic anthropology) Studied native american languages in the us and mexico. Sapir-whorf hypothesis: (linguistic relativity) proposes that language is not only part of culture, but also an influence on culture itself. Structure of a language determines a native speaker"s perception and categorization of experience. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language, and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the real world is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are different world, not merely the same world with different labels attached - edward sapir.
