Is It Very Much An Open If Not A Controversial Question?

In Nancy Chang’s article, USA PATRIOT Act: What’s So Patriotic About Trampling on the Bill of Rights?, she explains all the changes that the act has made, specifically in terms of the language that the act itself uses to describe it’s new power (2001:1-15) . Chang’s description of the act, in its entirety, is that the act was “hastily- drafted, complex, and far-reaching legislation” which explains why the language in this act is so controversial (2001:1). The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is defined by Richard H. Robbins as the idea that there is an explicit link between the grammar of language and the culture of the people who speak that

Language is one of the most recognizable tools but some tools are more subtle. For example, technology is a tool in western society that less industrialized societies aren’t exposed to. An individual that has grown up with complete access to all the latest technology is going to think differently than an individual that has never seen any form of technology. Overall, some behaviors and ways of thinking can only be caused by exposer to specific social and cultural contexts, as this perspective explains.

Most questions of whether and how language shapes thought start with the simple observation that languages differ from one another. And a lot! Just look at the way people talk, they might say. Certainly, speakers of different languages must attend to strikingly different aspects of the world just so they can use their language properly.

The main reason that Boroditsky’s argument that language shapes our minds is valid is that the research she did with her teams covers a wide variety of aspects on this topic while still keeping her article cohesive. The first research Boroditsky introduces to her audience is the research on the Kuuk Thaayorre, which is an

In the essay, “You Are What You Speak” by Guy Deutscher speaks on behalf of how an individual’s mind works through the impact of one’s language. The article starts off with Deutscher referring to what was said by Benjamin Lee Whorf. Whorf had said that an individual’s native language limits what they think, thus making them unable to retain certain concepts that are not given a specific name in one’s specific language. Deutscher then argues that Whorf’s claim is inaccurate and wrong for so many reasons, as well as that there is no evidence given to even confirm or support this theory. He then gives an example of the German word “Schadenfreude” meaning “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune“, for which there is, no English

For instance, in weak determinism language does not define or does not impact one’s view of the world, whereas, in strong determinism this view is defined strongly by language. Linguistic determinism is the idea that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought, as well as thought processes such as categorization, memory, and perception. The possibility of linguistic determinism has been explored by a variety of authors, mostly in science fiction. There exist some languages, like Ithkuil and Toki Pona for instance, which have been constructed for the purpose of testing the assumption. However, no formal tests appear to have been

In his article "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?" the author Guy Deutscher discusses how the acquisition of one's mother tongue shapes one's view of the world. The article was published in The New York Times in August 2010. The author's major paradigm is that every language one learns influences one's mind and feelings in a different way. Deutscher explains that depending on one's mother tongue, objects can be considered masculine or feminine, which results in the speaker feeling differently about them. The author believes that different languages do indeed make one speak about space in different ways as well; although he claims people do not have entirely different views of it. Deutscher then explains that experiments have shown that

Famous American anthropologist and social theorist Clyde Kluckholm , claims in one of his publication that “Every language is also a special way of looking at the world and interpreting experience concealed in the structure of language are a whole set of unconscious assumptions about the world and the life in it”(Writing logically, Thinking critically 7th edition P 35). Based on this theory, we can learn more

Linguistic relativity is the notion that language can affect our thought processes, and is often referred to as the ‘Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’, after the two linguists who brought the idea into the spotlight. Whorf writes how “Language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual’s mental activity” (1956:212), and I will explain how it is able to do so. In this essay I will argue that certain ways of mental categorization, spatial cognition and reality interpretation, based on the characteristics of our specific variety of language, influence our perception of the world. I will discuss how languages divide up nature differently, and

　　　　Benjamin Lee Whorf believed that language had power over the mind however, this theory has crashed due

In the article “Lost in Translation”, the author, Lera Boroditsky, maintains as her thesis that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. Boroditsky begins the main section of her essay with the history of the issue of whether or not languages shape the way speakers think. Charlemagne was the first to think that languages do in fact shape the mindset of speaker, but Noam Chomsky rebutted this idea with his thought that languages do not differ much from each other, thus in turn proposing that linguistic differences do not cause a difference in thinking. Now with scientists

No matter where you are in the world, you are taught about language. Whether it’s in your home learning your language or in school trying to learn a foreign language. Although while learning language the notion is never really thought about or brought up that the language and way we speak can influence the way we think and interact. Phycologist and neuroscientist alike have spent years, with multiple different tests to see if there is a connection between the various languages that are spoken and the way people not only think but also how they go about their daily lives. She writes to not only her colleagues and neuroscientists but also to anyone in the general public that is genuinely interested in the connection between

Throughout twenty-centuries ago, writers thought that ordinary language and literary language were two different languages. But this is an analytical assumption. There is only one language, which

The Sapir Whorf hypothesis mentioned above is based on the ideas of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf who studied aboriginal languages among Native American tribes, mostly the Hopi. They believed that the language one speaks is directly related to the way they understand the reality and see the world. For example, Whorf once wrote ‘we dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages’ (Whorf cited in Salzmann 1993: 153) which led to Zdenek Salzmann’s conclusion of Whorf’s ideas: ‘Difference among languages must therefore be reflected in the differences in the worldviews of their speakers’ (1993: 156). This hypothesis has been challenged many times by several anthropologists and linguists and there are arguments and evidence for and against it.

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” – Benjamin Lee Whorf