Linguistic relativity

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Linguistic relativity

• A.K.A. Whorfian hypothesis
• After Benjamin Lee Whorf, author of
• Language, thought, and reality

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Linguistic relativity

• A.K.A. Whorfian hypothesis
• That different languages shape different
  perceptions of the world.

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Linguistic relativity

• the principle of linguistic relativity holds
  that all observers are not led by the same
  physical evidence to the same picture of the
  universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are
  similar, or can in some way be calibrated
• (Language, thought, and reality, 214)

4
Whorf on Hopi (as a metonym)

• I find it gratuitous to assume that a Hopi who
  knows only the Hopi language and the cultural
  ideas of his own society has the same notions,
  often supposed to be intuitions, of time and
  space that we have, and that are generally
  assumed to be universal. In particular, he has no
  general notion or intuition of time as a smooth
  flowing continuum in which everything in the
  universe proceeds at an equal rate, out of a
  future, through a present, into a past
• In the Hopi view, time disappears and space is
  altered, so that it is no longer the homogeneous
  and instantaneous timeless space of our supposed
  intuition or of classical Newtonian mechanics.
• Language, thought, and reality (56, 58).

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Linguistic relativity hypothesis

• Strong form
• Language determines thought speakers of
  different languages inhabit different, mutually
  inaccessible realities

• Weak form
• Language influ-ences thought

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Navajo worldview/language
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Navajo and obligation
English I must go there. Navajo It is only good
that I go there.
8
Navajo and control
English I am riding the horse. Navajo The horse
runs for me.
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Navajo kinship lexicalization (partial)
grandmother or maternal great aunt grandfather or
paternal great uncle mother or maternal
aunt father or paternal uncle maternal
uncle paternal aunt

• ?akso?t
• hakso?t
• noyeh
• hanih
• hakhnoshe
• akeÚ?hak

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Navajo and motion
one moves into clothing one moves about here and
there a flat-and-flexible object that moves
about one moves about newly to move words out of
an enclosed space

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

11
Navajo and motion
one dresses one moves about here and there a
flat-and-flexible object that moves about one
moves about newly to move words out of an
enclosed space

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

12
Navajo and motion
one dresses one lives a flat-and-flexible object
that moves about one moves about newly to move
words out of an enclosed space

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

13
Navajo and motion
one dresses one lives a letter one moves about
newly to move words out of an enclosed space

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

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Navajo and motion
one dresses one lives a letter to be young to
move words out of an enclosed space

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

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Navajo and motion
one dresses one lives a letter to be young to
sing

• e?hha?h
• naha?h
• na?lco?s
• ani?naha
• hadia?h

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to-strike-with-foot in Navajo and English
English kHIk The horse kicked the mule. The
mule kicked the horse. The man kicked the
horse. The horse kicked the man.
Navajo yizta The horse kicked the mule. The
mule kicked the horse. The man kicked the
horse. The horse kicked the man.
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Navajo and striking-with-foot
Navajo kickingyizta The horse kicked the
mule. The horse controlled the action. The horse
struck the mule with its foot/feet. The mule did
not help bring this action about.
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English and striking-with-foot
English kicking The horse kicked the mule. The
horse controlled the action. The horse struck the
mule with its foot/feet. The mule did not help
bring this action about.
Full mismatch with yizta, complete irrelevance
Full overlap in meaning with yizta, high
relevance
Partial overlap in meaning with yizta, but low
relevance
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Navajo and striking-with-foot
Navajo kicking yizta The horse kicked the
man. The horse controlled the action. The horse
struck the mule with its foot/feet. The man did
not help bring this action about.
Semantically anomalous--horses cant control
actions that impact humans--and grammatically
screwy
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Semantic Roles
Role Definition
AGENT The entity that performs the action
PATIENT The entity undergoing the action the object of the experience
EXPERIENCER The entity that experiences the state
RECEIVER The entity that receives something from the action
BENEFICIARY The entity that benefits from the action
ESSIVE Anything predicated by the (main) verb to be
POSSESSOR The entity who possesses something.
SOURCE The starting point for a movement
GOAL The end point for a movement
PATH The route over which movement happens
TIME The time an event occurs
LOCATION The place an event happens
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Semantic Roles
Role Event Schemata
AGENT DOING, MOVING, TRANSFERRING
PATIENT BEING, HAPPENING, DOING, EXPERIENCING, HAVING, MOVING, TRANSFERRING
EXPERIENCER EXPERIENCING
RECEIVER TRANSFERRING
ESSIVE BEING
POSSESSOR HAVING, TRANSFERRING

SOURCE MOVING, TRANSFERRING
GOAL MOVING, TRANSFERRING
PATH MOVING, TRANSFERRING

TIME ALL
LOCATION ALL
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Navajo Agency

• yizta
• mules and horses, reciprocal agencynon-human-anim
  ate ? non-human-animate
• humans and horses (and mules), unilateral agency
  human ? non-human-animate
• kick
• mules, horses, humans, reciprocal agencyanimate
  ? animate

AGENThuman, PATIENTnon-human
AGENTnon-human, PATIENT-human
AGENT, PATIENT
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Semantic primes

• ABOVE, AFTER, ALL, BAD, BECAUSE, BEFORE, BELOW,
  BIG, BODY, CAN, DIE, DO, FAR, FEEL, FOR SOME
  TIME, GOOD, HAPPEN, HAVE, HEAR, HERE, I, IF,
  INSIDE, KIND OF, KNOW, LIKE, LIVE, MANY(/MUCH),
  MAYBE, MOMENT, MORE, MOVE, LONG, NEAR, NOT, NOW,
  ONE, OTHER, PART-OF, PERSON, THE SAME, SAY, SEE,
  SIDE, SMALL, SOME, SOMEONE, SOMETHING, THERE-IS,
  THINK, THIS, TOUCH, TRUE, TWO, VERY, WANT, WHEN,
  WHERE, WORD, YOU,

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Semantic primes
Barney is dead
BARNEY BE NOT-ALIVE
Barney died.
BARNEY BECOME-PAST NOT-ALIVE
Fred killed Barney

• FRED CAUSE-PAST (BARNEY BECOME NOT-ALIVE)

Fred murdered Barney
FRED CAUSE-PAST (BARNEY BECOME NOT-ALIVE) WITH
BAD-INTENT WITH PLAN
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Semantic Primes / Event Schemata
Event Schemata Semantic Primes
HAPPENING HAPPEN
DOING DO
EXPERIENCING FEEL
BEING BE
HAVING OWN
MOVING HAPPEN-GODO-CAUSE-TO-GO
TRANSFERING COME-T0-OWNDO-CAUSE-TO-OWN
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Navajo and motion
e?hha?h naha?h na?lco?s ani?naha hadia?
h
SOMEONE GO INTO CLOTHING SOMEONE GO HERE AND
THERE SOMETHING FLAT-AND-FLEXIBLE GO HERE AND
THERE SOMEONE NEW GO TO CAUSE (WORDS GO OUT FROM
CONTAINER)
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Navajo and control
English I am riding the horse. Navajo The horse
runs for me.
AGENT
PATIENT
AGENT
RECEIVER
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Navajo and control/causation
English I am riding the horse. I CAUSE (HORSE
GO-FOR-ME) Navajo The horse runs for me. HORSE
CAUSE (HORSE GO-FOR-ME)
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Navajo and control/causation
English I am riding the horse. DOING,
V2 Navajo The horse runs for me. DOING, V1 (
VCOMP)
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Navajo and control/causation
English I am riding the horse. DOING,
V2 Navajo The horse runs for me. DOING, V1 (
VCOMP)
Navajo and English use the same basic resources
(Universality) to different effects. They can be
mapped into one another via these resources
(Parity).
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Navajo worldview (Weltsicht)
MOVE, KIN, PART-OF
What is it? Who knows? Is it the same as the SAE
worldview? No. Is it compatible with the SAE
worldview? Sometimes, sometimes not. Is it
accessible to the SAE worldview (and vice
versa)? Absolutely (with diligence respect).
WHEN, THING, OWN
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Colour terms

• 2-color system black, white
• 3-color system black, white, red
• 4-color system black, white, red, yellow or GRUE
  
• 5-color system black, white, red, yellow, GRUE
• 6-color system black, white, red, yellow,
  green, blue
• then purple, pink, orange, gray

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Colour terms
purple pink orange gray
GRUE
yellow
white black
green blue
red
yellow
GRUE
There is something about the world, our brains,
or our eyes (or any combination thereof) that
constrains lexicalization.
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Linguistic relativity

• the principle of linguistic relativity holds
  that all observers are not led by the same
  physical evidence to the same picture of the
  universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are
  similar, or can in some way be calibrated
• (Language, thought, and reality, 214)

35
Linguistic relativity

• the principle of linguistic relativity holds
  that all observers are not led by the same
  physical evidence to the same picture of the
  universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are
  similar, or can in some way be calibrated
• (Language, thought, and reality, 214)

36
Cross-linguistic calibrators

• Semantic primes.
• Semantic roles.
• Event schemata.
• Verb-argument structure
• Perception.
• (goodwill, common-interests, )

37
Linguistic relativity hypothesis

• Strong form
• Language determines thought speakers of
  different languages inhabit different, mutually
  inaccessible realities
• Weak form
• Language influences thought

False
Translation is impossible.
True
Trivial
There are cultural Misunderstandings.
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Linguistic relativity hypothesis

• Strong form
• Language determines thought speakers of
  different languages inhabit different, mutually
  inaccessible realities

• Weak form
• Language influ-ences thought