linguistic relativity

English 306A; Harris 1

Linguistic relativity

A.K.A. “Whorfian hypothesis”

That different languages shape different perceptions of the world.




After Benjamin Lee Whorf, author of Language, thought, and reality




That different languages shape different perceptions of the world.



“ 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)


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).


Linguistic relativity hypothesis

Strong formLanguage determines

thought; speakers of different languages inhabit different, mutually inaccessible realities

Weak formLanguage influ-ences thought


Navajo kinship lexicalization (partial)

?akso˘thakso˘tno≥yehha≥nihhakhno≥sheakeÚ˘hak

grandmother and her sisters

grandfather and his brothers

mother and mother’s sister

father and father’s brother

mother’s brother

father’s sister


Navajo kinship lexicalization (partial)

?akso˘thakso˘tno≥yehha≥nihhakhno≥sheakeÚ˘hak

grandmother and maternal great

aunts

grandfather and paternal great

uncles

mother and maternal aunt

father and paternal uncle

maternal uncle

paternal aunt


Navajo and “obligation”

EnglishI must go there.

NavajoIt is only good that I go there.


Navajo and motion

one moves into clothing

one moves about here and there

one moves about newly

to move words out of an enclosed

space

≥e˘h÷ha

˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h


Navajo and motion

≥e˘h÷ha

˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h

one dresses

one moves about here and there



space


Navajo and motion

one dresses

one lives



space

≥e˘h÷ha

˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h


Navajo and motion

one dresses

one lives

one is young


space

≥e˘h÷ha˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h


Navajo and motion

≥e˘h÷ha

˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h

one dresses

one lives

one is young

to sing


Navajo and “control”

EnglishI am riding the horse.

NavajoThe horse runs for me.


Navajo worldview (Weltsicht)

What is it?Who knows?

Is it the same as the SAE worldview?No.

Is it compatible with the SAE worldview?Sometimes, sometimes not.


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.


English and striking-with-foot

English “kick”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.

Partial overlap in meaning with [yizta¬], but low relevance

Full overlap in meaning with [yizta¬], high relevance

Full mismatch with [yizta¬], complete irrelevance


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 can’t control

actions that impact humans


Role DefinitionAgent 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

Semantic Roles


Role Event SchemataAgent DOING, MOVING, TRANSFERRING

Patient BEING, HAPPENING, DOING, EXPERIENCING, HAVING, MOVING, TRANSFERRING

Experiencer EXPERIENCING

Receiver TRANSFERRING

Essive BEING

Possessor HAVING, TRANSFERRING

Source

MOVING, TRANSFERRINGGoal

Path

TimeALL

Location

Semantic Roles


Navajo Agency

yizta¬mules and horses, reciprocal agency

non-human-animate non-human-animate humans and horses (and mules), unilateral agency

human non-human-animate

kickmules, horses, humans, reciprocal agency

animate animate

(assuming an intension that includes feet, locomotive capacity, etc.)


Semantic primes

I, YOU, SOMEONE, WANT, HEAR, NOT, CAUSE, BECOME, AND, GOOD, BAD, WORD, MALE, FEMALE, HAVE, …


Semantic primes

FRED CAUSE-PAST (BARNEY BECOME NOT-ALIVE)

Fred killed Barney

Barney is dead

BARNEY BE NOT-ALIVE

Barney died.

BARNEY BECOME-PAST NOT-ALIVE

FRED CAUSE-PAST (BARNEY BECOME NOT-ALIVE) WITH BAD-INTENT WITH PLAN

Fred murdered Barney


Navajo and motion

SOMEONE GO INTO CLOTHING

SOMEONE GO HERE AND THERE

SOMEONE NEW GO

TO CAUSE (WORDS GO OUT FROM CONTAINER)

≥e˘h÷ha˘hna÷ha˘h

≥ani˘÷na÷ha

ha÷di÷≥a˘h


Navajo and control/causation

EnglishI am riding the horse.I BE ON HORSE; I CAUSE (HORSE GO)

NavajoThe horse runs for me.I BE ON HORSE; HORSE CAUSE (HORSE GO-FOR-ME)



EnglishI am riding the horse.Agent Patient

NavajoThe horse runs for me.Agent Beneficiary



EnglishI am riding the horse.Doing, V2

NavajoThe horse runs for me.Doing, V1 (≈ VCOMP)



EnglishI am riding the horse.Doing, V2

NavajoThe 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 (Parity).


Colour terms2-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


whiteblack red

GRUE

yellow

greenblue

purplepinkorangegray

Colour terms

yellow

GRUE

There is something about the world, our brains, or our eyes (or any combination thereof) that constrains lexicalization.


Cross-linguistic calibrators

Semantic primes.Semantic roles.Event schemata.Verb-argument

structurePerception.

(goodwill, common-interests, …)





Weak formLanguage influences

thought

There are culturalMisunderstandings.

Translation is impossible.





Weak formLanguage influ-ences thought


SemanticsThe proposition and truth conditions.

EntailmentDenotation

IntensionExtension

Event schemata and semantic roles redux Semantic primesAmbiguityLinguistic relativity

UniversalitySemantic rolesSemantic primes

Cognitive and experiential universalsColour systems

Parity (calibration)

linguistic relativity

Documents

navajothe horse

navajo yiztathe horse

english english khikthe

footenglish kickthe

enclosed spacenavajo

hopi language

linguistic backgrounds

navajo worldview weltsichtwhat