Module Map: Linguistic Relativity
Map for Module 4: Linguistic Relativity
In Module 1 we were introduced to the structural differential and the central problematic of General Semantics: the process of abstracting. In this Module, led by Greg Thompson, we will focus on using cross-cultural comparisons in order to provide real world examples of how language affects thought.
The idea that language affects thought has been called the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - after linguistic anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf.
Relativity Effects can be seen in terms of:
- Effects of speaking a particular language on how one perceives the world.
- Effects of speaking a particular language on how one interacts with the world.
- Effects of speaking human language in the first place (sign language counts as a human language!), as opposed to not speaking a human language at all.
In this module, we will be focusing on the first two types of effects, but it should be noted that the third effect of language is exactly what Korzybski was talking about in his concept of time binding. Language is an instrument of time-binding. And written langauge is particularly powerful in this regard. While there are many examples of non-literate cultures passing down traditions through oral language, written language even further expands our ability to transmit knowledge across great distances of time and space (and indeed it is this very work in which we are presently engaged!).
Description of Module
First, we begin with an overview explanation of what we mean by linguistic relativity on the page titled Language, Thought, and Behavior.
In What We Do With Language - And What It Does With Us, Bruce Kodish provides an excellent overview of Linguistic Relativity and its relevance to General Semantics. He effectively rebuts some of the specific criticisms of LRH by Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker.
The module will be focused around a video presentation by University of California San Diego (UCSD) psycholinguist Lera Boroditsky, How Language Shapes Thought. In this engaging lecture, Dr. Boroditsky provides an outline of the general argument of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis as well as a number of very rich examples of how language could affect how we understand the world around us.
After you've viewed the presentation, you can share your Reactions to Lera Boroditsky in a graded discussion.
Next, I explain the Relativity in Linguistic Relativity, focusing on examples of cultural relativity, followed by Implications of Linguistic Relativity.
The module concludes with two graded assignments: 1) a discussion that asks you to share a personal example of how language shaped your thinking; and 2) a short 250-word essay on a controversial cultural practice.
Don't overlook the Optional Readings page with links to PDF articles you can download.
Thoughout the week, please review and contribute to the Module 4 General Discussion.
I should note that there are serious challenges to doing this kind of cross-linguistic work. First and foremost, we all have very different experiences with language. Some of us are monoglots (like me!), and some of us are bi- or multi-lingual. But there are no two languages that all of us share. This makes it difficult for us to use any two languages for comparison since only a subset of us will know those two languages well enough to understand the examples. This means that we will tend to treat more superficial examples of language effects (e.g. the effects of lexical items in one language vs. another), and will make it difficult to treat more complex examples of language effects (e.g., the effects of grammatical categories).
I am very excited about hearing people's own personal experiences with bi- or multi-lingualism and what kinds of effects you have observed. So please be sure to participate in the discussions so that we will have some meaty first-hand examples of how speaking a language might affect other aspects of our behavior.