Re: Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Nik Taylor wrote:

> wwang wrote:
> > The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis would say that it would be difficult to
> > hold many ideas in the same way at the same time in both languages.
>
> Actually, it would say that being bilingual would *expand* your
> horizons, would allow you to have greater flexibility in thinking of
> different ideas.
>
> One linguistics teacher I had put it this way: language creates boxes,
> learning more languages gives you more and larger boxes, and makes the
> boxes less "rigid", I think that that's probably a fair description of
> the truth.
I think part of the problem with understanding the Sapir-Whorf
dilemma is that culture and language are so often interconnected
that culture can lead to changes in the structure of the language,
which in turn can perpetuate the social superstructure imposed
upon it merely by its presence.  Have the Indo-European languages
moved from being more aspect based to being more tense-based
because the notion of absolute time has become more important?
Did evidentiality become all-important in Quechua because the
culture valued knowledge of the evidence of one's assertions, or
did it get lodged in there almost by accident, and thereby force
people to think about it more often?  One could see it both ways.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
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