Annotation

Troyer , Gene Van. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis . JALT Journal , 1994.

The Sapir-Whorf theory claims that thoughts and actions are determined by language, and without a language, thought and conceptualization of thought into actions cannot exist. Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf developed this theory in 1929. The main argument the text uses is the language of the Hopi people. The Hopi people have no words for time unlike most languages. They have no past tense, and little future tense, but their language mainly focuses on the present. They have no words for yesterday, last year etc. Therefore, the Hopi people have no concept of the past. They do not have the words to express past tense, so they do not think about the past, and then they do not know of the past.

The second point this theory makes is the the effect of language on one’s sight. There is a story of secluded islanders who had never seen a large ship before. The islanders had no vocabulary for the ship since they were only familiar with small canoes. Since their minds could not identify the object through their language, they could not conceptualize what the ship was or what it meant. In turn, the islanders could not see the large ship headed straight towards their island. Once new words and vocabulary are added to the islanders’ language, or an entirely new language develops, then can they begin to understand the ship and see the ship.

Some new languages have developed to understand thoughts and concepts in diverse range of cultures. For example, someone from the dessert and someone from the coast come together. The person from the dessert has no concept of windsurfing and the person from the coast has no concept of sandstorms. The two form what is called a Pigeon language, a combination of the two languages which allows them to better communicate and understand each other's cultures. Should the two people spread this language and continue to use it, the Pigeon language will become a Creole language, which is permanent.

A problem I have with this theory is the fact that people who do not have a native language are able to communicate and have coherent thoughts. Deaf babies and children can still smile, laugh, see, and think intelligently without having spoke a word in their life. There is one case student with a man identified as Idlefonso. Steven Pinker, who opposes the Sapir-Whorf theory, discovered Idlefonso. He had no native language yet he could communicate through gestures, hand signals, and expressions indicating he was an intelligent individual with thoughts despite his lack of language. I also find it difficult to believe that one can not see something like a giant ship, despite not having the words to describe it. The story of the Islanders seems like a myth to me. I do believe that the Sapir-Whorf theory is true on some level. Language does influence thoughts and actions because language is the root of culture, but it does not determine what we think and do.