Language Relativity Hypothesis

Language Relativity Hypothesis Language Relativity Hypothesis Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis Does Language Affect Out Thoughts? Abstract Benjamin Lee Whorf and his teacher and mentor Edward Sapir developed the theory that language affects our thoughts and perceptions. This theory proposes that there is a systematic relationship between the grammar of a language a person speaks and how that person both understand the world and behaves in it. Today linguists now call that theory the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, or Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis. Studies have not conclusively proven Whorfs and Sapirs theory, however, there is intriguing data to support their idea. Does Language Shape our Thoughts? Most humans communicate with each other through language. At this time, there is thought to be over 5000 different languages in use today, and most are quite different from each other (Stanford encyclopedia, n.d.). The relationship between language and thought is an important question in Cognitive Science. Do speakers of different languages think differently about the world? This question has been attracting thinkers from Plato to Whorf, but despite much attention and debate, definitive answers have not been forthcoming. Benjamin Lee Whorf and his mentor and teacher Edward Sapir, examined the question of how language affects our thoughts, in their renowned and much considered Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. Linguistic relativity hypothesis/ Whorf-Sapir hypothesis Linguistic relativity or what is also referred to as the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, was developed by Benjamin Lee Whorf and was an expansion on his mentor, Edward Sapirs, theory that language has a coherent and systematic nature and interacts at a wider level with thought and behavior (Yale University, n.d.). Whorf proposed that there is a systematic relationship between the grammar of a language a person speaks and how that person both understand the world and behaves in it (Whorf, 1956). The hypothesis postulates that a particular languages nature influences the habitual thought of its speakers: that different language patterns yield different patterns of thought (Stanford encyclopedia, n.d.) Though there is no empirical proof of this hypothesis, there is convincing data to support this theory. In the past, the bulk of research was concentrated on supporting or disproving the Whorfs hypothesis, with very little new research being done (Lucy, 1992). According to Lucy (1992) there is little experimental data that is able to disprove Whorfs theory, and they are questioned due to the research methods used (Lucy, 1992). However, in the last decade, Whorfs idea has taken on new enthusiasm within the linguist research community and new data is emerging that supports the original idea. Benjamin Lee Whorf According to the Linguistic department at Yale University (n.d.) Benjamin was an influential American linguist that first graduated first from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1918 with a degree in chemical engineering. In 1931, Whorf changed focus and began studying his passion for linguistics at Yale University, where he first began developing his now famous hypothesis under his professor and mentor Edward Sapir. In 1936, Whorf was selected for an Honorary Research Fellowship in Anthropology at Yale and received the Sterling Fellowship in 1937. He was a lecturer in Anthropology from 1937 through 1938 in the field of linguistics. Whorf focus was Linguistic Anthropology, Psychological Linguistics, Mayan hieroglyphics and a dictionary of Hopi languages (Yale Linguistics, n.d.). This is where he began to develop his ideas about language and our perceptions. Principle of Linguistic Relativity Zhu Zhifang (2002) author of Linguistic relativity and Cultural Communication, shares that while Whorf was investigated Hebrew, Aztec, Maya, Hopi and other unfamiliar languages, he discovered that these languages were structured differently from that of English and other European languages. Languages, with different collocations of semantic ideas might provide different segmentation of experience (Whorf, 1956 p. 56). Zhifang (2002) continues to clarify that Whorf put a great deal of emphasis on the Hopi language. A language, he thought, had a grammar much more complicated and subtle than that of the European languages. Whorf saw that experiences were segmented by language in a very different way, not only by its lexicon but also by its grammatical organization. The notion of linguistic relativity is the suggestion that all ones life has been tricked by the structure of language into a certain way of perceiving reality, with the implication that awareness of this trickery will enable one to see the world with fresh insight (Zhifang 2002, p.263). With a detailed description of the grammatical and semantic structure of the Hopi language, Whorf concludes: All this is an illustration of how language produces an organization of experience. We are inclined to think of language simply as a technique of expression, not to realize that language first of all is a classification and arrangement of the stream of sensory experience which results in a certain world order, a certain segment of the world that is easily expressible by the type of symbolic means that language employs. (Whorf, 1956, p. 55) Language Metaphysics (Philosophy) Eleanor Rosch (1987) explains in her paper, Linguistic relativity, etc.: A Review of General Semantics, that the average European languages uses objects (nouns) as the basic unit of reality, which is composed of substance, form, and actions (verbs). All of which, Rosch (1987) describes, as existing in an objective, three-dimensional space, and a one-dimensional uniform and perpetual flow of time, expressed in sentence tense, that create our perceptions. Rosch (1987) further explains that in his study of the Hopi language, Whorf discovered that they do not differentiate between objects and actions. Object and actions are more accurately described as events, different from each other according to a length of time. Instead of considering substance, motion, space, and time, Hopi grammar separates their world by two main beliefs about language, manifested (objective) and Un-manifest (Subjective) (Rosch, 1987). Manifested comprises all that is or has been accessible to the senses, and un-manifested is considered all that the Hopi call the future (Rosch, 1987). Zhifang (2002) takes Roschs ideas and further demonstrates that Whorf discovered the Hopi language functions entirely without tenses for its verbs and has no general understanding or perception of time and does not think of time as a linear continuum in which all in the world moves at an equal rate. The Hopi language contains no words, grammatical forms, constructions or expressions referring directly to what Europeans call time, or to past, present, future, or to enduring or lasting . (Zhifang, 2002, p. 164). Rosch (1987) states that the metaphysics understood in the sentence structure of European languages, makes it reasonable to examine and evaluate sentences into, what we consider actions, and results of actions. However, according to Whorf, these ideas are gross distortions when used as units of analysis for various American Indian Languages. (Rosch, 1987). According to Rosch (1987), Whorf uses the example of how Indian languages translate into English as a demonstration of the differences in thought processes between the two languages. He uses Apache, It is a dripping spring is deciphered as As water, or springs, whiteness moves downward in English. Another example, in Shawnee, cleaning gun with a ramrod is direct hollow moving dry spot by movement of tool in English (Rosch, 1987). Zhifang (2002) sums up Roschs observations by stating that Whorf argued that every language conceals a metaphysics. (Zhifang 2002, p. 163) The Hopi language applies a philosophy unlike that of European languages. Zhifang, (2002) explains that the difference in concepts and abstractions associated with Hopi language make up a foreign metaphysics from that of European languages. From the Western standpoint, this philosophy appears mystical in nature (Zhifang, 2002). They are ideas which we are accustomed to consider as part and parcel either of so-called animistic or vitalistic beliefs, or of those transcendental unifications of experience and intuitions of things unseen that are felt by the consciousness of the mystic, or which are given out in mystical and (or) so-called occult systems of thought. These abstractions are definitely given either explicitly in wordspsychological or metaphysical termsin the Hopi language, or, even more, are implicit in the very structure and grammar of the language, as well as being observable in Hopi culture and behavior. (Whorf, 1956, p. 58-59). Whorf is not the only one who had this idea of cultural differences in language. Alfred Korzybski came to a similar view of cultural differences in language, several years before Whorf. He explained that, Culturally inherited structure of an individuals language, including his or her terminology, grammar, logic, semantics, doctrines, etc. relates to assumptions, premises, implications about the structure of ourselves and the world. (Korzybski, 1933, p. 92). Author Alfred Korzybski (1933), in is article Science and Sanity, summed up the power of language well: We do not realize what tremendous power the structure of a habitual language has. It is not an exaggeration to say that it enslaves us through the mechanism of semantic or evaluational reactions and that the structure which a language exhibits, and impresses upon us unconsciously is automatically projected upon the world around us (Korzybski, 1933, p. 90). Language and Thought As demonstrated through Whorfs observation of the Hopi language and the differences in semantics from European language, we see a pattern of information that gave rise to his hypothesis. However, Lera Boroditsky, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), reminds us that a definitive answer to the questions does language shape thoughts?, has been a challenging task (Boroditsky, 2003). Not until the last decade, has research on language and thought gained new interest. As a result, new evidence has become available on peoples perspectives of space, time, and objects. Spatial differences in Language and Thought Remarkable differences in semantics have been observed in the way languages illustrate spatial locations. While most languages rely a great deal on relative spatial terms to express the relative locations of objects (left, right, front, back), Tzeltal, a Mayan language, relies largely on absolute reference (a system similar to English north and south direction system) (Levinson, 1996) . Levinson (1996), points out that to the Tzeltal, spatial observations that are north are expressed as downhill and those south are expressed as uphill. This absolute uphill/downhill approach is the main system to express spatial relations between objects in Tzeltal. There is no corresponding equivalent to the English term front/back or left/right (Levinson, 1996). To test whether this difference between the two languages has cognitive consequences, Levinson (1996) created a study whereas Dutch and Tzeltal speakers were tested in spatial tasks. In one study, participants were seated at a table and an arrow lay in front of them pointing either to the right (north) or to the left (south). Levinson (1996) explains how the arrows were rotated 180 degree to a second table which had two arrows (one pointing to the left (north) and one to the right (south), and were asked to identify the arrow like the one they saw before. The study reveled that Dutch speakers would choose the relative solution. Further testing of Levinsons (1996) theory showed that if the arrow pointed to the right (and north), Dutch speakers would chose the arrow that still pointed to the right (though this time it pointed south instead of the previous north). Tzeltal did precisely the reverse, and chose the absolute solution. Levinson (1996) confirmed that if the arrow direction was to the right (and north) Tzeltal speakers chose the arrow that still pointed north (though it now pointed left instead of right). Thus, explains Levinson (1996), the Tzeltal language relies a great deal on absolute reference in spatial description. It has also affected their understanding of a non-linguistic orientation task (Levinson, 1996). Time Differences in Language and Thought Languages also differ from one another on their use and understanding of time. While all languages use spatial expressions to address time (I will see you tomorrow, he was ahead of his time, he is behind in his homework), different languages use unique spatial terms (Boroditsky, 2001). He demonstrates how English primarily uses front/back vocabulary to talk about time, as evidence in terms such as we still have our vacation ahead of us, or that incident is behind us, or we are moving forward, or go back to the beginning and take your shoes off before you enter. The language employed to organize events are the same as those used to articulate asymmetric horizontal spatial relations (he is looking forward to tomorrow or the hard times are behind us) (Boroditsky, 2001, p. 2). According to Boroditsky (2001), the Mandarin language also uses front/back spatial terms to describe time relationships such as the spatial term Xian (front) and Hou (back). What makes Mandarin remarkable is that the Mandarin language also systematically uses vertical metaphors to address time. The special word shang (up) and xia (down) are often used discuss the sequence of events roughly translated into English as last and next (Boroditsky, 2001). Earlier events are said to be shang (up) and later events are said to be xia (down). In summary, both the Mandarin and English language use horizontal terms to talk about time. In addition Mandarin speakers also use the vertical term shang and xia (Boroditsky, 2001). Boroditsky (2001) discusses how the English and Mandarin ways of talking, lead to differences in how people think about time. Boroditsky (2001) analyzed a group of studies and discovered that Mandarin speakers tend to think about time vertically even when they are thinking for English. Boroditsky (2001) observed that Mandarin speakers could more rapidly confirm that March comes earlier than April, if they had just seen a vertical group of objects than if they had seen a horizontal arrangement. Boroditsky (2001) noticed that the opposite was true for English speakers. Another study showed that the extent to which Mandarin-English bilinguals think about time vertically is related to how old they were when they first began to learn English. According to Boroditsky (2001), this last outcome implies two things; language is a convincing tool in the influence of thought and ones native language plays a role in shaping habitual thought. Objects Languages also differ in how names of objects are grouped into grammatical categories. Boroditsky (2001) uses the argument that a many languages use grammatical gender and unlike English, many languages use a grammatical gender system where all nouns (chair, socks and books) are assigned a gender. Languages that use grammatical gender are required to assign objects a gender role by using gendered pronouns and modifying adjectives or verbs to match gender use with nouns (Boroditsky, 2001). This effects the how a person thinks about inanimate objects when assigned a gender. Boroditsky, together Michal Ramscar and Wendy Ham, conducted four studies that suggests assigning grammatical genders to objects with language does influence peoples mental representations of objects (Boroditsky, Ham Ramscar, 2002). Spanish and German speakers were asked to rate similarities between pictures of people (male and female) and pictures of objects (the names of which had opposite genders in Spanish and German). Both groups rated grammatically feminine objects to be more similar to females and grammatically masculine objects more similar to males. This was true even though all objects had opposite genders in Spanish and German. It appears that even a small fluke of grammar (the seemingly arbitrary assignment of a noun to be masculine or feminine) can have an effect on how people think about things in the world (Boroditsky, et al, 2002, p. 136) Summary Through Whorf study of languages, especially his interest in Native Indian languages, he expanded on his mentors idea that language has a coherent and systematic nature to develop his now famous Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. He was not the first to propose the idea that language affects our thoughts and perception, but it is his hypothesis that inspired others such as Levisons research on spatial relationships and language, and Boroditskys study of language in relationship to objects and time, to continue the search to find answers for his assumptions. Additional investigation into linguistic relativity will eventually reveal the exact nature of the connections between language and cognitive function. These studies will help us to establish what might be the commonality of all human cognition. References Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakersconception of time. Cognitive Psychology 43 (1): 1-22. Boroditsky, L., Ham, W. and Ramscar, M., (2002). What is universal about event perceptions? Comparing English and Idonesian speakers. Proceedings of the 24th Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/CSJarchive/Proceedings/2002/CogSci02.pdf Kodish, B. (2003). What we do with language what it does with us. Etc: A Review of General Semantics, 60(4), 383-395. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database. Korzybski, A., 1994 (1933). Science and Sanity: An introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics. Fifth Edition. Institute of general Semantics. Brooklyn, NY: Levinson, S., (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneuxs question: research into cross- linguistic evidence. In: Bloom P and Peterson M (eds) Language and Space, pp. 109-169. Lucy, J. (1997). Linguistic relativity.Annual Review of Anthropology,26,291-312. Retrieved August 21, 2008, from Research Librarydatabase. (Document ID:21752097). Rosch, E. (1987, Fall). Linguistic relativity, etc.: A Review of General Semantics, 44(3), 254- 279. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Education Research Complete database. Stanford Encyclopedia, (n.d.). The Linguistic relativity hypothesis. Stanford University. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.html Yale Linguistics, (n.d.), Benjamin Lee Whorf. Yale University. Retrieved August 22, 2008, from website: http://www.ling.yale.edu/history/whorf.html and http://www.ling.yale.edu/history/sapir.html. Whorf, B., (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf Edited by Carroll, J., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1998. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from: http://books.google.com/books?id=W2d1Q4el00QCprintsec=frontcoverdq=Language,+thought+and+realitysig=ACfU3U0-0aOK_v3HYwbXt0FxR-AVFVaT0A#PPA1,M1 Zhifang, Z. (2002, May). Linguistic Relativity and Cultural Communication. Educational Philosophy Theory, 34(2), 161-170. Retrieved August 22, 2008, doi:10.1080/00131850120102231.

Dehumanization of the Jews Essay

Dehumanization is the process of making a person less human by taking away the important things in their life and what makes them who they are; not only the material things but their ideas and morals as well. The Nazi’s dehumanized millions and millions of Jews during the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s recollection of his experience in the German’s concentration camps, he explained how brutal the Nazi’s could be, how they could take a person’s life away in the matter of seconds, and how they change a person’s outlook on life entirely. The Jews were dehumanized from the very beginning of the Holocaust and only grew to be worse. Dehumanization is the process of making a person less human by taking away the important things in their life and what makes them who they are; not only the material things but their ideas and morals as well. The Nazi’s dehumanized millions and millions of Jews during the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s recollection of his experience in the German’s concentration camps, he explained how brutal the Nazi’s could be, how they could take a person’s life away in the matter of seconds, and how they change a person’s outlook on life entirely. The Jews were dehumanized from the very beginning of the Holocaust and only grew to be worse. The Nazi’s didn’t make anything easy for them. The Jews endured a continuous struggle that they could do nothing about. In the beginning, it all started with the German’s forcing them out of their homes and sending them to the ghettos. The Nazi’s stripped them of their rights, took away their belongings, and removed them from their daily lives. This left them with nothing. They left behind their lives. â€Å"To live? I don’t attach any importance to my life any more. I’m alone,† states an early deportee, Moshe the Beadle. (pg. 5) The Jews were ridded of all sense of security. Once they arrived at the concentration camps, they were struck with another loss of â€Å"themselves. † At the camp, they received tattoos. These tattoos were a series of numbers which represented â€Å"who† they were in the concentration camps. They were known as numbers, not people, numbers. A name is sacred. A name is who you are, without it, you’re only a being. They were people with friends and family that knew them by this name, their name. It was just another way to break away the ties of humanity. In the camps, the prisoners were treated like animals. They had to work all day long. They had to eat when they were told to eat. They had do everything they were told. If anyone misbehaved they would be shot down like dogs. Wiesel asks, â€Å"Was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death? † (pg. 37) A human is meant to be free, do as they please, and not live life in fear. The Jews weren’t allowed to have these luxuries anymore. They were worn down to nothing, which is exactly what Hitler was trying to do. Dehumanization was carried on throughout the Holocaust. The Nazi’s wanted the Jews gone. They made them flee their homes and their personal lives. They were left with nothing. They were given numbers in replace of their own name, the name that makes them the person they grew up as. They Jewish prisoners were treated like animals. They worked, hardly ate, hardly slept, and worked some more. If someone was to do the slightest thing wrong, they were shot down. The person they used to be is gone. The Jewish weren’t given a chance to fight for their lives. The Nazi’s made this impossible. They had to hold onto the little bit of hope left in their wounded hearts.

The Battle Over Descriptive Essay Topics for College and How to Win It

The Battle Over Descriptive Essay Topics for College and How to Win It A great essay paper calls for certain abilities and knowledge. When you're working on your essay, you should select your topic carefully. It's possible to buy argumentative essay at their site. If you wish to create a descriptive essay about your own personal experience, it could possibly be unusual and specific. Persuasive or argumentative essays are supposed to convince the audience of a person's viewpoint about a specific topic. Argumentative essay topics cover a wide selection of subjects, and can be quite persuasive if an excellent essay represents them. The topics for argumentative essays are often quite self-explanatory they're common understanding. Occasionally, selecting a great argumentative essay topics will be quite tough. The sort of essays can be challenging and time-consuming, and is the main reason why most students decide to find descriptive essay writing help from online platforms. The main reason why a lot of students opt to tackle descriptive essay topics is because they are simple to handle. Consequently, they can come up with different thesis for different themes to write essays on hamlet. Some students believe that they can write great descriptive essays regardless of what their topics are. You may ask your tutor to supply you with a minumum of one descriptive essay example to assist you determine what is expected from you. Most college students, however, tend to choose a topic they are enthusiastic about and produce the essay have substantive info. Choosing excellent essay topics for middle school must be a careful procedure, where a balance must be struck between topics that might be too simplistic, more acceptable for the main school, and choosing argumentative essay topics that could be too elaborate or controversial. Following are a few of the advised sociology essay topic for those students that are unable to choose a great topic for their assignment. Therefore, here are a few basic tips that will help you in writing of good descriptive essay. If you're tasked with writing a descriptive essay there are lots of things you can write about. The trick to writing a superb effectiveA essay is to get the passion to write it. The secret of writing a prosperous description essay is dependent on the collection of right topic. The significance of reading through your essay is it allows you to recognize the mistakes and keep a very good tone throughout your work. It is possible to also read your essay to other individuals to receive their feedback. Though, there are particular patterns that you are going to follow when you compose a descriptive essay. If you're looking for tips about how to compose a descriptive essay, you've come to the proper spot. There are different kinds of essays but among all descriptive essays are regarded as the simplest one as it is about more of personal experiences and there's no need to have an in-depth researchwhich permits the writer to conserve lots of time and he doesn't get stuck in technicality. There are a few thumb rules for argumentative essay subjects to prevent clashes, yet earning a point at precisely the same time. The ability to spell out something doesn't come easily for a good deal of individuals. There are a great deal of subjects you are able to select from for a descriptive essay. Contemplating the simple fact, descriptive essay is a distinctive kind of a term paper, the structure also differs from the one which you are accustomed to. It's important to get a crystal clear vision of your paper. An outline helps to ensure that you've got the vital components to compose a brilliant essay. Creating an outline is a significant portion of writing.

Poison Called Bacillus Thuringitesis ( Bt ) Toxin

poison called Bacillus Thuringitesis (BT) toxin in every cell and every bite of it. Although the biotech seed companies like Monsanto claim that their genetically modified organisms (GM) are harmless, that s not what the independent scientists are finding† in their researches (Smith, 2015, n.p). The gastrointestinal (GI) symptomatology affecting autistic kids appear to resemble the same problems in animals fed with GMO food. In both, the inflammation in the GI tract increased permeability, caused the imbalances in the intestinal bacteria and the† leaking gut effect†. The GMO grains modified food was introduced in 1990 to feed farm animals and increase the productivity and resistance to diseases supposedly. In contrast, an increased of the incidence of ileitis on animals increased proportionally with the introduction of these products. This thesis was corroborated when the affected animals switched to non-GMOs nutrition and all signs and symptoms disappeared, d igestion improved, antibiotic treatment of the animals was not necessary causing improvement of health and milk production. Non- GMOs nutrition increased also the conception rate in the animal and even the behavioral issues documented like agitation, irritability, nervousness and antisocial behaviors improved and /or disappeared too, concluding that GMOs diet was affecting animals ‘health and natural and organic nutrition cured them and actually, improved productivity of the animals. How do GMOs foods can