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From: dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.cog-eng,sci.psychology,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Computer Languages and the Sapir/Whorf hypothesis
Keywords: computer languages, Sapir/Whorf hypothesis, linguistics
Message-ID: <30407@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 21 Aug 90 20:56:15 GMT
References: <5137@munnari.oz.au> <1445@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu>
Reply-To: dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services
Lines: 34

In article <1445@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> pautler@ils.nwu.edu writes:
>In article <5137@munnari.oz.au>, jfl@munnari.oz.au (John Lenarcic) writes:
>> 
>> ( Briefly stated, the hypothesis is : 
>>          " Language shapes the way we think,
>
>	Okay.
>
>> 	   and determines what we can think about. " )
>
>	A professor in pragmatics told me this spring that the theory
>only claims that a given language forces its users to mentally keep
>track of certain information like time-of-occurence, etc. 

I think this understates the hypothesis, at least in Whorf's version.  Whorf
claimed that, since we think in language, the language in which we think will
have enormous impact on the ways in which we think, tending to reinforce
certain patterns and undermine others.  It could be something as blatant as
having the word for "good" being etymologically related to that for "strong",
tending to reinformce "might makes right" thinking, or as subtle as the lack
of a socially acceptable passive voice encouraging thinking of one'sself as
an agent and not as an object (or, of course, the converse).

There is, to be sure, a "chicken and egg" question here: is it the language
that shapes the culture, or the culture that shapes the language?  The answer
(IMHO) is "both": the language evolves because of and in accordance with
cultural forces, but after a certain point the language develops a momentum
of its own, tending to carry the culture in directions already inherent in
the language.

-- 
        David M. Tate       | "May your fondest wish be granted."         
  dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu   | 
 "A Man for all Seasonings" |           --Traditional Chinese Curse.