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From: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Message-ID: <16558@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Sep-85 11:12:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.16558
Posted: Mon Sep 23 11:12:10 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Sep-85 03:22:34 EDT
References: <3697@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Reply-To: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 42

[...]

It is my understanding that SOME of Sapir's observations among the Trobriand
islanders and SOME of Whorf's observations among the Navaho have been
declared invalid.  At the same time, their hypothesis (that the language
you use to frame your thoughts dictates what thoughts you can have and
what perceptions you can make) is not entirely discredited.  From my
reading in linguistics, it seems that the general opinion is that the
hypothesis is true to some extent.  It does not tell the whole story,
but it is an important principle that is occasionally applicable.  The
classic test (which has NOT been discredited) is colour perception among
primitives and non-primitives.  If you have a word for a particular colour,
you can remember that colour longer.  For example, experimenters have shown
various colours to subjects (even North Americans), waited a while, then
asked the subjects to pick out the colours they were shown.  If a person
had a ready name for the colour, his/her accuracy was much better.  For
example, if you use the word "peach" for a colour that is sort of
yellowy-orange, you have a better chance of recognizing the colour than
if you just say "yellowy-orange".

This is somewhat related to selective inattention.  You tend to ignore
things unless you have been explicitly taught to pay attention.  This is
one reason why people have accents.  In Japanese and Chinese, for example,
there is no counterpart to our "L" and "R" sounds; instead, there is a
single sound that is halfway between the two.  Japanese and Chinese
speakers honestly can't tell the difference between "L" and "R" (until
they have been trained in English) -- their minds ignore the differences
in the sounds because they haven't been taught to pay attention.  The
same thing happens the other way around, of course.  I once spent a
frustrating few minutes trying to learn to pronounce a single Chinese
word, trying to imitate a Chinese speaker, thinking I had done so
perfectly, and being told that I was way off.  Odd how such things work.

(By the way, much of Delaney's work is coloured by the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis.  It is very explicit in Babel-17, but is explained in
clearer detail in Tales of Neveryon.  I'm not sure this will sell
people on the theory, considering the response to Dhalgren...)

				Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo