Language is a guide to social reality
Edward Sapir
Who said “Language is a guide to social reality”?
Benjamin Lee Whorf
Who talked about “Language, Thought, and Reality”?
Steven Pinker
Who talked about “The Language Instinct”?
Gumperz & Levinson
Who talked about “Linguistic relativity re-examined ”?
Edward Sapir
Who talked about “Meaning as Sign”?
A guide to social reality; it shapes how people interpret the world.
What does language represents?
The principle of linguistic relativity — grammar shapes how people think and perceive reality.
What is the main idea?
The worker who threw a cigarette into an “empty” drum that exploded
Pinker says he was fooled by sight, not language.
Which example does Whorf use and Pinker criticize?
A balanced one — they acknowledge both universal and culture-specific aspects of language.
What position do Gumperz and Levinson take on linguistic relativity?
That different languages express even simple facts in diverse ways, depending on their culture.
What does the example “The stone falls” illustrate?
Because their perception depends on the language of their community, which conditions their interpretations.
Why does Sapir say that human beings “do not live in the objective world alone”?
It means that the structure of a language determines how individuals analyze and organize their ideas.
What does it mean that grammar is “the program and guide for mental activity”?
Because Whorf never actually studied Apache speakers, only the grammar — making his reasoning circular.
Why does Pinker consider Whorf’s argument about the Apache language invalid?
It refers to realizing that some ideas can’t be exactly translated, showing how culture influences thought.
What does the phrase “the phenomenology of struggling with a second language” mean?
English: “The stone falls.”
Kwakiutl: includes visibility and proximity.
Chinese: “Stone fall.”
Nootka: one verb — “It stones down.”
How do various languages express the stone-falling event?
Each language constructs a distinct world; there are no exact equivalents between languages or realities.
What does the phrase “No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to represent the same social reality” mean?
Sapir focuses on language habits of the group while Whorf claims that grammar itself shapes thought.
What is the key difference between Sapir’s and Whorf’s views?
That literal translations can sound strange in any language; this doesn’t prove people think differently.
What does Pinker show by translating “He walks” as “As solitary masculinity, leggedness proceeds”?
Scientific comparison across languages, intercultural friendships, and understanding foreign strategies — all show shared cognition.
What examples challenge the idea of linguistic relativity, according to the authors?
That what seems obvious (“a stone is a stone”) is culturally relative — there’s no universal “common sense.”
What does Sapir’s example reveal about “common sense”?