Arguments against Sapir—Whorf Hypothesis

徐晓敏

【Abstract】One long-standing claim concerning the relationship between language and culture of a language is that languages determine the way speakers of that language view the world. This is what the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis claims. However， it is too absolute from the view of language and world view and second language acquisition.

【Key words】Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis； language and world view； second language acquisition

1. Question

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis has two versions. The strong version emphasizes the decisive role of language as the shaper of our thinking patterns. The weak version suggests the correlation between language， culture， and thought， but the cross-cultural differences thus produced in our ways of thinking are relative， rather than categorical（Hu & Jiang， 2002）. It is too absolute and makes our perception model upside down. Thus， the main concern of this paper focuses on the arguments against the strong version of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

2. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Sapir believed language and culture were inextricably in a close relationship. One could not understand the other without some knowledge of it（Carroll， 1966）. The strong version expresses the idea that the linguistic model determines peoples way of thinking， and the mode of thinking shapes peoples world view.

3. Arguments against Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Since the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis can be analyzed and applied in the following four parts， namely， language and world view， language and grammatical structure， language and translation and second language acquisition. This paper mainly focuses on language and world view and second language acquisition.

3.1 Language and world view

We get the viewpoint that the language system provides specifics of ones world view. Thus， we can deduce that people speaking the same language may have the same world view， including all aspects of life. On contrary， people in different speech communities have different political， social， religious， scientific and philosophical views. However， we all know the truth that people in different countries may have the same belief and be loyal to the same religion. According to the data of Wikipedia， there are almost 2 billion people who are Christians all over the world （including Catholics， Christians， and Orthodox Christians） and make up 33.3% of the world population. Those who believe in Islam take up 19.89% of the world population with about 1 billion people. Those who believe in Hinduism is 12.94% of total with the number of 67， 420， 000. Buddhists take up 356， 880， 000 of the world population with a ration of 6.02%. In China， about 100， 000， 000 men believe in Buddhism； about 244， 160， 000 men believe in Islam. Thus， the assumption that people speaking the same language may have the same world view is obvious false and people from different speech communities can share the same belief.

3.2 Second Language Acquisition

From the hypothesis， we know that if different languages consist of different conceptual systems， then a man who speaks language A is unable to learn language B for that he does not have the corresponding conceptual system， and his own conceptual system will be an obstacle to the new conceptual system.

However， taking English as an example， it is an official language of many countries and widely used language in the world. Besides， over 60% of the letters are written in English. In some countries like Canada， Hong Kong， Singapore， Malaysia and South Africa， English is used as second and common language. Those who speak English as a second language amount up to 250， 000， 000 people. Besides， English is also taken as a foreign language to be learned in Europe， China and Japan （32.6%）. The languages following it are Portuguese， German， and Spanish. From the above statistics， we get the truth that languages share some common conceptual system， thats why people can easily learn a language which comes from a totally different system.

4. Conclusion

Though the strong version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that concerns the linguistic determinism and emphasizes that language shapes thought patterns is true on many occasions. However， from the aspect of relations between religion and language communities， and second language acquisition， we can infer that this claim is not very accurate.

References：

[1]Carroll，J.B.，Language，thought，and Reality：Slected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf.Cambridge：MIT Press，1966.

[2]Hu，Z.L.& W.Q.Jiang，Linguistics：An Advanced Course Book.Beijing：Peking University Press，2002.