The Sapir Whorf hypothesis

Question 1

what are the 3 aspects of the Sapir whorf hypothesis

Answer 1

thinking depends on language
language determines thought
language influences thought

Question 2

what did Sapir whorf mean by thinking depends on language?

Answer 2

language came before thought, words influence the way we think

Question 3

what did Sapir whorf mean by language determines thought? (language determinism)

Answer 3

this is the strong form of the theory, if a language doesn’t have a word for a thought you will have no way of thinking about it

Question 4

what did Sapir whorf mean by language influences thought? (language relativism)

Answer 4

this is the weaker version of the theory, it suggests that language doesn’t completely determine the way we think, we can think about different concepts but we might find it difficult to express them

Question 5

what Is one strength of this theory?

PEE

Answer 5

P- a strength of this is that it explains how language is linked to intelligence

E- a linguist believed that there were 2 codes in language: restrictive and elaborate, he also believed that children from the working class spoke with a restrictive code, whereas people from middle to upper classes spoke with an elaborate code, he argues that working class children will always be behind due to their restrictive code

E- this is important as this evidence that links language and intelligence supports the theory

Question 6

what Is one weakness of this theory?

PEE

Answer 6

P- one weakness of this theory is that Piaget’s theory contradicts this theory

E- Piaget believed that thought came before language, children had to develop a schema and understanding of the concept before being able to express it through language

E- this is important because contradicting theories limit the validity of the study