Question

If you had to describe the current state of the field in regards to the Whorfian Hypothesis to someone who isn't a psychology major what would you say? Is there evidence for the hypothesis? If so, what version (strong/week)? Is there no evidence? Is the evidence conflicting?

Answer 1

Whorfian Hypothesis states that our thoughts and actions depends on the language that we know. This is the stronger version of whorfian hypothesis. The weaker version of the same states that - yes! language does steer our behaviour and thought patterns but only to a certain extent.

Compare the languages that tribals of an island speak to that of any other widely spoken languages in the world. The number of actions taken, the various patterns in thinking, ability to change perspectives, historical records of events and more are the capabilities seen in individuals who speak widely spoken languages. Whereas if you observe the tribals, the variations in their actions and behaviour is very limited. Their vocation involves hunting, cooking, gathering and a few more. They do not gather information and keep a record. They have no historical archives. One can notice that tribal languages consist of few sounds and alphabets (if any). Therefore, one's language does determine one's thought and actions. Strong version of Whorfian hypothesis is thus substantiated.

When it comes to weaker version of whorfian hypothesis, can one explain why geniuses such as Einstein, CV Raman, Aryabhatta, Edison, Karl marx could do what they did even though they shared their language with thousands of other people. It makes question the fact that language does not completely influence our thoughts and actions, only to a certain extent.