Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Language, a term that connects an individual’s heart to another individual. Language has a very great role in forming and shaping one’s culture and it is the first and major element of the culture.
Sapir and Whorf are two anthropologists in period around 1930, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf felt strange when they encountered the fact that, one of the tribal society have no different words to distinguish tenses, in their mother tongue: the language which they had adopted and which was underuse was lacking the basic construction rule through which the time frame of the incidents which happened, could be specified. The society was widely known as, “The Hopi Indians” this society mostly resides in the area near the southwestern United States.
They concluded and gave theory on language which says that the language adopted by the society is the mirror of the society which reflects its perceiving techniques, analyzing methods, beliefs; and also, the language which is at present prevalent in a group or institution, tells the names of such regions which follows different cultures and through which a culture has passed to develop in the form which the culture has, in present: language is the basic element of the culture; the culture diffusion takes place when it experience the variations in the conditions: culture gets modified in different ways when exposed to different cultures, such as the changing climates or the changing demands of the society or even with the changing demands of the individual itself; a language hence with the changing culture experiences the changes; such changes which could be analyzed, to understand the unspoken history of the social-background of the society which at present, is using the said language.
From this observation, it can be concluded that ‘words’ which are used in a language, have much more meaning than the meanings of the things which individuals have assigned: the language is a measure of the persistence of individuals residing in the society. Sheriff and Whorf also remarked the same thing, they argued and introduced the visual power of language which explains the world to their users. In other words, the use of language is not limited to only the expression of view and ideas rather it also leads the ways through which an individual can shape his views the way he thinks and understand the things. The language with it brings, not only words or new vocabulary or meanings different explanations but also brings with it, the ways of thinking and accepting changes in the culture.
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/sapir-whorf-hypothesis
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