Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

[ suh-peer-hwawrf, -hwohrf, -wawrf, -wohrf ]

noun

1. a theory developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf that states that the structure of a language determines or greatly influences the modes of thought and behavior characteristic of the culture in which it is spoken.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

noun

1. the theory that human languages determine the structure of the real world as perceived by human beings, rather than vice versa, and that this structure is different and incommensurable from one language to another

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis¹

named after Edward Sapir (1884–1939), US anthropologist and linguist, and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1943), US linguist

Example Sentences

It is crammed with illustrations and marginalia on all manner of arcana, including pet rocks, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Borges’s “Library of Babel,” The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Humpty Dumpty, unicorns and the pink fairy armadillo.

From Scientific American

I talked about how this myth is one example of a widely debunked idea called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, named after the linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf.

From Scientific American

This idea – now usually known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, or Sapir-Whorf hypothesis – has had a checkered history in academia.

From The Guardian

In the 1970s, Anna Wierzbicka, a linguist who found herself marooned in Australia after a long career in Polish academia, stood the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on its head.

From The Guardian

The results add a new wrinkle to the perennial nature-versus-nurture debate and the so-called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis—the idea that the way we see the world is shaped by language.

From Scientific American