Changes
Trying to get closer to what [[Whorf]] actually said
The '''Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis''' (also known as the "Whorfian hypothesis" and the "linguistic relativity hypothesis") is a [[linguistic]] theory that states that [[language]] is not merely a way of expressing ideas, but it is the mechanism that gives shape those ideas.
Whorf wrote:* ... observers are not led by the same physical evidence to the same picture of the universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are similar ...* From this fact proceeds what I have called the "linguistic relativity principle," which means, in informal terms, that users of markedly different grammars are pointed by their grammars toward different types of observations and different evaluations of externally similar acts of observation, and hence are not equivalent as observers but must arrive at somewhat different views of the world.<ref name=great>[http://www.enformy.com/dma-Chap7.htm The Great Whorf Hypothesis Hoax]</ref> Others said: * "Whorf [was] appealing to the general educated audience of his day to become linguistically aware -- to realize to what extent the language you speak influences what and how you think." [http:<ref name=great //www.enformy.com/dma-Chap7.htm]>
* "In truth, it is widely accepted by ethnolinguists that culture affects language, but it is controversial as to whether or not language affects culture."<ref>"Benjamin Whorf," New World Encyclopedia, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Benjamin_Whorf?oldid=795326 (accessed February 25, 2009). </ref>
