Regardless, structure by definition cannot define language, and if we toss aside the so-called “strong Sapir-Whorf hypothesis” for being basically incoherent, I think we have to toss this kind of “strong universalist hypothesis” on exactly the same grounds.I recently tried to translate the Catholic "Hail Mary" prayer from Latin into Proto-Italic. the dissemination of writing or the disappearance of traditional storytelling practices). Although even then, we do see remarkable changes in language structure during periods of dramatic cultural transition (e.g. Language would have no bearing on thought, or all humans would think exactly the same way - both of which are absurd propositions.įor the most part, we can abstract these problems away from language structure - the kind of thing that most linguists prefer to focus on: phonology, morphology, syntax. They have to, otherwise the different worldviews could not be transmitted as such.
The choices, consequences, and language associated with a young man not getting his way were completely incommensurable, and so in the late 19th century, at least, Kwakiutl really had no words to express “Zuni anger”, and vice-versa - or at least the phrases a speaker might use to express it were far less contextually accessible, which really amounts to much the same thing.įor a more obvious example, the differences in worldview between a Japanese Zen monk and a British career politican take place at the level of language (which is not contradictory to the observation that one can tell koan in English and lies in Japanese). Take the most famous example in the literature: “anger” among the 19th-century Zuni meant something very different to its equivalent (so to speak) among their Kwakiutl contemporaries. The realm of feelings, in particular, differs vastly between cultures, and languages - as cultural artefacts - differ in turn. And all linguists should have some exposure to anthropology. This kind of dictum hinges on a separation of language, ideology, and culture that no linguist with any exposure to anthropology should feel comfortable making.
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