The-Sapir-Whorf-Hypothesis.ppt

TheSapir-WhorfHypothesis,SapirWhorf,1.ThecontentoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesis2.ArgumentsagainsttheSapir-WhorfHypothesis3.TheultimatevalueoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesis4.Summary,1.ThecontentoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesisTherearetwoversionsoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesis:astrongversionandaweakversion.,claimtheoriginalhypothesissuggests,emphasizingthedecisiveroleoflanguageastheshaperofourthinkingpatterns.,thereisacorrelationbetweenlanguage,cultureandthought,butthecross-culturaldifferencesthusproducedinourwaysofthinkingarerelative,ratherthancategorical.,Thestrongversion,Theweakversion,强式：也称语言决定论(Linguisticdeterminism)，即语言决定思维弱式：也叫语言相对论(Linguisticrelativity)，即思维相对于语言不同的人，思维也不同,2.ArgumentsagainsttheSapir-WhorfHypothesis,ArgumentinsuccessfultranslationAccordingtothestrongversionofSapir-WhorfHypothesis,thereisnorealtranslationanditisimpossibletolearnthelanguageofadifferentcultureunlessthelearnerabandonshisownmodeofthinkingandacquirethatofthetargetlanguage.Actually,successfultranslationcanbemadebetweenlanguages.Forexample,theconceptualuniquenessofalanguagesuchasHopicannonethelessbeexplainedinEnglish.,ArgumentinsecondlanguageacquisitionAccordingtothehypothesis,languageshavedifferentconceptualsystems,ifitistrue,thensomeonewhospeaksonelanguagewillbeunabletorightconceptualsystem.However,sincepeoplecanlearnradicallydifferentlanguages,thoselanguagescouldnthavedifferentconceptualsystem.,3.TheultimatevalueoftheSapir-WhorfHypothesis,Itoffershintstoculturaldifferencesandsimilaritiesamongpeople.,4.Summary,AlthoughpartofthecontroversysurroundtheSapir-WhorfHypothesis,thehypothesisisimportanttolinguisticsbecauseitacknowledgestherelationshipbetweenthoughtandlanguage,whichmaypartiallygivestabilitytothecognitiveclaimthatlanguageusereflectsconceptualization