CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF

EDWARD SAPIRS
DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE
Presented by

Fatima shahid

LAHORE UNIVERSITY OF
FUTURE EDUCATION

Critical analysis

The relationship between thought, reality and language has seized philosophers, linguists, anthropologists and
psychologists for centuries.
Mostly thinkers argue one of the following three positions in relation to the Sapir Hypothesis
1.

Language heavily influences thought (strong interpretation)

2.

Language does not influence thought

3.

Language partially influences thought (weak interpretation).

Support to Sapir Concept:

Sapir starts by making his first claim and explaining it: "Walking is essentially innate. Language is not. It is learned
and cultural"(My view rather than actual quote.).
Language is obviously one of the cognitive skills that humans boast, and one of the most apparent differences
between the human and other species. No surprise, then, that language is often considered the main hint to the
secrets of the mind. After all, it is language through which our mind demonstrates itself and we can study the mind
through language.
Edwards view on language is one that takes into account not only cultural studies but the whole range of human
sciences, among them sociology, philosophy, and psychology. He thought language as a cultural product and
considers linguistics to be a fruitful possibility of a scientific study of society.
Sapir characterizes language as purely human and non-instinctive. He believes that language affects the human
thought
The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the
group (Edward Sapir)

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Olson (1970) who see that the category of perceptual and cognitive structures reflect individual experiences of the
world. An event is always categorized depending on the context. Related with emotional words Levy (1973),
through his studies in Tahiti explained that there was no similarity between feeling bad (bad feelings) in
understanding people of Tahiti with the word sad (sad) in the English vocabulary. People more emphasize Tahiti
mo'emo'e feelings (a sense of loneliness and isolation) instead of feeling sad. Levi said that this does not signify that
the people who speak English cannot feel mo'emo'e and vice versa, people of Tahiti cannot feel sad, but it indicates
that the feelings have a different status that cannot be paralleled. If the bad feelings (bad feeling) for the people who
speak Tahiti are mo'emo'e and English are sad. Language is learned since the childhood. Language has a subjective
orientation in expressing the world of human experience then Orientation was affected how people say and think.
Through face study we can describe influence of language on the human mind. Derivation is exhibited from some
statements to some experts, among others:

Sapirs hypothesis is supported by some research findings, especially to study human population. One
anthropologist writes "language differences are related to the emotive activity. Like, two persons who have
different vocabulary of basic color will arrange the secondary colors in different ways. There are categories in the
language, the basis of mental activity, such as memory, decision making and categorization according to Language
relativistic. If this is true, then the studies of language differences are actually thoughts that caused the system.

Critical analysis
1. Language creates awareness
2. Language creates self-consciousness
3. Language creates structures of thought and symbolic representation
4. Language serves as one possible cue for memory
5. Language provides "Thinking for speaking
Some Objections to the concept Sapir:
The concept of Sapir encourages some objections among linguists and researchers. Psycho linguistics used it as the
fundamental formation of objection is that any thought can be expressed in different ways. A man can say anything
he wanted in a language so that between different languages has a parallel symbol. One example to demonstrate this
objection is in the field of development. many cases in daily life shows that babies who do not yet have an optimal
language was able to reason more than the things that attract them. For example 3-4 months old babies can
understand the distance and solve problems regarding distance. The age of 5 months baby can make sense of basic
arithmetic and logic s. if a baby have two objects in hand, they try to find two objects when these objects are hidden.
The second evidence that shows that humans can think even without the use of language is the case of children who
are not deaf to understand the structure of language signs. Above mentioned children s can find the signal and their
own movements to convey their thinking s and wishes. The third proof is the case of a mental image that was
presented by some people. Expert in the visual field have the ability to persuade which can be compared with the
scientist or an author. Francis Cricks was able to find a double helix DNA structure by thinking visually, the well
known Einstein can spawn physics formulas are spectacular with visual reasoning.
Eskimos lives in snow, so they have many words about snow. Camel is very important for Arabians, so they have
lots of vocabulary related to camel. Language is developed in accordance with the cultural challenges and not true
that human beings cannot distinguish a few objects of perception because no words can express it. Although the

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in English.

language is only using the word 'he' it does not mean Indonesian people don't understand the meaning 'he' and 'she'

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Critical analysis
Humans can think without using language, but language skills assist remembering and learning, draw conclusions
and identify issues. Language permits individuals present events and objects in the form of words. With individual
language capable of generalized experience and convey it to others because language is a system that is able to
express all thoughts without limits.
While most scientists believe that language is a social object which stands on an agreement to facilitate the
communication, Chomsky has a different concept in accordance with the language "a natural object that is part of
human biological heritage". It is something that human beings already have (Ludlow, 2000). Language for Chomsky
is a reflection of the mind and the product of human intellect. By comprehending the natural language properties
such as organization, procedures and structure will be able to use research to understand the characteristics of human
instinct. Chomsky's thinking is opposite than Skinner about the process of language learning in children and this is
also contrary to the Sapir's view. With the things that are hardwired so indirectly it can be concluded that the
language has no connection with the mind. The Paul Kay's concept of language indirectly opposed to the Sapir's
concept. Told him that the differences reflect the phenomena and objects in different languages do not necessarily
reflect a difference in the concept. In order To comprehend the relativity of language, people should recognize as
translating the language that there are several alternative schemes in the language and the individual language user
(Jaszczolt, 2000).
Some experts see that the language relativistic lack of scientific support, since studies have not proved these
connections. According to Schlenker (Schlenker, 2004), humans do not exactly use the words in thinking, because if
human thinking is affected by using the words then the patients who have limited language (language deficits) will
automatically limited in thinking. Mind and the Verbal languages are different. However, this does not indicate that
the mind is not a system that utilizes language symbols.like, the idea of computational models of the mind shows
that the mind can be analogous to a computer capable of manipulating abstract symbols.
Conclusion:
The Sapir Hypothesis has changed the way many people look at the relationship between thought,

cultural

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scholars. While many like Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf support the notion that language strongly influences

perception of reality and language. It opened up large areas of study and has a very deep impression on many

Critical analysis
thought and others argue that language does not influence thinking process, the evidence from research indicates that
language does not govern thought or reality but language does influence thought and perception of reality to a

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degree.

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