I have class in less than two hours and realize that I still can't express the difference between linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity.
Can anyone put it succinctly for me? Every time I read my notes I realize taht one could be the other. But I know they're not. It's how I'm putting it in my notes I think but now I've completely confused myself! YIKES! One is that how we speak reflects how we think and accounts for differences in thinking (relativity); the other is that how we think is reflected in how we speak, and therefore influences our choices of words (determinism). Right? But then they both seem the same now. So I am trying to get students to stop saying something is "random" when it is "haphazard" because it reflects their way of thinking about things that is not quite correct. I want to work on their linguistic determinism and change how they even think about how things happen. Linguistic relativity would be that our language by itself changes how they think so if they get in the habit of just saying "haphazard" then they will truly understand that "random" is a systematic process. Right? Wrong? Drat!!!!! Thanks for any help. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
