Sounds like the difference between the Strong Whorfian Hypothesis and a weak one. Strong would be that "thought is determined by language" (and so we can only think about things that our language has linguistic tokens for) but a weaker version would hold that "thought is influenced by language."
That help? Or am I way off bas? m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 9:00 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] HELP: linguistic determinism and linguistic > relativity. > > 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]) > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
