Examining linguistic relativity hypothesis as one of the main views on the relationship between language and thought.
One of those features that set human societies apart from animal societies is the use of language. Language is a vital part of every human culture and is a powerful social tool that we master at an early age. A second feature of humans is our ability to solve complex problems. For centuries philosophers have questioned whether these two abilities are related and, if so, what the nature of the relationship between language and thought is. At the beginning of the last century psychologists joined this debate and it is a topic that is currently generating a lot of research. Another factor in the study of language and thought is the role of culture. When we study a language from another country we see that it is not just the words and grammar that are different but the customs and traditions as well. Even the ideas of that culture and the way of dealing with life can be different. There are a number of views on the nature of the relationship between language and thought. But here we are going to explore one of those views, the linguistic relativity hypothesis (LRH), concerning that the language a speaker uses influences the way the speaker thinks.
Tohidian
Iman
I
Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan 87317-51167, I. R. Iran. tohid_483@yahoo.com
D003071:Cognition; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008568:Memory; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010465:Perception; D011578:Psycholinguistics