Presented by

Dr. Muhammad Akram

'He gave man speech, and
speech created thought, Which is
the measure of the universe'

- Prometheus Unbound, Shelley

 Language and
Thought
Perhaps because we typically think in words,
language and thought seem completely
intertwined. Indeed, scholars in various fields
-- psychology, linguistics, anthropology -- as
well as laypeople have entertained these
questions: Is thought possible without
language? Does the structure of our language
shape our thinking? Does our
perception/cognition shape the structure of
language? Are our abilities to learn and use
language part of our general intelligence?
Language and Thought
 Classical theorists like Plato and Aristotle argued that
the categories of thought determine the categories of
language. To them, language is only the outward
form or expression of thought.
 Another view was expressed by the behaviorist J. B.
Watson, an American psychologist and the founder of
Behaviorism. According to him, thought is language.
He believed that thought is sub-vocal speech, that is ,
when we “think aloud,” it is called speech; when we
“speak covertly,” it is called thinking.
Language and Thought
A less radical position is that language
determines thought. According to this
view, the categories of thought are
determined by linguistic categories.
Theorists within this group are divided
between those who think that language
completely determines cognitive categories
and those who merely say that language
strongly influences cognitive categories.
Language and Thought
 A long-standing claim concerning the relationship
between language and culture is that the structure of
a language determines the way in which the speakers
of that language view the world. This view is called
Linguistic Determinism
 A somewhat weaker version is that the structure
doesn’t determine the view but is still extremely
inf luential in predisposing speakers of a language
towards adopting a particular world-view. This view is
called Linguistic Relativism
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as we know it
today can be broken down into two basic
principles: linguistic determinism and linguistic
relativity
Linguistic Determinism
 Language determines thought
 Different languages impose different conceptions of reality
Linguistic Relativity
 Language influences thinking
 Linguistic differences between cultures are associated with
cultural differences in thinking
•Thanks