Some People's Brains Are Wired for Languages

Re:Some People's Brains Are Wired for Languages by JoeDaDude on Wednesday December 28, 2016 @02:44PM (#13273077)

In linguistics, there is the Sapir Whorf hypothesis [1], in which it is conjectured that language affects the speakers world view and/or thought processes. If you read the George Orwell novel 1984 [2], you might recall the use of Newspeak, an invented language designed so that dissidents would be unable to express themselves, and thus not have treasonous thought. The Sapir Whorf hypothesis is actively debated and not fully accepted by linguists, you can see some of the debate at [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

[3] http://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/sapir.cfm

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Re:Some People's Brains Are Wired for Languages by learc83 on Wednesday December 28, 2016 @02:57PM (#13273157)

Sapir-Whorf is not just "not fully accepted". Most linguists believe that linguistic determinism, which is what most people are talking about when they refer to Sapir-Whorf, is false.

Linguistic relativity is the weaker form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that is largely accepted, but it doesn't come close to supporting the 1984 can't form treasonous thoughts without the requisite language scenario.

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