linguistic relativity

n. The linguistic relativity hypothesis consists of a set of ideas proposed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf and has also been referred to as the Whorfian hypothesis or the Sapir-Whor/ hypotheses. According to Whorf, there is no inherent structure in people's experiences; perceptual order emerges when people organize their experiences with mental categories, and language is the major cognitive tool people use to categorize their experiences. As a language evolves, it develops a coherent internal logic, which embodies a metaphysics or naive conception of reality. As such, the internal logic of a language stands in isomorphic relation to that of its associated culture. Linguistic determinism is a stronger form of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. It states that markedly different languages evoke in the mind of speakers different mental representations of similar linguistic referents and that language constrains the development of nonlinguistic cultural norms. Little support has been found for linguistic determinism.

-CYC

▶ See also LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM, SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS, and WHORFIAN HYPOTHESIS