Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

n. The idea that the ways people perceive the world and think are determined by their language(s), and, having learned different languages, people understand the world differently. Thus Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf believed that monolingual Hopi speakers who have only one word for flying things could not distinguish among birds, bats, and butterflies. Subsequent research has not confirmed this strong version of the hypothesis, but the notion that language has some guiding effect on thought and perception persists in more subtle effects on thinking and perceiving.