IBUS 492 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Linguistic Determinism, Kinesics, Steven Pinker
7 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
The relationship between language & culture: safir-whorf hypothesis, language. Safir-whorf hypothesis: the language of a particular culture directly influences how people think. The network of cultural patterns of a civilization is indexed in its language. The ways in which people perceive the world around them (natural & social environment) is essentially dictated by their language. The language is not only an instrument for voicing ideas, but is itself a shaper of ideas. Pinker and many other believe that language does not determine thought, because: critics of hypothesis. Language reflect non-verbal elements of culture: geographic, climatic, kinesic, spatial, etc. Syntactic features of a language influence how speakers of that language categorize and mentally organize their words: cross-cultural communication through language. This language standardization is being driven by competitive pressure, the globalization of tasks and resources, as well as cross-border mergers and acquisitions, all of which demand a common language.
