Linguistic Relativism

According to Adler et al. (2017), the language we speak shapes the way we view the world. In other words, the world people in different cultures have different world views. This hypothesis was mentioned by Benjamin Whorf and Edward Sapir in the 1900s. The grammar and vocabulary you learned participate in shaping your thinking and talking.

For example, in English, there is only one word for “rice”, you can say steamed rice or fried rice but eventually rice can be described as the word “rice”. But in Korean, there are several words of rice. If the rice is cooked, Korean call “Bap”. If the rice is not cooked, they call “Ssal”. If the rice is not harvested yet, they call “Byuh”. Because rice is the main source of food in Korea, they have a more detailed vocabulary for rice than Americans.

If the hypothesis of Sapir and Whorf is true, a language gives a strong impact on a person’s perspective. The people who speak the gendered language have more strong gender distinguish concept than non-gendered language speakers because they are taught since their childhood.  As the gendered languages categorize most words by a male, female, the people who speak gendered languages have a strong resistance to the trend of advocates for new gender diversities. The distinction between men and women is the root of their thought and culture. It is not surprising that they opposed to making the language more gender-neutral and insist that it will cause social chaos.

                       

References

McAuley, James. (2017, Oct. 27). Gatekeepers say gender-neutral pronouns pose ‘deadly danger’ for the French language. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/27/is-making-french-less-sexist-a-threat-to-the-language-the-academie-francaise-says-oui/

Adler, Rodman, and du Pre (2017). Understanding Human Communication (13th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.