Sapir–Whorf hypothesis

October 13th

That is an extremely cool name for a hypothesis. Sapir-Whorf just rolls off the tongue after leaving a very sophisticated taste. That name would be cool for any run-of-the-mill scientific theory, but when it is the name of something groundbreaking, it makes it so much better. And that name made me fall asleep way too late last night.

I was just going through random articles on Wikipedia when I got to a description of some old sci-fi novel that apparently uses that hypothesis as the main part of a plot. And once I got to read what this hypothesis is all about, I was so excited by learning something new and profound that couldn't fall asleep until past midnight. It was something I might have already thought about but never knew that something was a thing, or had a name.

Basically — this hypothesis tells that the reality that every person experiences or sees, depends on the language that person speaks. The same reality can be interpreted or experienced or understood as a different perception based on the structure of the language of its speaker. Worldviews and cognitions are dependent on particular languages. And what is more — they are determined by a particular language the particular person speaks.

This is a completely mind-blowing idea! For me at least. I just couldn't stop thinking about last night and throughout the day today. It just makes sense and could be an explanation for things like nationalism and personal identity and a need to belong and be a part of a group. And that hypothesis brings so many questions as well — what about people who speak two or more languages? Does their personality and perception of reality change depending on which language they speak at any given moment? If so, how come that doesn’t lead to paranoia in every bilingual person? And what about me — I speak two languages every day concurrently. Do I see the same reality differently depending on which language motors my inner monologue? There is a lot to think over and analyze for me. Another piece of the puzzle that is me and my personality might fall into a place.