Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis explained

By: Tanishka D

Arrival is my favourite movie and I rewatched it for the fourth time earlier this week. I was introducing the film to my cousin brother, who was not very impressed but it finally go me thinking that I should make a post about one of the core linguistic concepts in the film as well as how it is prevalent in the real world. So lets not wait around and nu kõr vi! ( "Let's go"in swedish)

An introduction to linguistic relativity

Linguistic relativity is the theory that states that the structure of a language influences the way speakers of the language percieve the world around them. In the movie arrival, this is seen as the protagonist, Dr lousie banks (played by Amy Adams) is able to percieve time non linearly due to the alien species usage of a non linear orthography (writing system).
In the film, this is attributed to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which unlike most elements of the film is real. The hypothesis is named after Edward Sapir and Benjamin lee whorf.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in real life

Traffic lights in Japan

The sapir-Whorf hypothesis can be seen at play in the japanese language, particularly because the language has the same word for both "blue" and "green". (ao) This is the reason why traffic lights in the nation are the bluest shade of green. When a study was conducted between speakers of Japanese and English, It was shown that Japanese speakers had a harder time in differentiating between shades of blue and green than the english speakers.

Another example can be the Guugu Yimithirr lamguage that is spoken by native aboriginal people in Australia. The language is unique as the language has no words for left and right. Speakers instead rely on cardinal directions such as those found on a compass, which makes their sense of navigation better than most English speakers.

Counter-arguments to the sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Several linguists believe that the afformentined hypothesis may not be the most effective way of viewing language. Whilst most of this article discussed linguistic relativity, there exists the concept of linguistic determinisim which falls under the same umbrella as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and it states that the language of a speaker limits their perception of the world. This aspect has been considered by many to be too extreme and somewhat racist due to whorf's suggestion that people who speak different languages cannot and will not be able to undertand each other, pushing views that non european and non occidental languages restricted the cognitive ability of the speakers, which enabled further oppression.

If you made it this far, thank you so much! If you enjoyed this article, do leave a suggestion in the suggestion box to suggest more interesting pieces of media I can cover on this website. hejdå!

sources and further reading:

1) https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/sapir-whorf-hypothesis

2) https://www.britannica.com/science/Whorfian-hypothesis

3) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/an-aboriginal-australian-community-in-northern-queensland-speaks-a-language-with-no-words-for-left-or-right-only-north-south-east-and-west/articleshow/132282594.cms

4) https://ottowretling.medium.com/why-so-many-things-are-described-as-blue-in-japanese-1db0835dc046

5) https://www.scribd.com/document/779405975/Spair-Wolf-Hypothesis