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What Is the Sapir‐Whorf Hypothesis?
Author(s) -
Kay Paul,
Kempton Willett
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1984.86.1.02a00050
Subject(s) - mechanism (biology) , linguistic relativity , block (permutation group theory) , domain (mathematical analysis) , statistical hypothesis testing , test (biology) , epistemology , psychology , cognitive psychology , philosophy , mathematics , geology , paleontology , statistics , neuroscience , geometry , mathematical analysis , cognition
The history of empirical research on the Sapir‐Whorf hypothesis is reviewed. A more sensitive test of the hypothesis is devised and a clear Whorfian effect is detected in the domain of color. A specific mechanism is proposed to account for this effect and a second experiment, designed to block the hypothesized mechanism, is performed. The effect disappears as predicted. The Sapir‐Whorf hypothesis is reevaluated in the light of these results.