The strong version of the Sapir Worf hypothesis is insane because in academia, people are constantly inventing words (or specifying a definition of a common word) for their specific usage.
If a lack of a word really meant my culture was unable to conceive of that concept, then I think the theory would need to describe how and why the invention of new words happens. We didn't have a word for prime numbers until we did. We didn't have a word for capitalism until we did.
2 Comments
NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 171d
The strong version of the Sapir Worf hypothesis is insane because in academia, people are constantly inventing words (or specifying a definition of a common word) for their specific usage.
If a lack of a word really meant my culture was unable to conceive of that concept, then I think the theory would need to describe how and why the invention of new words happens. We didn't have a word for prime numbers until we did. We didn't have a word for capitalism until we did.
BilSabab@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 171d
it's a 19th century hypothesis so naturally it shouldn't hold up well in 21st century. Linguistics came a long way since then.