Topics: Linguistic Anthropology : Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is most strongly associated with the writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. It is also called "the Whorfian hypothesis," "the linguistic relativity hypothesis," or "linguistic determinism." In its strong form, which is generally rejected today, it implies that possible thoughts are effectively determined by language. In its weak form, it implies that language has a strong effect on thought.