Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

English Etymology Named after two researchers, Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf, who observed that linguistic differences have consequences in human cognition and behavior. Proper noun 1 en linguistics The hypothesis that the structure of a language affects the worldview or cognition of its speakers. en Zui Controlled Languages — Newspeak The Language Closet https://thelanguagecloset.com/2020/08/08/controlled-languages-newspeak/ 2020-08-08 Newspeak sets the scene of linguistic determinism, where language is hypothesised to influence or control a people group’s thought processes. In popular terms, this has been referred to as part of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, or an aspect of linguistic relativity, where individuals perceive the world based on the structure of their habitually-used language. https://web.archive.org/web/20250823235010/https://thelanguagecloset.com/2020/08/08/controlled-languages-newspeak/ 23 August 2025 Translations principle that a language's structure affects its speakers' worldview or cognition Chinese: Mandarin: cmn 薩丕爾-沃爾夫假說 Sàpī'ěr-Wò'ěrfū jiǎshuō Dutch: nl Sapir-Whorfhypothese f Esperanto: eo hipotezo de Sapir-Whorf French: fr hypothèse de Sapir-Whorf f, fr hypothèse Sapir-Whorf f German: de Sapir-Whorf-Hypothese f Hungarian: hu Sapir–Whorf-hipotézis Italian: it ipotesi di Sapir-Whorf f Japanese: ja サピア・ウォーフの仮説 Sapia Wōfu no kasetsu Polish: pl hipoteza Sapira-Whorfa f Portuguese: pt hipótese de Sapir-Whorf f Romanian: ro ipoteza Sapir-Whorf f Russian: ru гипо́теза Се́пира — Уо́рфа f Spanish: es hipótesis de Sapir-Whorf f Ukrainian: uk гіпо́теза Се́піра — Во́рфа f en eponyms