The Validation of the Whorf Hypothesis

FAIN: FT-12530-75

Barbara B. Robson
Center for Applied Linguistics (Washington, DC 20007-2631)

The Whorf Hypothesis-the idea that the language an individual speaks limits or channels his thought-enjoys an acceptance which is singularly inconsistent with the scarcity of evidence-linguistic, anthropological and philosophical--which supports it .P.I. proposes to reexamine the Whorf Hypothesis: to subject the original linguistic evidence on which it was based to the insights gained from 30 years of progress in linguistics; to contrast it with opposing hypotheses proposed by philosophers of language (notably Searle and Katz); and to investigate the linguistic climate of the 1940's for reasons for its widespread acceptance among those not centrally concerned with language.