LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY

Abstract

A structure-centred approach begins with an observed difference between languages in their structure of meaning. The analysis characterizes the structure of meaning and elaborates the interpretations of reality implicit in them. Then evidence for the influence of these interpretations on thought is sought in speakers’ behaviour. The strength of the approach lies in its interpretive validity: It makes minimal assumptions beforehand about possible meanings in language and to that extent remains open to new and unexpected interpretations of reality. In a sense, this approach “listens” closely to what the language forms volunteer, pursuing various structured, crosscutting patterns of meaning and attempting to make sense of how the world must appear to someone using such categories; ideally it makes possible the characterization of the distinctive way a language interprets the world. The search for language influences likewise tends to be interpretive, searching for widespread, habitual patterns of thought and behaviour—although this is not essential to the approach.