Benjamin Whorf was an early spokesperson for linguistic determinsim which is the idea that patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks.
For example, Whorf noted that the Hopi have only two nouns for everything that flies. One noun for birds and the other for everything else, kites, dragonflies or airplanes. According to linguistic determinism, the Hopi would interpret all flying things in terms of either of these two nouns.
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Benjamin Whorf was an early spokesperson for linguistic determinsim which is the idea that patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks.
For example, Whorf noted that the Hopi have only two nouns for everything that flies. One noun for birds and the other for everything else, kites, dragonflies or airplanes. According to linguistic determinism, the Hopi would interpret all flying things in terms of either of these two nouns.
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