Question

What are examples from your own life of your language shaping your worldview and how does the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis influence your understanding of this relationship?

Answer 1

Various examples can be observed where our language shapes our worldview as supported by the linguistic relativity hypothesis that clearly states that language shapes our thoughts, the way we think and our perception about our environment. In this way, language does not limit the way we look at the world, however it still makes us focus on aspects in a different way, for example one can connect with people on a closer level if they understand the language another person speaks of a different culture as compared to someone who would just understand that persons body language.

The same can be supported by the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that involves peoples thoughts being strongly affected by their own native language and culture. One might not be able to understand what the other person is thinking if he/she is from a different linguistic background, however someone of the same language and cultural background might be able to tell what the person is thining just by looking at how the person might be stressed. Another example is that, a word of a certain language might have a different meaning in another language creating barriers on our view about the world.

Languages have a certain sanctitiy where in, not just the semantics of it matter but the words used to show respect, or the puns used, for example muslim language involves words that include respect while the same words in english might not mean the same or hold the same weightage.