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What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and what is the difference between the strong and the weak version?

User Tschumann
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Final answer:

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, suggests that language influences how people think about and perceive the world. There are two versions of the hypothesis: the strong version and the weak version.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, suggests that language influences how people think about and perceive the world. This hypothesis argues that different languages can encourage different habits of thought. There are two versions of the hypothesis: the strong version and the weak version. The strong version posits that language determines thought and that people who speak different languages perceive the world differently. For example, the strong version would argue that if a language lacks a specific word for a concept, then speakers of that language would struggle to understand or perceive that concept. By contrast, the weak version suggests that language has a more subtle influence on thought, shaping it to some extent but not completely determining it.

User Cgohlke
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