Final answer:
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, or linguistic relativity, suggests that language influences thought and perceptions of reality, with different languages fostering different cognitive patterns.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, is the theory that the language a person speaks influences how they think about and perceive reality. Proposed by anthropological linguists Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf, it suggests that language dictates our patterns of thought and cultural norms. For example, Whorf's study of the Hopi language and its concept of time showed that the language's lack of tenses affected Hopi speakers' perceptions of time differently from speakers of 'Standard Average European' (SAE) languages, such as English, that have a different, more segmented concept of time. Critics of the strong version of the hypothesis argue that it overstates the role of language in shaping thought, and that thought can exist independently of language.