Rethinking Linguistic Relativity

Linguisticrelativityistheclaimthatculture,throughlanguage,affectsthewayinwhichwethink,andespeciallyourclassificationoftheexperiencedworld.Thisbookreexaminesideasaboutlinguisticrelativityinthelightofnewevidenceandchangesintheoreticalclimate.PartsIandIIaddresstheclassicalissuesintherelationbetweenthoughtandlanguage,andtheextentoflinguisticandculturaluniversals.PartsIIIandIVshowhowchangesinourunderstandingofmeaningrequirethatwelookathowcontextentersintointerpretation,andhowcontextisconstitutedinsocialinteraction.TheeditorshaveprovidedasubstantialintroductionwhichexamineschangesinthinkingabouttheSapir-Whorfhypothesisinthelightofdevelopmentsinanthropology,linguistics,andcognitivescience;andalsointroductionstoeachsectionwhichwillbeofespecialusetostudents.