语言相对论

语言相对论（英语：linguistic relativity），有时也被称为萨丕尔-沃夫假说（英语：Sapir–Whorf hypothesis）认为语言结构影响其使用者的世界观或认知，因此人类的感知与思考模式与其所使用的语言相关。

该理论首先由语言学家兼人类学家爱德华·萨丕尔（Edward Sapir）及其学生本杰明·李·沃夫所提出，是一门关于人类语言的心理学、语言学假说。这项学说认为，人类的思考模式受到其使用语言的影响，因而对同一事物时可能会有不同的看法，不过这项学说引起了一些争议，也招致了一些批评。基于以上争议，后来产生不同的修正版本：其一于二次大战前提出语言决定思想为强势版本；其二于近代提倡，认为语言结构仅影响认知的温和版本，介绍如下^[1]：

• 语言相对论的强势版本，又称为语言决定论，提出语言决定思考模式，故语言结构限制并决定其认知结构，此一版本已于现代普遍被认为是不正确的论述。^[2]
• 语言相对论的温和版本，认为语言结构及使用可能影响思考模式及决策方式。该版本较受到相关实证研究结果的分析认可。^[3]

萨丕尔-沃夫假说一称通常被认为是错误的，原因是两位学者并未曾合著研究或以假说的形式陈述其论点。以上版本的区别也是由后续学者延伸发展。^[4][5]

现今有一些人造语言的发明因应而生，如逻辑语、道本语等。

语言决定论认为语言决定思考模式，不同语系的语言看待世界的方式都不一样，也就呈现了各种语言彼此间的相对性，所以任何民族的语言都与其文化和生活环境的需要一起成长和改变。

历史

语言相对论的概念首先由19世纪的两位德国思想家，威廉·冯·洪堡以及约翰·戈特弗里德·赫尔德所提出，认为语言作为表现国家精神的方式。20世纪初两位美国人类学家法兰兹·鲍亚士与爱德华·萨丕尔也于1928年的美国语言学会^[6]支持这样的概念，萨丕尔尤其反对语言决定论观点。

萨丕尔的学生，本杰明·李·沃夫，在他发表语言差异影响人类认知与行为的相关观察后，成为假说的主要之支持者。萨丕尔另一位学生，哈利·霍耶，引入萨丕尔-沃夫假说^[7]，尽管两位学者从未正式推广类似的理论。^[8]其中，强势版本于1920年代由德国语言学家魏斯格贝尔持续发展。经罗杰·布朗和埃里克·勒纳伯格进行了实验，为了探究不同语言使用者，是否在辨别颜色程度上有所不同，使得沃夫的语言相对论成为可测试的假设。

其他领域

在流行文化中

姜峯楠的短篇小说《你一生的故事》（英文：Story of Your Life）提到了萨丕尔-沃夫假说；^{[来源请求]}2016年美国电影《降临》根据《你一生的故事》改编上映。

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参阅

• 爱斯基摩语中关于雪的词语
• 民族语言学
• 语文规划
• 语言人类学
• 心理语言学
• 相对主义

外部链接

• Babies think before they speak says Harvard professor
• The Great Whorf Hypothesis Hoax by Dan Moonhawk Alford （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）.
• How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think? （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• Effects of grammatical gender on human thought

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2. Ahearn, Laura M. Living language : an introduction to linguistic anthropology. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. 2012: 69. ISBN 978-1-4443-4056-3. OCLC 729731177.
3. Ottenheimer, Harriet. The anthropology of language : an introduction to linguistic anthropology 2nd. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 2009: 33–34. ISBN 978-0-495-50884-7. OCLC 216940204.
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