During the Memory Lecture, I found the Linguistic Relativity (a.k.a "The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis") very interesting. According to this hypothesis, the language that a person speaks determines how he or she perceive, think, and remember. With this "definition," the idea that people who speak different languages views the world differently arises. I believe this theory is important because I believe it shaped what we know about language and perspectives now.
In the English language, colors come in a variety of names. Each color has a unique name. The Vietnamese language only has a handful of color names. For the colors blue and green, each has a distinctive name. In Vietnamese, these two colors are expressed by either, "mau xanh duong," which is blue, or "mau xanh la cay," which is green. "Mau xanh duong," mean the color like the ocean. "Mau xanh la cay," means the color like a leaf. For me, when I see the color blue, I immediately think of the ocean because of the vietnamese term. I don't think about sky blue or mist or aqua or etc. When I see green, I see a leaf in my head.
Although there are studies that show evidences against this hypothesis, I still believe that this hypothesis is the basic knowledge of testing language. Language is an interesting and very deep idea that may take years and years of studying to discover just a hint of what it truly is. If language shapes some aspects of perception, memory, and thought, what shapes the other aspects?
Below is an example of what I believe linguistic relativity is:
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