Contents › Section 7: Theory, terminology and disciplinary question › answer 37 of 39
Linguistics relativity and linguistic determinism
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Linguistic determinism is a broader philosophical and psycholinguistic question about the relationship between thought and language.
Linguistic relativity is a position that 1. the relationship between linguistic structures and structures of thought (and cognition) is deterministic AND 2. it applies to particular structures of particular languages and their speakers. Namely, different languages cause their speakers to think differently from each other in fundamental ways.
The reading list for this issue is quite long. The current proponent of this position is Lera Boroditsky and her publications will provide further references. I always liked Lakoff's summary of the issues in chapter 18 of Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. And the edited volume Rethinking Linguistic Relativity will provide a good overview.
One of the most vociferous opponents of relativity is the philosopher Jerry Fodor. Some of the contra arguments and literature can be found here.
© Dominik Lukeš. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Originally published on Linguistics Stack Exchange, attributed there to Dominik Lukes (profile).