Linguistic relativism in the case of linguistic gender and number

ǂa ǂcomparison between English and Slovene

Tamara Kovačič (Author), Katja Plemenitaš (Mentor)

Abstract

The master%s thesis deals with linguistic relativism in the case of grammatical gender and number of two languages: English and Slovene. Firstly, the thesis presents the origins of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which is of significant importance for the development of linguistic relativism. The hypothesis met with a wide response amongst researchers: some agreed with the ideas, whereas others did not. Linguistic relativism suggests that the language one speaks shapes their perception of the world. In order to prove such statement, several experiments were conducted. In addition, the thesis outlines the main characteristics of grammatical gender and number in English and the Slovene language. The empirical part includes the analysis of the results of the experiment that was conducted amongst native speakers of English and native speakers of the Slovene language. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the interpretation of the results. The results show limited influence of the structure of language on the linguistic processing of the speakers, thus only partially supporting Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. In the case of gender categorization the results showed that the Slovene speakers were affected by the grammatical gender. In this respect we can say that language can influence our perception of the world. In the case of grammatical number the Slovene speakers were not more sensitive to the dual. The results thus show limited influence of the structure of language on the linguistic processing of the speakers, thus only partially supporting the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Keywords

Saphir-Whorf hypothesis;linguistic relativism;language and thought;grammatical gender and number;experiment;master theses;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2016
Typology:	2.09 - Master's Thesis
Organization:	UM FF - Faculty of Arts
Publisher:	[T. Kovačič]
UDC:	81:23:81'366.52/53(043.2)
COBISS:	21933064
Views:	1459
Downloads:	89
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Slovenian
Secondary title:	Jezikovni relativizem na primeru slovničnega spola in števila: Primerjava med angleščino in slovenščino
Secondary abstract:	Magistrska naloga obravnava jezikovni relativizem na primeru slovničnega spola in števila v angleščini in slovenščini. Najprej je predstavljena t. i. Sapir-Whorf hipoteza, ki je bila ključna za kasnejše oblikovanje jezikovnega relativizma. Hipoteza je naletela na številne odzive; nekateri raziskovalci so se z njo strinjali, drugi ne. Namreč jezikovni relativizem izhaja iz prepričanja, da jezik, ki ga nekdo govori, oblikuje njegovo percepcijo sveta. Poleg tega magistrska naloga vsebuje tudi temeljne lastnosti slovničnega spola in števila tako v angleščini kot v slovenščini. V empiričnem delu sledi analiza rezultatov eksperimenta, ki je bil izveden v dveh skupinah: med naravnimi govorci angleščine in naravnimi govorci slovenščine. Pri interpretaciji sta bili uporabljeni tako kvalitativna kot kvantitativna metoda. Na podlagi rezultatov ne moremo podpreti Sapir-Whorf hipoteze: na primeru nalog v povezavi s slovničnim spolom smo ugotovili, da jezik zgolj vpliva na percepcije, ne pa tudi določa. Rezultati so pokazali, da je na slovnični spol vplival na odločitve pri določanju in razlikovanju med moškim in ženskim. V primeru slovničnega števila pa smo ugotovili, da govorci slovenščine niso bolj dovzetni za dvojino zgolj zaradi slovnične dvojine, ki je v angleščini ni. Rezultati tako nakazujejo na omejen vpliv strukture jezika na jezikovno procesiranje, zaradi česar le delno potrjujejo Sapir-Whorf hipotezo.
Secondary keywords:	Saphir-Whorf hipoteza;jezikovni relativizem;jezik in misel;slovnični spol in število;eksperiment;magistrska dela;
URN:	URN:SI:UM:
Type (COBISS):	Master's thesis/paper
Thesis comment:	Univ. v Mariboru, Filozofska fak., Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko
Pages:	105 f.
ID:	9119878