Re: [lojban] Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

[pycyn@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/11/2001 4:09:47 PM Central Daylight Time,
ragnarok@pobox.com writes:

   Where can I find Whorf's writings on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? I'm
interested in reading the original version, and have heard Sapir was
uninvolved.

The standard collection of Whorf's writings is still Language, Thought and
Reality, ed.
John B. Carroll, MIT/Wiley, 1956.  The two stock follow-ups are Language and
Culture, ed Harry Hoijer, U Chicago, 1954, and Lnaugae, Thought and Culture
ed Paul Henle, U Michigan, 1958 (pb 1965).  Whorf is not very clear a lot of
the time; the best article in the collection is probably "The relation of
habitual thought and behavior to language," though several others are useful,
as is Carroll's introduction.  
Sapir never formulates the hypothesis explicitly, but it is adumbrated in
many of his works -- as well as in the works of many predecessors back at
least to von Humboldt (several pieces in the Sapir collection that I remember
as Language and Culture, but I don't have a copy of, deal with the themes of
the hypothesis). Not much has happened in the whole area since the late '50's
when linguists got all wrapped up in computation.