John A. Lucy - Linguistic Relativity

Linguistic Relativity
Author(s): John A. Lucy

Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26 (1997), pp. 291-312
Published by: Annual Reviews
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Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 1997. 26:291-312
Copyright ? 1997 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved
LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
John A. Lucy
Committee on Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
60637; e-mail:
jlucygccp.uchicago.edu
KEY WORDS: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, linguistic determinism, language and thought, language
and cognition, language and culture
ABSTRACT
The linguistic relativity hypothesis, the proposal that the particular language
we speak influences the way we think about reality, forms one part of the
broader question of how language influences thought. Despite long-standing
historical interest in the hypothesis, there is relatively little empirical research
directly addressing it. Existing empirical approaches are classified into three
types. 1. Structure-centered approaches begin with language differences and
ask about their implications for thought. 2. Domain-centered approaches begin
with experienced reality and ask how different languages encode it. 3.
Behavior-centered approaches begin with some practical concern and seek an
explanation in language. These approaches are compared, and recent meth-
odological improvements highlighted. Despite empirical advances, a theoreti-
cal account needs to articulate exactly how languages interpret experiences
and how those interpretations influence thought. This will entail integrating
theory and data concerning both the general relation of language and thought
and the shaping influence of specific discursive structures and practices.
INTRODUCTION
Few ideas generate as much interest and controversy as the linguistic relativity
hypothesis, the proposal that the particular language we speak influences the
way we think about reality. The reasons are obvious: If valid it would have
widespread implications for understanding psychological and cultural life, for
the conduct of research
itself,
and for public policy. Yet through most of this
century, interest and controversy have not given rise to sustained programs of
291
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292 LUCY
empirical research in any of the concerned disciplines and, as a result, the va-
lidity of the proposal has remained largely in the realm of speculation. This
situation has begun to change over the past decade, hence the occasion for this
review.
The linguistic relativity proposal forms part of the general question of how
language influences thought. Potential influences can be classed into three
types or levels (Lucy 1996). The first, or semiotic, level concerns how speak-
ing any natural language at all may influence thinking. The question is whether
having a code with a symbolic component (versus one confined to iconic-
indexical elements) transforms thinking. If so, we can speak of a semiotic rela-
tivity of thought with respect to other species lacking such a code. The second,
or structural, level concerns how speaking one or more particular natural lan-
guages (e.g. Hopi versus English) may influence thinking. The question is
whether quite different morphosyntactic configurations of meaning affect
thinking about reality. If so, we can speak of a structural relativity of thought
with respect to speakers using a different language. This has been the level tra-
ditionally associated with the term linguistic relativity, and this usage will be
employed here. The third, or functional, level concerns whether using lan-
guage in a particular way (e.g. schooled) may influence thinking. The question
is whether discursive practices affect thinking either by modulating structural
influences or by directly influencing the interpretation of the interactional con-
text. If so, we can speak of a functional relativity of thought with respect to
speakers using language differently. This level has been of particular interest
during the second half of this century with the increasing interest in discourse-
level analyses of language and can, therefore, also be conveniently referred to
as discursive relativity.
Although this review concentrates on the second level-whether structural
differences among languages influence thinking-it should be stressed that the
other two levels are ultimately involved. Any claims about linguistic relativity
of the structural sort depend on accepting a loose isofunctionality across
speakers in the psychological mechanisms linking language to thinking and
across languages in the everyday use of speech to accomplish acts of descrip-
tive reference (Hymes 1966, Lucy 1996). More importantly, an adequate theo-
retical treatment of the second level necessarily involves engaging substan-
tively with the other two levels (Lucy 1996; Gumperz & Levinson 1996; cf Sil-
verstein 1976, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1993).
A number of recent publications have extensively reviewed the relevant
social-science literature on linguistic relativity. Lucy (1992a) examines the
historical and conceptual development of empirical research on the relation of
language diversity and thought within the fields of linguistic anthropology and
comparative psycholinguistics. Hill & Mannheim (1992) survey work on lan-
LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY 293
guage and world view in anthropology, sorting out the main traditions (espe-
cially new work centered on interpretation and discourse) and indicating their
connections with broader trends in anthropology. Hunt & Agnoli (1991) pro-
vide an overview of current concerns from the perspective of cognitive psy-
chology. Finally, Gumperz & Levinson (1996) provide an eclectic overview
and sampling of many of the newest directions of inquiry, again with substan-
tial attention to discourse-level issues.
The appearance of abundance given by the long lists of references in these
reviews is deceptive. Although the majority of the studies cited have some
relevance to evaluating the relation between language and thought, few ad-
dress the relativity proposal directly or well. In this context, there is little rea-
son to re-inventory all these materials here. Rather, the current review pro-
vides a conceptual framework for interpreting current research by clarifying
the sources and internal structure of the hypothesis, characterizing the logic of
the major empirical approaches, and analyzing the needs of future research.
THE LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS
Historical Development of Interest
Interest in the intellectual significance of the diversity of language categories
has deep roots in the European tradition. Formulations recognizably related to
our contemporary ones appear in England (Locke), France (Condillac, Did-
erot), and Germany (Hamman, Herder) during the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries (Aarsleff 1982, 1988; Gumperz & Levinson 1996; see
also Friedrich 1986 on Vico in Italy). They were stimulated by theoretical con-
cerns (opposition to the tenets of universal grammarians regarding the origin
and status of different languages), methodological concerns (the reliability of
language-based knowledge in religion and science), and practical social con-
cerns (European efforts to consolidate national identities and cope with colo-
nial expansion). Later, nineteenth-century work, notably that of Humboldt in
Germany and Saussure in Switzerland and France, drew heavily on this earlier
tradition and set the stage for twentieth-century approaches (Aarsleff 1982,
1988).
This European work was known and criticized by scholars in North Amer-
ica (Aarsleff 1988, Koerner 1992), and the same impulses found histori-
cally-the patent relevance of language to human sociality and intellect, the
reflexive concern with the role of language in intellectual method, and the
practical encounter with diversity-remain important today in motivating at-
tention to the problem. But the linguistic relativity proposal received new im-
petus and reformulation there in the early twentieth century, particularly in the
work of anthropological linguists Edward Sapir (1949a,b, 1964) and Benjamin
294 LUCY
L Whorf (1956a,b) (hence the common designation of the linguistic relativity
hypothesis as "the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis"). Following Boas (1966), both Sa-
pir and Whorf emphasized direct firsthand explorations of diverse languages
and rejected hierarchical, quasi-evolutionary rankings of languages and cul-
tures in particular the European, especially Humboldtian, obsession with the
superior value of inflectional languages for the cultural or mental advancement
of a people. Whorf also provided the first empirical work of consequence from
a contemporary standpoint.
Surprisingly, there has been an almost complete absence of direct empirical
research through most of the present century perhaps half a dozen studies up
to a decade ago (Lucy 1992a). The neglect of empirical work is so conspicuous
that it must be regarded as one of the central characteristics of this area of re-
search and warrants brief comment. One source of the neglect surely lies in the
interdisciplinary nature of the problem itself which is compounded by increas-
ing disciplinary specialization. But other, broader concerns play a role in dis-
couraging research. Some worry that accepting linguistic relativism would ef-
fectively undermine the conduct of most of the social sciences (but see Lucy
1993a). Others fear that accepting linguistic relativism opens the door to ethi-
cal relativism (but see Fishman 1982; Lakoff 1987, p. 337). Others equate lin-
guistic relativity with absolute linguistic determinism and dislike the implied
limits to individual freedom of thought (but see Gumperz & Levinson 1996, p.
22). Anyone working on the relativity problem must be prepared to face these
complicated issues and the passions and prejudices they arouse. In sum, de-
spite long and well motivated interest in the issue, concrete research and even
practical approaches to research remain remarkably undeveloped.
Formal Structure of the Hypothesis
There are a variety of specific linguistic relativity proposals, but all share three
key elements linked in two relations. They all claim that certain properties of a
given language have consequences for patterns of thought about reality. The
properties of language at issue are usually morphosyntactic (but may be pho-
nological or pragmatic) and are taken to vary in important respects. The pattern
of thought may have to do with immediate perception and attention, with per-
sonal and social-cultural systems of classification, inference, and memory, or
with aesthetic judgment and creativity. The reality may be the world of every-
day experience, of specialized contexts, or of ideational tradition. These three
key elements are linked by two relations: Language embodies an interpreta-
tion of reality and language can influence thought about that reality. The inter-
pretation arises from the selection of substantive aspects of experience and
their formal arrangement in the verbal code. Such selection and arrangement
is, of course, necessary for language, so the crucial emphasis here is that each
language involves a particular interpretation, not a common, universal one. An
influence on thought ensues when the particular language interpretation guides
or supports cognitive activity and hence the beliefs and behaviors dependent
on it. Accounts vary in the specificity of the proposed mechanism of influence
and in the degree of power attributed to it the strongest version being a strict
linguistic determinism (based, ultimately, on the identity of language and
thought). A proposal of linguistic relativity thus claims that diverse interpreta-
tions of reality embodied in languages yield demonstrable influences on
thought. [Hill & Mannheim (1992, pp. 383-87) discuss and endorse various
criticisms of treating the relativity issue as a "hypothesis" about three discrete,
identifiable, and orthogonal "variables." But if there is any interesting claim
here, it is about discoverable relations between distinguishable phenomena.
They implicitly acknowledge this by adopting a formulation that fits the model
given here (cf Levinson 1996, p. 196).]
Such a full linguistic relativity proposal should be distinguished from sev-
eral partial or more encompassing formulations that are widely prevalent.
First, linguistic relativity is not the same as linguistic diversity. Without the re-
lation to thought more generally (i.e. beyond that necessary for the act of
speaking itself), it is merely linguistic diversity. Second, linguistic relativity is
not the same as any influence of language on thought. Without the relation to
differences among languages, we just have a common psychological mecha-
nism shared by all (an effect at the semiotic level). Third, linguistic relativity is
not the same as cultural relativity, which encompasses the full range of pat-
terned, historically transmitted differences among communities. Linguistic
relativity proposals emphasize a distinctive role for language structure in inter-
preting experience and influencing thought. Although such a relativity may
contribute to a broader cultural relativity, it may also crosscut it. Sometimes
the various elements can be technically present in a formulation but inappro-
priately filled. One can take as representative of language some aspect so
bleached of meaning value (e.g. prefixing versus postfixing) that no interest-
ing semantic differences suggest themselves. Or one can confound the ele-
ments by using verbal responses to assess thought or verbal stimulus materials
to represent reality. Thus, in evaluating research, it is important to ask whether
the various components of the hypothesis have all been represented and appro-
priately filled. Most existing research fails in this regard and therefore cannot
address the hypothesis directly and decisively.
APPROACHES TO EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Among the studies meeting the above criteria, there have been three ap-
proaches to research depending on which among the three key elements at is-
296 LUCY
sue (language, reality, thought) serves as the central orientation or point of de-
parture for the investigation: structure-centered, domain-centered, and
behavior-centered. With enough thought and labor, any of these approaches is
capable of leading to a useful body of work on the hypothesis, but each also is
susceptible to characteristic difficulties and derailments. The following sec-
tions characterize each approach and provide key examples that illustrate their
strengths and weaknesses.
Structure-Centered Approaches
GENERAL APPROACH A structure-centered approach begins with an observed
difference between languages in their structure of meaning. The analysis char-
acterizes the structure of meaning and elaborates the interpretations of reality
implicit in them. Then evidence for the influence of these interpretations on
thought is sought in speakers' behavior. The strength of the approach lies in its
interpretive validity: It makes minimal assumptions beforehand about possible
meanings in language and to that extent remains open to new and unexpected
interpretations of reality. In a sense, this approach "listens" closely to what the
language forms volunteer, pursuing various structured, crosscutting patterns
of meaning and attempting to make sense of how the world must appear to
someone using such categories; ideally it makes possible the characterization
of the distinctive way a language interprets the world. The search for language
influences likewise tends to be interpretive, searching for widespread, habitual
patterns of thought and behavior-although this is not essential to the ap-
proach.
Structure-centered approaches are susceptible to several characteristic
weaknesses. It is difficult to establish terms of comparison because one of the
aims is to avoid taking any language or its construal of reality as a privileged
frame of reference. This often leaves the proper characterization of the lan-
guage pattern and of the reality at issue very underdetermined. Second, the
complexity and specificity of the linguistic analysis can make comparison be-
yond the initial languages difficult. One practical remedy to these problems is
to adopt a typological approach from the outset in characterizing the language
structures and to focus particularly on referential structures where the recur-
rent meaning values can be more readily operationalized. In demonstrating an
influence on thought, studies adopting this approach also often have difficulty
providing rigorous demonstrations of significant effects, not because it is not
possible but because the whole approach favors a more ethnographically rich
and fluid interpretive approach.
TEMPORAL MARKING The classic example of a language-centered approach
is Whorf's pioneering work comparing Hopi and English in the 1930s (1956a;
Lucy 1985, 1992a; Lee 1991, 1996; see also Schultz 1990). Whorf argued that
speakers of English treat cyclic experiences of various sorts (e.g. the passage
of a day or a year) in the same grammatical frame used for ordinary object
nouns. Thus, English speakers treat these cycles as object-like, as though they
can be measured and counted just like tangible objects that have a form and a
substance. English speakers are led by this pattern to seek the substance asso-
ciated with a day, a year, and so forth, and our global, abstract notion of
'time' as a continuous, homogeneous, formless something arises to fill in
the blank in this linguistic analogy. By contrast, Hopi speakers do not treat
these cycles as objects but as recurrent events. Thus, although they have, as
Whorf acknowledged, words for what we would recognize as temporal cycles
(e.g. days, years), their formal structuration in the grammar does not give
rise to the abstract notion of 'time' that we have. In Whorf s view, grouping
referents and concepts as analogically "the same" for the purposes of speech
leads speakers to group those referents and concepts as "the same" for thought
generally as evidenced by related cultural patterns of habitual belief and be-
havior.
Whorf's work illustrates the characteristic analytic complexity and speci-
ficity of the linguistic analysis in a structure-centered approach. It also shows
the typical tendencies to deal in an ad hoc way with providing a neutral de-
scription of reality (Whorf 1956a, pp. 141-43) and the somewhat anecdotal
ethnographic evidence for linguistic influences on thought (Whorf 1956a, pp.
147-59). Despite this, his effort is exemplary in addressing all the key ele-
ments of the hypothesis.
NUMBER MARKING The most extensive recent effort to extend and improve a
structure-centered approach is my comparative study of the relation between
grammatical number marking and cognition among speakers of American
English and Yucatec Maya (Lucy 1992b). The study develops the linguistic
analysis within a broad typological framework and provides systematic com-
parative assessments of individual cognition (following Carroll & Casagrande
1958).
English and Yucatec differ in their number marking patterns. First, English
speakers obligatorily signal plural for a large number of lexical nouns,
whereas Yucatec speakers optionally signal plural for a comparatively small
number of lexical nouns. These patterns fit easily into a typological pattern
visible across many languages. In nonverbal experimental tasks involving re-
membering and sorting, American and Yucatec speakers were sensitive to the
number of various types of objects in accordance with the patterns in their
grammar. Second, whereas English numerals often directly modify their asso-
ciated nouns (e.g. one candle), Yucatec numerals must always be accompa-
298 LUCY
nied by a form referred to as a numeral classifier which provides essential in-
formation needed to count the referent [e.g. un-tz'iit kib 'one long thin wax
(i.e. one candle)']. The classifiers reflect the fact that all lexical nouns in Yu-
catec are semantically unspecified as to essential unit. (Where our pattern is
like the Maya, we use the functional equivalent of a classifier ourselves: a cube
of sugar.) Numeral classifiers occur in a wide variety of languages throughout
world, perhaps most notably in the languages of Asia-Chinese, Japanese,
Thai, etc. In nonverbal experimental tasks involving classifying triads of ob-
jects that should contrast maximally in the two lexical systems, English speak-
ers showed a corresponding preference for shape-based classifications
whereas Yucatec speakers showed a corresponding preference for material-
based classifications results in line with the expectations based on the lexical
structures of the two languages. In more recent research these cognitive find-
ings have been replicated with a wider array of informants and materials, their
development in childhood traced, and similar patterns found in other classifier
languages (Lucy & Gaskins 1997).
This research remedies some of the traditional difficulties of structure-
centered approaches by framing the linguistic analysis typologically so as to
enhance comparison and by supplementing ethnographic observation with a
rigorous assessment of individual thought. This then makes possible the reali-
zation of the benefits of the structure-centered approach: placing the languages
at issue on an equal footing, exploring semantically significant lexical and
grammatical patterns, and developing connections to related semantic patterns
in the languages.
Domain-Centered Approaches
GENERAL APPROACH A domain-centered approach begins with a certain do-
main of experienced reality and asks how various languages encode or con-
strue it. Usually the analysis attempts to characterize the domain independ-
ently of language(s) and then determine how each language selects from and
organizes the domain. Typically, speakers of different languages are asked to
refer to "the same" materials or situations so that the different linguistic con-
struals become clear. In a sense, this approach "asks" of each language how it
would handle a given referential problem so as to reveal the distinctiveness of
its functioning; ideally it makes clear the various elaborations and gaps charac-
teristic of each language's coding of a common reality. The strength of the ap-
proach lies in its precision and control: It facilitates rapid, sure comparison
among a large set of languages. The search for language influences on thought
likewise tends to be focused and highly controlled, searching for detailed cog-
nitive effects in experimental tasks though this is not essential to the ap-
proach.
Domain-centered approaches are susceptible to several characteristic
weaknesses. First, there is strong pressure to focus on domains that can be eas-
ily defined rather than on what languages typically encode. This can result in a
rigorous comparison of a domain of marginal semantic relevance (e.g. a few
select lexical items). Second, the high degree of domain focus, especially in
elicitation procedures, tends to give a very narrow and distorted view of a lan-
guage's semantic approach to a situation. Analysts typically concentrate only
on those aspects of meaning that seem relevant to the domain, including or dis-
carding elements of meaning that various languages bring to bear by applying
criteria arising from the analysts' own semantic or cultural understandings of
the domain. Thus the key question for any domain-centered approach is how
the domain has been delineated in the first place and what the warrant is for in-
cluding or excluding particular forms and meanings. Once again, a typological
perspective can help establish what domains make sense to compare and what
elements of meaning are routinely intercalated with them. Third, this approach
tends to create bogus structures. Components of a language that lack structural
unity or significance but that happen to be deployed together functionally in
referring to the domain are treated as unified properties of the language. Ap-
parent unity is often an artifact of the elicitation process. The remedy is to
demonstrate structural coherence on language-internal grounds. Finally, in
seeking influences on thought, studies adopting this approach often have diffi-
culty establishing the significance of purported effects, because the approach
emphasizes what it is possible to say, not what is structurally salient or habitu-
ally said.
COLOR CATEGORIES The classic example of a domain-centered approach was
developed in a series of studies of the lexical codability of colors by Eric Len-
neberg and his colleagues (Brown & Lenneberg 1954, Lenneberg 1953, Len-
neberg & Roberts 1956, Lucy 1992a). They showed that some colors were
more codable than others in English (and later Zuni) and that the more codable
colors were recognized and remembered more readily in nonlinguistic tasks.
This approach to color was later continued in the well-known work on univer-
sals of basic color terms by anthropologists Brent Berlin, Paul Kay, and their
collaborators (Berlin & Kay 1969, Kay & McDaniel 1978). They argued that
there are cross-linguistic regularities in the encoding of color such that a small
number of "basic" color terms emerge in a fairly constrained way in many lan-
guages and that these patterns stem ultimately from biological sources. This
research has been widely accepted as evidence against the linguistic relativity
hypothesis. In fact, the basic color term thesis deals with constraints on lin-
300 LUCY
guistic diversity. Addressing linguistic relativity would require assessing the
impact of differences in color term systems on cognition. Despite some initial
evidence that differences in color term systems do not yield differences in
color cognition (Heider 1972), restudies correcting methodological flaws in
this work have instead found significant language effects on memory (Lucy &
Shweder 1979, 1988). Other studies reveal effects on perceptual categoriza-
tion as a function of color category boundaries (Kay & Kempton 1984).
The basic color term thesis itself has come under strong criticism from the
outset for having weak descriptive linguistics, a flawed elicitation methodol-
ogy, and an untenable biological argument (see references in Lucy 1997, Saun-
ders 1992, Saunders & van Brakel 1997, van Brakel 1994). Recent research
has concentrated on extending and improving the cross-linguistic comparison,
refining the typology, and strengthening the biological argument (Hardin &
Maffi 1997; Kay et al 1991, 1997; MacLaury 1992, 1997). But little has been
done to improve the quality of linguistic description.
This research reflects the typical weaknesses of domain-centered ap-
proaches: choosing a domain more for its ease of study than for its linguistic
significance, being unreflective about the appropriateness of the domain for
other languages, ignoring routine usage in favor of performance in a controlled
task, and creating the appearance of examining a linguistic structure when
none has been demonstrated on internal grounds. Because of these limitations,
the studies essentially end up showing the distribution of the world's lan-
guages relative to a fixed set of parameters drawn from the Western European
scientific tradition. Any gains in comparability are purchased by virtually
eliminating the possibility of detecting genuine or interesting linguistic vari-
ability. Language becomes a dependent variable, a device for coding or map-
ping a pregiven reality, rather than a substantive contributor to its interpreta-
tion or constitution.
SPATIAL ORIENTATION The most successful effort at a domain-centered ap-
proach has been undertaken by a research team under the direction of Stephen
Levinson at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics that has been ex-
ploring the domain of space. The larger agenda of the project has been to cri-
tique the excessive reliance on English and other European languages in the
field of cognitive science. Space was chosen as a domain because it has been
widely regarded as invariant within philosophical, psychological, and linguis-
tic circles and yet appeared to exhibit cross-linguistic variation (Haviland
1993, Levinson 1996a; see also Brown & Levinson 1993b, Levinson & Brown
1994). For example, speakers of modern European languages tend to favor the
use of body coordinates to describe arrangements of objects (e.g. the man is to
the left of the tree). For similar situations, speakers of other languages such as
Guugu Yiimithirr (Australian) and Tzeltal (Mayan) favor systems anchored as
cardinal direction terms or topographic features respectively (e.g. the man is to
the east/uphill of the tree).
There are, of course, other ways to refer to space both in these languages
and in others, so the first task of the group was to describe the range of linguis-
tic variation-which has turned out to be considerable (Danziger 1997, Levin-
son 1996a, Pederson et al 1997). The project included a dozen different lan-
guages, and for each, a linguist familiar with the language worked with infor-
mants on half a dozen elicitation tasks designed to probe spatial reference (de
Leon 1991, Levinson 1992, Senft 1994) to compare "the meaning patterns that
consistently emerge from domain-directed interactive discourse" (Pederson et
al 1997, p. 9).
The second task of the project was to see whether variation in linguistic use
corresponded to variation in cognition. To do this the group has exploited the
sensitivity of the various spatial reference systems to rotation. If something is
to the left and I turn around, it is now to the right, but if I conceive of it as to the
east, then turn around, it remains to the east. Using many nonlinguistic tasks
sensitive to this rotation, they find that speakers of different languages respond
in ways congruent with their verbal practices (Brown & Levinson 1993a; Lev-
inson 1992; Pederson 1993, 1995; Pederson et al 1997). Further, speakers of
languages preferring extensive use of fixed coordinates show more accurate
dead reckoning skills when asked to indicate the direction of familiar locations
from an unfamiliar site (Levinson 1996c), suggesting that the results found in
the controlled contexts may have everyday correlates.
This research has attempted to gain the advantages of precise, extensive
comparison characteristic of a domain-centered approach while simultane-
ously avoiding its chief pitfalls by incorporating extensive linguistic descrip-
tion and typology into the project. Consequently, the project has achieved
more serious and thorough linguistic analysis than other domain-centered ap-
proaches. The group has also supplemented controlled cognitive experimenta-
tion with naturalistic measures.
Behavior-Centered Approaches
GENERAL APPROACH Behavior-centered approaches begin with an encounter
with a marked difference in behavior, usually one that is initially inexplicable
but which the researcher comes to believe has its roots in a pattern of thought
arising from language practices [cf Whorf s (1956a) well-known examples of
how patterns of talking contribute to accidental fires]. Ethnographic analyses
that appeal heavily to language structure can be considered behavior-centered
if they are also comparative (e.g. Martin 1988). Since the research does not
302 LUCY
necessarily begin with the intention of addressing the linguistic relativity ques-
tion, but with a practical problem and the mode of thought giving rise to it,
these studies form a heterogeneous lot. The strength of the approach lies in the
significance of the behavior, which typically has clear practical consequences
either for theory or to native speakers. The behavioral difference requires some
explanation; if one rejects the proposed linguistic sources, another must be
found.
The characteristic weakness of the approach is its ad hoc and inadequate ap-
proach to the language and reality elements, both theoretically and empiri-
cally. Some aspect of the language is identified as relevant to the behavior at
issue. Although this aspect may be salient to the observer or even to speakers
themselves, it need not be either structurally or functionally important in the
language. Essentially, this approach "selects" structural features of the lan-
guage according to a criterion of presumed relevance to a practical behavior at
issue. Often no formal analysis of the language is undertaken and no compari-
son with other languages is attempted. When they are, both follow the same
pattern of devoting attention only to elements that seem patently relevant re-
gardless of their broader structural place and significance. Likewise, since the
approach is not necessarily geared to referential semantics, the reality element
may be absent altogether or receive only cursory treatment. Once again, a ty-
pological approach anchored in referential semantics would significantly im-
prove approaches of this sort. Usually these research projects are not primarily
interested in exploring the question of linguistic relativity, but rather in ac-
counting for the noteworthy (often "deficient") behavior at issue.
COUNTERFACTUAL REASONING A well-known example of a behavior-centered
approach is Alfred Bloom's (1981, 1984) study of the relation between coun-
terfactual markers and speakers' facility with counterfactual or hypothetical
reasoning. In the course of doing research on moral reasoning, Bloom noticed
that Chinese speakers had difficulty with the counterfactual questions used in
such research. In searching for a reason, Bloom came to suspect that the diffi-
culty stemmed from the way counterfactuals were marked in the Chinese lan-
guage. He then designed several counterfactual reasoning experiments where
he presented various controlled stories to English and Chinese speakers (with
the Chinese receiving Chinese versions of the English texts) and concluded
that systematic marking of counterfactuals (along with other linguistic re-
sources) aided sustaining a theoretical mode of thought. He also discussed the
disadvantages of this mode of thought from a Chinese perspective.
However, since Bloom's stimulus materials were not absolutely identical in
the two cases, his approach led to a number of ambiguities. Critics (Au 1983,
1984, Liu 1985, Takano 1989; see also Cara & Politzer 1993) raised questions
about the accuracy and fairness of the Chinese translations. There is no way to
resolve such disputes except by appeal to what speakers would typically say
about a concrete everyday situation; but this can not be tested, since the coun-
terfactual stories by definition did not correspond to any independently ob-
servable events. Further, the differences in how much counterfactual discourse
the two groups engage in and how they value it seem much more telling than
any structural differences. Bloom is actually comparing a discursive register
that operates over a variety of structural features and, as such, requires a dis-
cursively oriented approach (Lucy 1992a).
This study illustrates the ad hoc quality of the behavior-centered approach:
The various linguistic devices have been selected because they seem relevant
to the initial behavior, not because they form a coherent or salient structural as-
pect of the language but because of their common use in a certain discourse
mode. Further, there is no anchor to reality outside of the texts. Ultimately, in
such an unanchored context, it is difficult to establish that language structure
contributes to the observed behavioral differences. Yet despite the ambiguity
of Bloom's results, his approach succeeded in bringing together experimental
work and broader cultural analysis for the first time on a problem of general in-
terest.
OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS A recent set of studies has explored the relation
between language and the incidence of occupational accidents in Finland. Oc-
cupational accident rates are substantially lower in Sweden than in Finland and
among the Swedish-speaking minority within Finland despite working in the
same regions with similar laws and regulations (Salminen & Hiltunen 1993,
1995; Salminen & Johansson 1996). This difference emerges even when con-
trolling for the type, status, or hazard of the occupation or the rate or language
of accident report. Researchers have attempted to account for this difference
by reference to structural differences between Swedish and Finnish (Johans-
son & Str0mnes 1995, Salminen & Hiltunen 1993).
These language differences were first analyzed by Frode J Str0mnes, a
Swedish experimental psychologist who became interested in why it was so
difficult for him to learn Finnish. He contrasted comparable operators in the
two languages and concluded that Swedish prepositions can be represented in
terms of a vector geometry in a three-dimensional space whereas Finnish cases
can be represented in terms of a topology in a two-dimensional space coupled
with a third dimension of time (or duration) (Str0mnes 1973, 1974a, 1976).
Str0mnes supported this analysis with a number of ingenious experiments and
observations (Str0mnes 1974a,b). What emerges in practical terms is a Swed-
ish emphasis on information about movement in three-dimensional space and
a Finnish emphasis on more static, Gestalt relations between borders of fig-
304 LUCY
ures. A later study of cinematic style found that Indo-European (Swedish, Nor-
wegian, English) productions formed coherent temporal entities in which ac-
tion could be followed from beginning to end across scenes, whereas Ural-
Altaic (Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian) productions showed more emphasis on
static settings with only transitory movement and formed coherent person-
centered entities in which scenes were linked by the emotional Gestalts of per-
sons (Johansson & Str0mnes 1995, Johansson & Salminen 1996, Str0mnes et
al 1982).
Based on preliminary observations of factories, the hypothesis was formed
that the Finns organize the workplace in a way that favors the individual
worker (person) over the temporal organization of the overall production pro-
cess. Lack of attention to the overall temporal organization of the process leads
to frequent disruptions in production, haste, and, ultimately, accidents (Jo-
hansson & Salminen 1996, Johansson & Str0mnes 1995). At the moment, con-
crete evidence for this interpretation is lacking, but research on production
processes is under way to test the hypothesis.
This work provides an excellent example of a behavior-centered approach
that, faced with a practical behavioral difference between groups, seeks to ex-
plain it in terms of a known language difference. In comparison with Bloom's
work, the linguistic variable is more coherent, the control over other contribut-
ing factors much higher, and the outcome behavior can be observed independ-
ently of language use. What is less clear, however, is the linkage between lan-
guage and those behaviors.
Shifting Burdens of Proof
The research reviewed here indicates that the linguistic relativity proposal can
be practically and profitably investigated in a number of ways. The linguistic
variables range from small sets of lexical items to broad grammatical patterns
to functional aggregates of features. The cognitive variables include the func-
tional organization of perception, memory, categorization, and inference both
in experimental and everyday settings. Some of these claims may prove ill-
founded or subject to later qualification, but cumulatively they suggest that a
variety of language patterns may have important influences on various aspects
of thought and behavior.
In the aggregate, the studies reviewed here begin to shift the burden of proof
for future research. First, they indicate that it is possible to overcome previous
difficulties and to investigate the hypothesis empirically. When this is done,
there is some support for the hypothesis. It is no longer sufficient to retreat be-
hind claims that there is no favorable evidence at all or that the problem is fun-
damentally uninvestigable. Second, the requirements of adequate research
now stand much higher. Each approach to research has its characteristic
strengths: the structure-centered approach with its emphasis on linguistic form
maximizes the validity of the language analysis and therefore holds the great-
est potential for finding new interpretations of reality, the domain-centered ap-
proach with its emphasis on referential content maximizes the control over lin-
guistic and cognitive comparison by anchoring both in a well-defined reality,
and the behavior-centered approach with its emphasis on the everyday use or
functioning of cognitive skills and orientations maximizes the real-world gen-
eralizability and practical significance of any proposed language and thought
linkages. New research will have to continue the pattern of trying to achieve a
workable balance among these approaches that includes an adequate represen-
tation of language, thought, and reality.
TOWARD A THEORETICAL ACCOUNT
Empirical demonstrations of the types just described move the linguistic rela-
tivity hypothesis from the realm of speculation to the realm of concrete investi-
gation, but they are not equivalent to providing a theoretical account. Such an
account must specify the conditions and mechanisms leading to relativity ef-
fects, that is, give further content to the two key relations of the hypothesis:
how languages interpret reality and how languages influence thought. This in-
volves engaging with the semiotic and discursive levels of the language and
thought relation with respect to how they enable and shape structural level ef-
fects.
Interpretations of Reality
An account of how languages interpret reality constitutes an important aim of
all the language sciences despite differences in opinion regarding how variable
these interpretations might be (Grace 1987). To provide a general theory of
how verbal categories differentially encode reality, they need to be contextual-
ized formally, typologically, and discursively.
Formal contextualization involves assessing how meaning is distributed
among the available formal resources in a language and what the implications
of those placements are for the overall fashion of speaking. Traditionally the
focus has been on differences such as lexical versus grammatical status, obli-
gatoriness versus optionality, and overtness versus covertness of marking (e.g.
Fishman 1960, Whorf 1956c). Future research will also have to take into ac-
count perspectival categories, such as verbal aspect, that express speaker view-
point (Berman & Slobin 1994; cf Kay 1996, Lakoff 1987) and indexical cate-
gories, such as tense, that depend on context of use for their interpretation
306 LUCY
(Haviland 1996, Levinson 1983, Silverstein 1976). An important issue here is
whether a category type is especially salient or susceptible to secondary (or
ideological) interpretation by speakers (Silverstein 1979, 1981, 1985). All
these issues are fundamentally semiotic, and the significance of particular for-
mal placement should be similar across languages.
Typological contextualization involves comparing how the system of
meaning in a language compares with other languages. The distinctive quality
of a given linguistic system usually only becomes clear within such a frame-
work (Whorf 1956b). Although one might begin with only two levels, a lower,
universal one and a higher language-specific one (e.g. Levinson 1997,
Wierzbicka 1992), ideally such a typological framework will include a middle
level where it provides substantive guidance about major patterns of structural
difference across languages (Lucy 1992b).
Discursive contextualization concerns whether some patterns of use such as
language standardization or schooling alter the interpretation of structural
meanings (e.g. Gumperz 1982, Havrainek 1964). The specific issue here is not
discursive relativity as such, where the pattern of use itself embodies certain
assumptions about reality (Lucy 1996), but rather the ways in which this level
shapes structural meaning.
Influences on Thought
A full theory of the relation of language diversity to thought necessarily in-
volves at least three logical components. It must distinguish between language
and thought in some principled way. It must elaborate the actual mechanisms
or manner of influence. And it must indicate to what extent other contextual
factors affect the operation of those mechanisms.
Although almost everyone would agree that language and thought are dis-
tinct in some respects, there is no generally accepted set of criteria. Some even
treat language and thought as identical at the level of conceptual or semantic
representation. This is common, for example, in cognitive linguistics (e.g.
Jackendoff 1983, Langacker 1987), although the implications for relativism
are side-stepped by a universalist orientation (but see Lakoff 1987). Levinson
(1997) provides a useful critique of such conflations of language and thought,
as well as the inverse claims for a radical disjunction between the two. In dis-
tinguishing them, he places special emphasis on the structured (linear, obliga-
tory) and social (indexical, pragmatic, public) nature of language categories in
contrast to those of thought. In indicating their necessary interrelation, he em-
phasizes the natural processing economy of harmonizing the two. Perhaps the
place where the distinction between language and thought is most debated is
among those working on language acquisition and socialization, where the
concern is whether language can be learned with general cognitive skills or re-
quires specific linguistic capacities. This research on acquisition has increas-
ingly concerned itself with language variation in recent years (e.g. Bavin 1995,
Berman & Slobin 1994, Gelman & Byrnes 1991). Although the research is ad-
dressed to how language is learned, and not to linguistic relativity as such, in-
terest in the latter has begun to grow as it becomes clear just what different in-
terpretations of experience children must form to speak properly (Bowerman
1996, Levinson & Bowerman 1997, Ochs 1996). This research should become
a major source of insight into how language and thought differ from each other
and how they come to interrelate during development.
The mechanisms by which language might influence thought can be ana-
lyzed into several component elements that need to be addressed as part of de-
veloping a substantive theory. First, what is the point of impact in the linear,
real-time process of thinking? Is it just "thinking for speaking" (Slobin 1996b)
and otherwise without serious impact on thought? Or does speaking a language
set up prior expectations about what will be seen (Whorf 1956b), play a con-
crete role in thought processes (Vygotsky 1987), or shape how the output of
thought is interpreted, stored, or retrieved (e.g. Baddeley 1990)? Second, what
is the locus of impact in terms of the functional organization of mind? Are
there effects on perception, concept formation and use, logical inference, re-
call or recognition memory, or decision making (Lucy 1992b, Pederson et al
1997)? Are the effects at the lowest levels of cognition or only at various
higher, more complex conceptual and imaginative levels (Gumperz & Levin-
son 1996, Hunt & Agnoli 1991, Levinson 1996b, 1997, Wierzbicka 1992; cf
Friedrich 1986)? Third, what is the mode of impact, the logical dynamic gov-
erning effects? Is it analogical suggestion about the contents of experience
(Whorf 1956a), a form of inner speech with residual syntagmatic and paradig-
matic properties (Vygotsky 1987), heightened saliency for certain options
(Brown & Lenneberg 1954), the availability of preset categories with an effect
of chunking or codability (Levinson 1997; see also Brown & Lenneberg 1954,
Miller 1956, Simon 1986), or perhaps via ideological reflection (Rumsey
1990, Silverstein 1981)? Finally, there is the question of the significance of
impact. Are the effects large or small, easy or difficult to shed or circumvent,
more or less durable or malleable as a function of verbal fluency?
The inclination of a speaker to involve language categories in thought may
be affected by institutionalized discursive practices in a culture. The most ob-
vious cases here arise in schooling (Vygotsky 1987), specialized occupations
(e.g. law, science, philosophy, etc) (e.g. Mertz 1994, Havranek 1964, Silver-
stein 1979), and certain class strata (Bernstein 1971)-but such attitudes may
also characterize an entire culture. Two particular approaches have received
attention in recent years. One emphasizes the importance of linguistic ideol-
308 LUCY
ogy in shaping a community's attitude toward language structure and language
practice (Hill 1985; Rumsey 1990; Silverstein 1979, 1985, 1997; Woolard &
Schieffelin 1994), and the other stresses the special role of poetic or artistic
works (Banfield 1978; Friedrich 1986; Lee 1985, 1993; Slobin 1996a). In both
cases, structural elements are given heightened effect via reflexive activities.
CONCLUSION
The range of materials relevant to providing an adequate theoretical account of
linguistic relativity is daunting. An account has to deal both with the underly-
ing processes upon which all language and thought relations are necessarily
built and with the shaping role of discourse as it is implemented in social insti-
tutions and cultural traditions. Broadening the scope of research in this way,
however, should not be allowed to obscure the central reality and significance
of structural differences in meaning between languages. There has long been a
tendency in research on language and thought to ignore or minimize structural
differences by seeing them as "mere content" either for general universal psy-
cholinguistic processes or for the implementation of particular local discursive
genres and registers. Indeed, most students receiving training in these areas to-
day probably have little if any formal acquaintance with the details of com-
parative descriptive linguistics. In this context, it is important not only to reach
out to other kinds of research to help formulate a theoretical account, but also
to keep attending to the core problem itself, that is, the significance of differ-
ences in language structures for thought. Research on structural influences is
essential both empirically and theoretically for developing a comprehensive
view of the relation between language and thought at all the various levels.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank Suzanne Gaskins for comments on an earlier draft. The section on the-
ory profited at points from a seminar discussion at the Max Planck Institute for
Psychlinguistics in 1993 with Pim Levelt, Dan Slobin, Stephen Levinson, and
others.
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http://www.AnnualReviews.org.
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