Does language affect the way we perceive the world?

[Chomsky; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; 1984]

How do you define what a language is? Is it simply a means of communication, or does it
function as much more than that? Is there a connection between our language and our culture?
The general impression is that language functions as a sign of the condition of a culture. For
instance, if a society's concept of the role of the woman changes, the language that the particular
society uses to refer to women will also change. Chomsky had a theory that compares language
to a cloak, saying that language structures are universal, while cultural differences are merely
superficial. Thus, he claimed that all languages function in the same way.

Sapir and Whorf, however, said that language does not only reflect culture, but
determines it. To illustrate this, they spoke about time, colour and moral attitudes. With reference
to time they gave the example of a tribe of native Americans who refer to time in a completely
different way structurally to the way time is referred to in English, in that they do not attach
numbers to events. This is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, of the mould theory, as the
native American's language moulds the way they conceptualize time.

In respect to colour, as according to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, we would not see

'turquoise' unless we had a name for it (think of a child who has not acquired the word yet, to
them turquoise is blue or green). Some Arabs have many different names for different yellow
shades of sand, while to people who are not accustomed to seeing sand, it all looks the same.
Likewise, Eskimos have 20 different words for snow.

Finally, Sapir's and Whorf's example of moral attitudes looks at how we refer to our
spouse's families as "in-laws". Because of this reference, we feel that we are related to them, and
thus treat them as family. Though this may be obvious to us, it is not the case in all cultures.

We can see the application of the idea of language shaping our world in George Orwell's
'1984', in which the government, or Big Brother, controls the language people use in order to
achieve total control over their thoughts. This is done by implementing two methods: reducing
the vocabulary of the language, removing "dangerous" words such as freedom and democracy.
Secondly, by grouping such "dangerous" words under a new heading - "crimethink". In '1984' we
see how the deterioration of language results in the deterioration of thought:

"The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought. In the end we shall make
thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it" - (1984,
pp 45) As we have seen in this essay, it is language that brings the world into existence. There are
as many worlds as there are languages.