From the April 2004 Scientific American Magazine | 0 comments

Draining the Language out of Color ( Preview )

Words mold many aspects of thought, says linguist Paul Kay, but not all aspects. The proof lies in the names the world's languages give to colors

By Philip E. Ross

More from the Magazine

Would a rose by any other name really smell as sweet? Do our words shape our thoughts, so that "we dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages," as the linguist Benjamin L. Whorf asserted half a century ago? Is language a straitjacket?

Perhaps to some extent, allows Paul Kay, 69, emeritus professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. Those are hardly fighting words, and Kay, dressed in fuzzy shoes and a fuzzy sweater, his feet up on his desk, doesn't seem a pugnacious fellow. Yet he and his former colleague, Brent Berlin (now at the University of Georgia), have been at the center of a 35-year running debate concerning Whorf's hypothesis, called linguistic relativity. "Our work has been interpreted by some people as undermining linguistic relativity, but it applies only to a very restricted domain: color," Kay remarks.

Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.

Read Comments (0) | Post a comment

You Might Also Like

Discuss This Article

Click here to submit your comment.

VIEW:



	Email:
	Name:
	Address:
	Address 2:
	City:
	State:

Subscription Center

Editor's Pick

Adapting to the Freshwater CrisisForward-thinking experts are getting a better handle on the growing global water shortage and coming up with innovative approaches to ensuring the security, safety and sustainability of this resource