从动词“要”和“will”看沃尔夫假设的不合理性

On the irrationality of Whorf′s hypothesis from "yao"and "will"

沃尔夫对语言和思维关系的阐述向来倍受争议。他认为语言决定思维;思维相对于语言而存在,各民族的语言不同,思维亦不同。大量的科学试验证明,语言对思维的支配能力是有限的;语言不同的人对某些概念的认识也有相同的时候。从汉语动词"要"和英语动词"will"的对比分析中,可以揭示语言共性的存在,证明沃尔夫假设在某些方面的不合理性。

Whorf′s hypothesis on the relationship between language and thought has caused much controversy. He supposed that language determines the way people think and that speakers of different languages think in different ways. A great deal experimental texts have proofed that language may influence the way we think but it cannot control our thought. Furthermore speakers of different languages may think alike. The comparative study on Chinese verb'yao'and English verb'will'proves that language universality does exist and that whorf′s hypothesis does not hold water in some respects.