论沃尔夫的语言相对性原则

On Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Principle

沃尔夫的语言观既非目前学界所认为的"语言相对论假说",也非"语言相对论原则",而是"语言相对性原则",这一原则是沃尔夫语言观的集中体现。该原则的提出主要源于三个方面:一是爱因斯坦的物理相对论;二是人类语言学的蓬勃发展;三是沃尔夫的个人学术背景。语言相对性原则的观点主要有四:(1)自然(世界)由语言通过规约建构;(2)语言不同,对自然的切分和组织方式也不相同;(3)不同的语言反映不同的世界观,但语言并无优劣之分;(4)语言影响思维,思维是不同语言的问题。语言相对性原则对于比较语言学、语言政策、外语研究与教学等都有深刻的理论指导价值和意义。本文通过回归文本,正本清源,还原沃尔夫思想之精髓,并纠正将其二分为语言相对论和语言决定论的曲解。

The present paper maintains that the view of language held by Whorf is neither"the hypothesis of linguistic relativity"nor"the principle of linguistic relativity theory"that many scholars consider at present to be,but it is actually"the linguistic relativity principle",which embodies the essential characteristics of his idea of language.The advocation of the principle is mainly inspired by the proposition of Einstein’s relativity,the flourishing development of anthropological linguistics and Whorf’s personal academic background.There are four main viewpoints concerning the principle:first,nature(the world)is constructed by language through conventionality;second,the ways of segmentation and organization of nature vary from language to language;third,different languages reflect different worldviews,but there is no superiority of any languages;fourth,language influences thinking/thought,and thinking is a matter of different tongues.The linguistic relativity principle is of theoretically guiding value and significance for contrastive linguistics,language policy and foreign language research and teaching.By returning to its original texts and tracing back to its sources,this paper intends to restore the essence of Whorf’s thought and to correct the distorted division of it into language relativism and language determinism.