On Sun, 18 Aug 2002, Sean wrote: # #Mia said: #> (God, this is fun!) #> #> Samuel Delany (I think!) wrote a book called Babel 17--damn good #> book--in which the bad guys invented a language that contained no "I". #> Without "I", there cannot be "you"; without a concept of "I" and "you" . #> . . well, let's just say the poor guy grew up pretty strange. # #Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Generally out of vogue nowadays (as am I!). The #Delany book is circa 1960s, the hypothesis the late 20s. They took it a bit #far, stating that language determines thought, whereas today most believe it #only influences thought. # #http://venus.va.com.au/suggestion/sapir.html I have a colleague who argues persuasively that Whorf never espoused this hypothesis at all. Hmmm... Dan Alford is his name; if you want to find his arguments, go to http://www.linguistlist.org and search the archives for posts to the LINGUIST List from "Alford" containing the string "Whorf". -- Mark A. Mandel