“In\u00a0the 1930’s\u00a0 a man named Benjamin Lee Whorf began to clarify an<\/p>\n\n\n\n
insight he had had into the structure of the Hopi language. Hopi has only<\/p>\n\n\n\n
limited tenses, noted Whorf, makes no reference to time as an entity as <\/p>\n\n\n\n
distinct from space, and though relatively poor in nouns, is rich in verbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a language that projects a world of movement and changing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
relationships, a continuous “fabric” of time and space. It is better suited<\/p>\n\n\n\n
than the English language to describing quantum mechanics. English<\/p>\n\n\n\n
divides time into linear segments by making use of many tenses. It is a\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
noun-rich, verb-poor tongue that contrasts fixed space with a flow of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a language of static space, more suited, say, to architectural <\/p>\n\n\n\n
description. All else being equal, a Hopi child would have little difficulty<\/p>\n\n\n\n
comprehending the theory of relativity in his own language, while an <\/p>\n\n\n\n
American child could more easily master history. A Hopi would be<\/p>\n\n\n\n
confounded by the idea that time flowed from the past to the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1936 Whorf wrote that many aboriginal languages “abound in finely<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wrought, beautifully logical discriminations, about causation, action,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
result, dynamic and energetic quality, direction of experience, etc…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He made people see that there were no primitive languages; and that there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was no pool of thought from which all cultures drew their metaphysics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All observers,” he cautioned, “are not led by the same physical evidence<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the same picture of the universe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excerpted from “Arctic Dreams”, author Barry Lopez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons and published simultaneously <\/p>\n\n\n\n
in Canada by Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the Hopi are not of the Arctic, Lopez mentions them in relation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to his study of the Eskimo people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do believe that over time I will be quoting often from this profound,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
absolutely encyclopedic study of the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Islander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“In\u00a0the 1930’s\u00a0 a man named Benjamin Lee Whorf began to clarify an insight he had had into the structure of the Hopi language. Hopi has only limited tenses, noted Whorf, makes no reference to time as an entity as distinct from space, and though relatively poor in nouns, is rich in verbs. It is a … Continue reading “Barry Lopez”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1603","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1603\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}