Suppose there was a language that had only two words for precipitation, and that one of those words was for rain and the other for snow. If it was found that people who spoke only that language had difficulty discriminating among mist, drizzle, rain, freezing rain, hail, ice pellets, snow, and other forms of precipitation, then that finding would support the
A)sensitive period hypothesis
B)divergent thinking hypothesis
C)functional fixedness hypothesis
D)linguistic relativity hypothesis

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The linguistic relativity hypothesis, also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, suggests that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition. In this scenario, the difficulty in discriminating among various forms of precipitation due to having only two words for them supports the idea that language influences thought and perception.

Suppose There Was a Language That Had Only Two Words