Edward Sapir was a German-born American linguist and anthropologist, trained under Franz Boas, who became one of the most influential figures in early American structural linguistics. He carried out extensive descriptive fieldwork on Native American languages across several unrelated families, arguing throughout his career that a language's grammatical structure shapes the habitual thought of its speakers, an idea his student Benjamin Lee Whorf later extended into what became known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity. His 1921 book Language remained a standard introduction to the discipline for decades.
Facts
RoleLinguist And Anthropologist, Pioneer Of Linguistic Relativity 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
This source names German directly: "Edward Sapir was a German-born American linguist and anthropologist, trained under Franz Boas, who became one of the most influential figures in early American structural linguistics."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Influenced
Whorf studied under Sapir at Yale, directly shaping the linguistic-relativity ideas later called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Source Wikipedia: Benjamin Lee Whorf
Influenced By
Sapir enrolled in an advanced anthropology seminar taught by Boas at Columbia, which redirected his career toward the description of Native American languages.
Source Wikipedia: Edward Sapir
Humboldt's theory that a language's structure shapes its speakers' worldview (Weltansicht) is credited as an originating idea behind the linguistic relativity later developed as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Source Wikipedia: Wilhelm von Humboldt
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Society and Culture Atlas: Edward Sapir, the same subject.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nationality, Edward Sapir entity page
Edward Sapir was a German-born American linguist and anthropologist, trained under Franz Boas, who became one of the most influential figures in early American structural linguistics.
- Associated With: Benjamin Lee Whorf
View the SourceWikipedia: Edward Sapir
Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced By: Franz Boas, Influence of Boas sectionQuote, Influenced By: Franz Boas, Influence of Boas section
He also enrolled in an advanced anthropology seminar taught by Franz Boas, a course that would completely change the direction of his career.
Wikipedia: Wilhelm von Humboldt
Wikipedia: Benjamin Lee Whorf
WikipediaInfluenced: Benjamin Lee Whorf, At Yale sectionQuote, Influenced: Benjamin Lee Whorf, At Yale section
Whorf took Sapir's first course at Yale on American Indian Linguistics.
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