Language and Thought: A Critical Reassessment of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The problem of language and thought has puzzled those major scholars in philosophy, psychology and linguistics. Different perspectives on the relationship between language and thought have led to different debates. This paper analyzes the relationship between language and thought from the perspective of psycholinguistics, and to think critically about the relationship. More specifically, this paper explores the relationship between the two based on a classic hypothesis about how language affects thinking. It mainly includes the following aspects (1) Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of language and thought; (2) Relevant research based on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (3) Reflections on the hypothesis (4) Implications for future research. It is concluded that the hypothesis has some limitations and cannot fully reveal the relationship between language and thought.The paper concludes by endorsing a neo-Whorfian position: language biases habitual thought without constraining fundamental cognitive capacities. Future research is encouraged to use experimental techniques in psycholinguistics to explore how language affects thinking or vice versa.