ABSTRACT
This chapter 1 re-examines the philosophy of linguistic relativity in the light of some linguistic data gathered in northern Ghana. Linguistic relativity (Lucy 1997) or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Crabtree and Powers 1991), as it is normally called, raises fundamental issues about the relationship between language, thought, and reality and has attracted the attention of linguists, philosophers, anthropologists, and psychologists. Does the structure of the language we speak influence or even determine our thought or the way we conceive of reality? And, if so, can an analysis of the lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic structure of a spoken language enable researchers to capture the way a group of individuals think about their environment? At least proponents of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis think this is the case.
