The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, well-known in anthropological linguistics, postulates that language may not only describe the world we inhabit but also mould the way we experience it. This paper argues that an individual's language may similarly determine his conception of disease. Possible relatio...
Published in: | The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine |
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Language: | English |
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1977
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2190/6CEK-XU4J-HYF0-9GCP |
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crsagepubl:10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp 2023-05-15T16:07:52+02:00 The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts Warner, Richard 1977 http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2190/6CEK-XU4J-HYF0-9GCP en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine volume 7, issue 1, page 57-68 ISSN 0091-2174 1541-3527 Psychiatry and Mental health journal-article 1977 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp 2022-05-26T08:12:17Z The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, well-known in anthropological linguistics, postulates that language may not only describe the world we inhabit but also mould the way we experience it. This paper argues that an individual's language may similarly determine his conception of disease. Possible relationships between linguistic features and disease concepts are cited for the Eskimo, the Navaho, and the Chinese, and it is suggested that, in European languages, the extensive use of spatial metaphors to express abstract concepts may encourage a more rigid categorization of disease and inhibit the ability to conceive of multiple factors in disease causation. The use of nouns rather than verbs to express the idea of illness could lead to a static view of disease and tends to separate illnesses as distinct entities rather than defining them as aspects of bodily functioning. The bipolar structure of Indo-European languages, setting subject against predicate and noun against verb, may play a part in the persistence of the mind-body dichotomy and restrict the holistic perception of man with nature. These linguistic features, in leading to a conception of disease as a rigidly defined, unchanging, unicausal thing, may encourage an over-use of surgery and lead to difficulty in perceiving social and psychological factors in disease. Article in Journal/Newspaper eskimo* SAGE Publications (via Crossref) The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 7 1 57 68 |
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Open Polar |
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SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Psychiatry and Mental health |
spellingShingle |
Psychiatry and Mental health Warner, Richard The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
topic_facet |
Psychiatry and Mental health |
description |
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, well-known in anthropological linguistics, postulates that language may not only describe the world we inhabit but also mould the way we experience it. This paper argues that an individual's language may similarly determine his conception of disease. Possible relationships between linguistic features and disease concepts are cited for the Eskimo, the Navaho, and the Chinese, and it is suggested that, in European languages, the extensive use of spatial metaphors to express abstract concepts may encourage a more rigid categorization of disease and inhibit the ability to conceive of multiple factors in disease causation. The use of nouns rather than verbs to express the idea of illness could lead to a static view of disease and tends to separate illnesses as distinct entities rather than defining them as aspects of bodily functioning. The bipolar structure of Indo-European languages, setting subject against predicate and noun against verb, may play a part in the persistence of the mind-body dichotomy and restrict the holistic perception of man with nature. These linguistic features, in leading to a conception of disease as a rigidly defined, unchanging, unicausal thing, may encourage an over-use of surgery and lead to difficulty in perceiving social and psychological factors in disease. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Warner, Richard |
author_facet |
Warner, Richard |
author_sort |
Warner, Richard |
title |
The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
title_short |
The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
title_full |
The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
title_fullStr |
The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Relationship between Language and Disease Concepts |
title_sort |
relationship between language and disease concepts |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
1977 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2190/6CEK-XU4J-HYF0-9GCP |
genre |
eskimo* |
genre_facet |
eskimo* |
op_source |
The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine volume 7, issue 1, page 57-68 ISSN 0091-2174 1541-3527 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2190/6cek-xu4j-hyf0-9gcp |
container_title |
The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine |
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7 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
57 |
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68 |
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1766403928167022592 |