Mapping and analysis of explicit reference to authors, theories and methods in the published texts of Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941)

• Grant number: 13/10290-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Fernandes Salles Altman
• Grantee: Jessica Gomes de Luiz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The use of the term 'influence' and the idea of individual geniality make the work of the linguistic historiographer superficial when studying authors or theories from the past. One way to avoid the methodological problems caused by them is the reconstruction of the 'climate of opinion', or 'intellectual context', from the period in which the author composed his texts and/or the theory emerged. One potentially productive case to highlight the methodological advantages of using the concept of 'opinion climate' and whose study is propounded in this project is the case of 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' since the term was not explicitly mentioned either by Edward Sapir (1881-1939) or by Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941). Besides, there are discussions - among the linguists interested in the relations among language, thought, and reality - regarding the hypothesis creation merit and the possibility of one of the authors have 'influenced' the other. Therefore, the aim of the project is to map the 'opinion climate' in which the hypothesis emerged in Whorf through his published texts. For this purpose, a survey of the explicit references he does to authors, theories, and methods in those texts will be done. Subsequently, they will be analyzed from a set of parameters, which allows the interpretation of how Whorf perceives his contemporary scientific generation and how he took a stand towards it. The mapping of this opinions net, in principle, may reflect the 'intellectual context' in which the ideas concerning the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' emerged and undo the reductionist notions brought by the use of the term 'influence' and the idea of individual originality.(AU)