Language is not merely a tool for communication; it is a lens through which we perceive and interpret the world. In her widely cited TED talk, Prof. Lera Boroditsky (2010) explores this profound relationship, asking whether the language we speak shapes the way we think. Drawing upon cross-linguistic studies, she demonstrates that language guides cognition in significant ways.

Her argument is grounded in the principle of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis, formulated in the early 20th century by Edward Sapir (1929) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956). This hypothesis proposes that language influences how speakers categorize and perceive reality. Boroditsky distinguishes this from linguistic determinism, an idea earlier suggested by Wilhelm von Humboldt (1836), which

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