Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapirwas an American anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth26 January 1884
CountryUnited States of America
Edward Sapir quotes about
apparent french german illustrate misleading
French and German illustrate the misleading character of apparent grammatical simplicity just as well.
complex dispose english formal german structure true
It is true that English is not as complex in its formal structure as is German or Latin, but this does not dispose of the matter.
english german known logical systems tense
It is well known that the tense systems of French, English and German teem with logical inconsistencies as they are actually used.
attitude men independence
The attitude of independence toward a constructed language which all national speakers must adopt is really a great advantage, because it tends to make man see himself as the master of language instead of its obedient servant.
acceptance mind spirit
What fetters the mind and benumbs the spirit is ever the dogged acceptance of absolutes.
symbolism important world
No important national language, at least in the Occidental world, has complete regularity of grammatical structure, nor is there a single logical category which is adequately and consistently handled in terms of linguistic symbolism.
lying hands desire
Impatience translates itself into a desire to have something immediate done about it all, and, as is generally the case with impatience, resolves itself in the easiest way that lies ready to hand.
fashion departure customs
Fashion is custom in the guise of departure from custom
resentment unconscious
More and more, unsolicited gifts from without are likely to be received with unconscious resentment.
simplicity analysis helping
A logical analysis of reflexive usages in French shows, however, that this simplicity is an illusion and that, so far from helping the foreigner, it is more calculated to bother him.
fashion wish want
Human beings do not wish to be modest; they want to be as expressive - that is, as immodest - as fear allows; fashion helps them solve that paradoxical problem.
simplicity nouns verbs
One of the glories of English simplicity is the possibility of using the same word as noun and verb.
psychology way different
The psychology of a language which, in one way or another, is imposed upon one because of factors beyond one's control, is very different from the psychology of a language which one accepts of one's free will.
expression perfect would-be
Were a language ever completely "grammatical" it would be a perfect engine of conceptual expression. Unfortunately, or luckily, no language is tyrannically consistent. All grammars leak.