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omnipoetics:whorf [2025/02/17 20:13] – [====== Introduction of the Article and Purpose of the Article ======] blaineomnipoetics:whorf [2025/04/24 00:52] (current) – admin
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-====== An American Indian Model of the Universe ======+====== An American Indian Model of the Universe by Benjamin Lee Whorf======
  
 ====== Important Ideas ====== ====== Important Ideas ======
  
-  * Linguistic Determinism: The way we think, the way we categorize, compartmentalize, and compare information is determined by the patterns of our primary language. This can be seen by observing differences in patterns between languages of different families. This is also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. (Whorf 191-192)+  * Linguistic Determinism: The way we think, the way we categorize, compartmentalize, and compare information is determined by the patterns of our primary language. This can be seen by observing differences in patterns between languages of different families. This is also known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Whorf 191-192). In other words, in the vein of Sapir and Whorf, language shapes and restricts thought processes and shapes how individuals view the world around them. 
  
  
-====== Article Review ====== 
  
 +====== Article Overview ======
  
-====== Introduction of the Article and Purpose of the Article ======+===== Introduction of the Article and Purpose of the Article =====
  
-People of the Hopi tribe, according to Whorf on page 192, exhibit no sense of time as a linear, flowing concept. This is seen in the Hopi language as well, as “the Hopi language contains no reference to ‘time,’ either explicit or implicit”. Hopi language has a metaphysical system of its own, unrelated to the time-vs.-space model and general relativity models we use. Whorf aims to make the Hopi metaphysical system understandable to the audience through English language approximation. (Whorf 192)+People of the Hopi tribe, according to Whorf on page 192, exhibit no sense of time as a linear, flowing concept. This is seen in the Hopi language as well, as “the Hopi language contains no reference to ‘time,’ either explicit or implicit”. Hopi language has a metaphysical system of its own, unrelated to the time-vs.-space model and general relativity models we use. Whorf aims to make the Hopi metaphysical system understandable to the audience through English language approximation (Whorf 192).
  
  
-====== The Metaphysics of the Hopi Language: Direct Comparison ======+===== The Metaphysics of the Hopi Language: Direct Comparison =====
  
 According to Whorf on page 193, the English conception of metaphysics is divided into Time and Space, and time is further broken down into three subcategories: Past, Present, and Future. According to Whorf on page 193, the English conception of metaphysics is divided into Time and Space, and time is further broken down into three subcategories: Past, Present, and Future.
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   * Manifest includes, to use English approximation, both the present and past (with no real delineation between them) and everything experienced by our senses.   * Manifest includes, to use English approximation, both the present and past (with no real delineation between them) and everything experienced by our senses.
-  * Manifesting includes not only the future, but everything that exists only in the heart (in our minds, to use English approximation).+  * Manifesting includes not only the future, but everything that exists only in the heart (in our minds, to use English approximation). It should also be noted that this accounts not only for the hearts of humans, but also the hearts of animals, plants, etc.- to the point that it also accounts for the creative, driving force of the universe. 
  
  
-====== Understanding Manifesting: Hearts and the Future ======+===== Understanding Manifesting: Hearts and the Future =====
  
 The Manifesting includes an element of what Whorf refers to on page 193 as the "mystical", comparing it slightly to the more cosmic beliefs of occult groups in English speaking countries. He does not do this with the intention of creating a negative connotation. The Manifesting includes an element of what Whorf refers to on page 193 as the "mystical", comparing it slightly to the more cosmic beliefs of occult groups in English speaking countries. He does not do this with the intention of creating a negative connotation.
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 Building off of the last section, this manifesting is not only in the hearts of the Hopi people, but in the hearts of everything physical, whether the thing is conscious by English standards or not. It is, in some ways, preordained, and in some ways not guaranteed (Whorf 193-4). Building off of the last section, this manifesting is not only in the hearts of the Hopi people, but in the hearts of everything physical, whether the thing is conscious by English standards or not. It is, in some ways, preordained, and in some ways not guaranteed (Whorf 193-4).
  
-Unlike in English, where this future is arriving to us from some predestined linear point, the manifesting of Hopi language is something which is springing out from the collective of hearts with dynamic pacing, with nonlinear, seemingly random (though not really so) staggered pacing (Whorf 194).+Unlike in English, where this future is arriving to us from some predestined linear point, the manifesting of Hopi language is something which is springing out from the collective of hearts with dynamic pacing, with nonlinear, //seemingly// random (though not really so) staggered pacing (Whorf 194).
  
  
-====== Shared Aspects of Manifested with Manifesting ======+===== Shared Aspects of Manifested with Manifesting =====
  
 The manifesting is always in the process of becoming, but the process vs. the full existing of the becoming is not a distinction in the Hopi language. These are one in the same. Due to this, part of what we in English would call the ‘present’ is wrapped up in the manifesting (Whorf 194). The manifesting is always in the process of becoming, but the process vs. the full existing of the becoming is not a distinction in the Hopi language. These are one in the same. Due to this, part of what we in English would call the ‘present’ is wrapped up in the manifesting (Whorf 194).
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-====== On the Relationship between Motion and the Hopi Cosmic Forms ======+===== On the Relationship between Motion and the Hopi Cosmic Forms =====
  
 The emphasis on becoming and manifesting being done through a form of action as motion leads to most cosmological words in the Hopi language being verbs, rather than nouns like in English (Whorf 195). The emphasis on becoming and manifesting being done through a form of action as motion leads to most cosmological words in the Hopi language being verbs, rather than nouns like in English (Whorf 195).
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-====== The Borderlands: Understanding it Properly ======+===== The Borderlands: Understanding it Properly =====
  
 Whorf states on page 196 that due to the shared realm of space and time in the manifested (objective), this leads to a connection between the two ideas, where something cannot happen in the present unless it happens here. Likewise, something cannot happen somewhere else unless it happens in the past (Again, using English approximates to make the concept better understood). What we reach then is a borderland where at some point, we get so far away from us that we run out of time to have physical domain for (Whorf 195-196). Whorf states on page 196 that due to the shared realm of space and time in the manifested (objective), this leads to a connection between the two ideas, where something cannot happen in the present unless it happens here. Likewise, something cannot happen somewhere else unless it happens in the past (Again, using English approximates to make the concept better understood). What we reach then is a borderland where at some point, we get so far away from us that we run out of time to have physical domain for (Whorf 195-196).
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 +{{tag>English Essay Study Metaphysics Comparative_Linguistics Hopi United_States}}
  

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