It's important to remember that Whorf was theorizing about _habitual_ thought that is influenced by language. He thought that some languages reflected the physical world better than others. For instance, in English, "lightning" is a noun, and we don't even have an exclusive verb for it, but physically, it's an event or process much more than a thing. He obviously didn't think that we are irrevocably stuck in patterns of thought because of our language, because his very recommendation was that we use other languages for physical descriptions of the world, hence he had to believe that we could modify our thoughts to fit the language we are using. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been out of favor for a long time, but numerous linguists are exploring it again and looking for some empirical support for it. I have seen notices for conferences, for example. I have not been following the developments, but it would be interesting to see what is being discovered. I did review a paper for Language which purported to show some Whorfian effect regarding spatial orientation, which was a little more convincing than the work on color, which has been discredited. In Lakoff and Johnson's model of metaphorical thought, metaphor precedes language -- that is, language reflects metaphorical thought; it only creates it to the extent that particular metaphors are propagated throughout a culture via its language. Some metaphors are culture-specific, and some are (according to L & J) universal. Either kind can influence how scientists analyze the world and how they build models of it. Lakoff has a book (with a co-author) on the metaphorical origins of mathematics, but I don't recall the title. A cruise on his web page is likely to reveal it. L & J propose that metaphor influences not only language, but behavior. For instance, reifying time into units impels us to create things like hourly wages and parking meters. It's worth noting that L & J propose that we can change our thought habits by adopting new metaphors, for instance "marriage is a collaborative work of art" rather than traditional physical-bond metaphors. Different metaphors can give a different spin on phenomena, creating new linguistic metaphors and new habits of thought. Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D. Associate Professor, Linguistics Linguistics Minor Advisor English Dept. Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184 Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596 Dept. fax: 805-756-6374 E-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/