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
simplicity nouns verbs
One of the glories of English simplicity is the possibility of using the same word as noun and verb.
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.
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
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.
sacrifice demand facts
A common creation demands a common sacrifice, and perhaps not the least potent argument in favour of a constructed international language is the fact that it is equally foreign, or apparently so, to the traditions of all nationalities.
past light done
I am convinced that the stratigraphic method will in the future enable archaeology to throw far more light on the history of American culture than it has done in the past.
simplicity example limits
These examples of the lack of simplicity in English and French, all appearances to the contrary, could be multiplied almost without limit and apply to all national languages.
expression world common
A common allegiance to form of expression that is identified with no single national unit is likely to prove one of the most potent symbols of the freedom of the human spirit that the world has yet known.
matter facts language
As a matter of fact, a national language which spreads beyond its own confines very quickly loses much of its original richness of content and is in no better case than a constructed language.
giving elements movement
Comparison of statements made at different periods frequently enable us to give maximal and minimal dates to the appearance of a cultural element or to assign the time limits to a movement of population.
religious latin long
Both French and Latin are involved with nationalistic and religious implications which could not be entirely shaken off, and so, while they seemed for a long time to have solved the international language problem up to a certain point, they did not really do so in spirit.
historical realizing anthropology
Cultural anthropology is more and more rapidly getting to realize itself as a strictly historical science.