In a study, researchers showed Russian and English speakers a series of color chips ranging from light blue to dark blue. Russian has separate basic words for light blue ("goluboy") and dark blue ("siniy"), whereas English uses "blue" for both. Russian speakers were significantly faster than English speakers at distinguishing color chips that crossed the goluboy/siniy boundary, even though physical color differences were equivalent across pairs.
Modern psychologists generally accept what version of Whorf's hypothesis?
- A
It has been completely rejected by all researchers.
- B
A stronger version: speakers of different languages cannot understand the same concepts at all.
- Ccheck_circle
A weaker version: language influences but does not strictly determine thought.
- D
Language has no effect on cognition.
Explanation
A weak version of linguistic relativity—language influences habits of thought and perception—is supported by research like Boroditsky's. The strong version (language determines thought) is not generally supported.