Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • Anthropologist and linguist: Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, a leading figure in the development of the discipline of linguistics in North America.
   • Scholar of Indigenous languages: He is renowned for his extensive studies of the languages and cultures of Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was developed by Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf.
  • Edward Sapir conducted groundbreaking fieldwork on numerous Native American languages.

Advanced Usage

• "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis": A principle in linguistics and cognitive science suggesting that the structure of a language influences its speakers' worldview or cognition.
  • The strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is largely discredited, but the weak version continues to be a topic of research.

Variants and Related Words

• Sapirian (adj): Pertaining to the theories, methods, or work of Edward Sapir.
  • Her analysis follows a Sapirian approach to linguistic anthropology.

Synonyms

• Linguistic anthropologist: A scholar who studies the relationship between language and culture.
• Philologist: A person who studies language in written historical sources (a related, though not identical, field).

Noun

1. anthropologist and linguist; studied languages of North American Indians (1884-1939)