Benjamin Lee Whorf Quick Facts

Benjamin Lee Whorf was a notable American linguist.

Profile

• Birth Name: Benjamin Lee Whorf
• AKA: Benjamin Whorf
• Date of Birth: April 24, 1897
• Place of Birth: Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States
• Zodiac Sign: Taurus
• Date of Death: July 26, 1941
• Died at Age: 44
• Place of Death: Hartford, Connecticut, United States
• Place of Burial: Winthrop Cemetery, Winthrop, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
• Cause of Death: Cancer
• Ethnicity: White
• Nationality: American
• Father: Harry Church Whorf (1874-1934)
• Mother: Sarah Edna (née Lee) Whorf (1871-1962)
• Siblings:

1. Brother: John Calderwood Whorf (1903-1959), married Vivienne Isabelle Wing (1903-1972) in 1925.
2. Brother: Richard Baker Whorf (1906-1966), married Margaret Harriet Smith (1908-1998) in 1929.

• Spouse: Celia Inez Peckham (M. 1920) (b.1901-d.1997)

• Children:

1. Son- Raymond Ben Whorf (b.1922)
2. Son- Robert Peckham Whorf (b.1924)
3. Daughter- Celia Lee Whorf (b.1930)

• Alma Mater: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Benjamin Whorf is known for: Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, Nahuatl linguistics, allophone, cryptotype,  and Maya script
• Benjamin Lee Whorfis criticized for: NA
• Benjamin Lee Whorf was influenced by: Fabre d'Olivet, Edward Sapir, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, C. K. Ogden, Madame Blavatsky
• Benjamin Lee Whorf’s Works Inspired: George Lakoff, John A. Lucy, Michael Silverstein, Linguistic Anthropology, M.A.K. Halliday, Dell Hymes
• Fields: Linguistics, Anthropology, Fire Prevention

Quotes

"Thinking is most mysterious, and by far the greatest light upon it that we have is thrown by the study of language. This study shows that the forms of a person's thoughts are controlled by inexorable laws of pattern of which he is unconscious. These patterns are the unperceived intricate systematizations of his own language—shown readily enough by a candid comparison and contrast with other languages, especially those of a different linguistic family. His thinking itself is in a language—in English, in Sanskrit, in Chinese. And every language is a vast pattern-system, different from others, in which are culturally ordained the forms and categories by which the personality not only communicates, but also analyzes nature, notices or neglects types of relationship and phenomena, channels his reasoning, and builds the house of his consciousness.”

Benjamin Lee Whorf, Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings

Major Works

Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings (1956)

Did You Know?

• Benjamin Lee Whorf was the eldest of the three sons born to Harry Church Whorf and Sarah Lee Whorf.
• His father had a predilection for different fields of works, who first worked as a commercial artist and then tended towards playwriting, acting, and theatrical production.
• His younger brother John was an internationally renowned painter and illustrator.
• Whorf’s youngest brother Richard Whorf was an American actor, author, director, and designer.
• Most of his works were published posthumously.
• Although Benjamin Whorf exerted a significant influence in linguistics, he had never pursued career in that field.
• Whorf refused countless research positions and opted to hold on to his career in chemical engineering.
• Since childhood Whorf was an avid reader and he used to read books written on almost any subject.
• Despite he always enjoyed studying language, Whorf finally attained a degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1918.
• In the year 1919, he secured the position of an engineer at the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, where he served until his demise in 1941.
• During the 1920s his interest in linguistics was revived and he corresponded with many renowned scholars of the time to share his ideas.
• In 1931, Whorf enrolled at the Yale University as a part-time, non-degree graduate student and studied under the influential American linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir.
• Later on, his study with Sapir paved the way for formulating the concept of the equation of culture and language which is known as Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis.
• In 1937, Whorf started his career as lecturer in Anthropology at University of Yale; however, he left Yale just after a year owing to severe health issues.
• After ending his teaching career at Yale, he continued writing and researching until the last day of his life.

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