[Sigcr-l] Culture/language affecting KO

[Birger Hjørland]

Dear all, 
Marcia mentioned the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. I agree that the strong version of this do not have many followers today. But weaker versions of it are important, and I can recommend this paper: 
 
Lucy, J. A. (2001). Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier. (Pp. 13486-13490).

A fascinating topic related to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is color perception and color classification in different cultures. A cognitive theory about universal color categories formulated by Berlin & Kay has been dominating, but also seriously criticized. I believe the cultural-relative point of view is a strong one and very important to information science in general and to Knowledge Organization in particular. 

Kind regards

Birger Hjørland