詞和意義
人們普遍接受了這一點：語言中的辭彙只是一些無意義的標籤，語言使用者用它們來引起情緒上的或行為上的反應，傳遞信息或引導聽者的注意力。詞和短語的意義在很多程度上倚賴於語境。詞句的語境變了，它們的要旨和意義也隨之而變。同樣，使用不同的語氣所表達出的意願也是不同的。語法結構
語言的句法系統和使用該語言的人的感知系統之間並沒有薩丕爾－沃爾夫假設所聲稱的那種相互倚賴的關係。語言的許多語法特徵都純粹是語言結構的表層現象。翻譯
對薩丕爾－沃爾夫假設的另一批判來自於語言間可以有成功的翻譯這一事實。我們可以用英語來解釋如霍皮語這樣的語言的概念上的獨特性，這一事實可以證明翻譯批判的觀點。第二語言習得
如果不同語言有不同的概念體系，那么說某種語言的人就會因為沒有所需要的概念體系而無法學會另一種語言。然而，由於人們可以學會完全不同的語言，因而這些語言不應該有不同的概念體系。語言與世界觀
語言體系並不一定能影響一個人對世界的看法。一方面，說同一語言的人對世界可能有不同的看法，包括政治觀點、社會觀點、宗教觀點、科學觀點和哲學觀點都可能有所不同。另一方面，說不同語言的人也有可能有相似的政治觀點、社會觀點、宗教觀點、科學觀點和哲學觀點。另外，一種語言也可以描述對世界的多種不同的看法，這一點在成功的翻譯作品中可以看得很清楚。英文版
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesisThe American anthropologist-linguist Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf proposed a sweeping, two-pronged hypothesis concerning language and thought.
Whorf proposed first that all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language. Or put it more bluntly, language determines thought, hence the strong notion of linguistic determinism. Because languages differ in many ways, Whorf also believed that speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, that is, relative to their linguistic background, hence the notion of linguistic relativism.
If follows from this strong version of the hypothesis that there is no real translation and that it is impossible to learn the language of a different culture unless the learner abandons his or here own mode of thinking and acquires the thought patterns of the native speakers of the target language.
Arguments against the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Words and meaning. It is widely accepted that the vocabulary of a language consists of nothing more than meaningless labels which are manipulated by language users to elicit emotional reactions or behavioral responses, to impart information or to direct the listener's attention. The meaning of a word or phrase depends largely on the communicative context. As the context of a word or sentence changes, its effect and meaning also change.
Grammatical structure. The syntactic system of a language and the perceptual system of the speakers of that language do not have the kind of interdependent relationship that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis claimed to have. Many grammatical features of a language are purely superficial aspects of linguistic structure.
Translation. Another major argument against the hypothesis comes from the fact that successful translation between languages can be made. The translation argument is supported by the very fact that conceptual uniqueness of a language such as Hopi can nonetheless be explained in English.
Second language acquisition. If languages have different conceptual systems, then someone who speaks one language will be unable to learn the other language because he lacks the right conceptual system. However, since people can learn radically different languages, those languages couldn't have different conceptual systems.
Language and world views. The language system does not necessarily provide specifics of one's world views. On the one hand, people speaking the same language may have different world views, including political, social, religious, scientific and philosophical views. On the other hand, people speaking different languages may share similar political, social, religious, scientific or philosophical views. Moreover, one language can describe many different world views, as is evident in the case of successful translation.
