Language plays a crucial role in shaping human thought by influencing perception and categorisation., Firstly, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, suggests that people’s cognitive processes are shaped by their linguistic background., Whorf (1940, as cited in Livingstone, 2014) argued that linguistic differences result in cognitive differences between speakers of different languages., One example of this is his study of the Hopi language, in which he claimed that the lack of explicit linguistic markers for time led the Hopi people to conceptualise time differently from English speakers., This indicates that language frames how individuals perceive and understand abstract concepts (Whorf, 1940, as cited in Livingstone, 2014)., In addition to shaping abstract thought, language also influences perception at a more fundamental level, such as colour recognition., According to Loria (2015), research on colour perception provides further evidence of linguistic relativity., Ancient languages such as Greek, Chinese, and Hebrew lacked a specific word for the colour blue, which may have affected speakers’ ability to distinguish it., More recently, Davidoff et al. (n.d., as cited in Loria, 2015) conducted studies on the Himba people of Namibia and found that their language categorises colours differently,, making it difficult for them to perceive certain distinctions that English speakers find obvious., Overall, these examples highlight how language shapes cognitive categories, influencing the way individuals perceive and interact with the world around them., While language may not completely determine thought, it significantly influences how people conceptualise reality, reinforcing the connection between linguistic structures and cognitive processes..

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