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Study of Native American Languages

Two important works were published during the Canadian years:

  • Time Perspective in Aboriginal American Culture: A Study in Method (1916)
  • Language (1921)

In "Sound Patterns in Language" (1925) Sapir demonstrated that the sounds of language are not merely physical but also mental or psychological phenomena, in that for all languages any sound is part of a system of discrete contrasts that are altered and combined in ways determined by shared linguistic conventions rather than physical necessity.

Upon receiving a doctorate at Columbia, Sapir obtained his first important position, as head of the division of anthropology at the Canadian National Museum in Ottawa, in 1910.

  • "The Psychological Reality of the Phoneme," (1933)
  • "The Unconscious Patterning of Behavior in Society" (1927)
  • "The Status of Linguistics as a Science" (1929)

Linguistic and Cultural Theory

In 1925 Sapir accepted a teaching position in the newly created department of anthropology at the University of Chicago. During this period Sapir began publishing his most important papers in linguistic and cultural theory.

Last Years

In 1931 Sapir was offered and accepted a position at Yale University as Sterling professor of anthropology and linguistics. At Yale he continued refining aspects of his theoretical positions, writing a series of papers on language and various aspects of culture for the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences

During these last years of his life, Sapir continued to find time for detailed work on particular languages, though at this time his interest shifted (though never completely) away from Native American languages to problems of Indo-European and Semitic linguistics.

Edward Sapir Facts

Contribution in comparative linguistics

Sapir also did much work in historical and comparative linguistics, tracing the genetic relationships among languages

Sapir was the first to prove that the methods of comparative linguistics were equally valid when applied to indigenous languages

Edward Sapir (1884-1939) was a distinguished American linguist and anthropologist who developed a basic statement on the genetic relationship of Native American languages and pioneered in modern theoretical linguistics

His main contributions concerned Native American, Indo-European, and general linguistics; American Indian and general anthropology; and what has come to be called culture and personality, or psychological anthropology. Beyond these scientific pursuits Sapir also made numerous contributions to American letters by publishing reviews and poems in such journals as Poetry, the Dial, Freeman, and the Nation.

Edward Sapir

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