Benjamin Lee Whorf

Benjamin Lee Wharf (April 24, 1897 - July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire engineer. Whorf is widely known as a proponent of the idea that differences between the structures of different languages shape the way their speakers perceive and comprehend the world. This principle is often called the “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis”, in honor of him and his mentor Edward Sapir, but Wharf called it the principle of linguistic relativity because he saw that this idea has consequences similar to the Einstein principle of physical relativity. Wharf was a chemical engineer all his life, but in his youth he became interested in linguistics. At first, this interest drew him to study biblical Hebrew, but he quickly continued to study the indigenous languages of Mesoamerica on his own. Professional scholars were impressed by his work, and in 1930 he received a grant to study the Nahuatl language in Mexico; upon returning home, he presented several influential works on language at linguistic conferences.