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The history of empirical research on the Sapir‐Whorf hypothesis is reviewed. A more sensitive test of the hypothesis is devised and a clear Whorfian effect is detected in the domain of color. A specific mechanism is proposed to account for this effect and a second experiment, designed to block the hypothesized mechanism, is performed. The effect disappears as predicted. The Sapir‐Whorf hypothesis is reevaluated in the light of these results.
Kay et al. (1984) studied this question.