Early anthropologists, following the theory that words determine

thought, believed that language and its structure were entirely dependent

on the cultural context which they existed. This was a logical extension 【M1】__________

of that is termed the Standard Social Science Model, which views the 【M2】__________

human mind as an indefinite malleable structure capable of absorbing any 【M3】__________

sort of culture without constraints from genetic or neurological factors.

In this vein, anthropologist Verne Ray conducted a study in the

1950s, given color samples to different American Indian tribes and 【M4】__________

asking them to give the names of the colors. He concluded that the

spectrum we see it as “green” “yellow”, etc. was an entirely arbitrary 【M5】__________

division, and each culture divided the spectrum separately. According to

that hypothesis, the divisions seen between colors are a consequence of 【M6】__________

the language we learn, and do not correspond divisions in the natural 【M7】__________

world. A similar hypothesis is upheld in the extremely popular meme of

Eskimo words for snow—common stories vary from fifty to downwards 【M8】__________

of two hundred.

Extreme cultural relativism of this type has now been clearly

refuted. Eskimos use at most twelve different words for snow, which is

not much more than English speakers and should be expected since they 【M9】__________

exist in a cold climate. The color-relativity hypothesis have now been 【M10】_________

completely debunked by more careful, thorough, and systematic studies

which show a remarkable similarity between the ways in which different

cultures divide the spectrum.

【M1】