Editing Linguistic determinism (section)

=== Guugu Yimithirr ===
Linguist [[Guy Deutscher (linguist)|Guy Deutscher]], a supporter of [[linguistic relativity]] – the weaker counterpart of linguistic determinism – used research among the Guugu Yimithirr to challenge the validity of linguistic determinism. While linguistic relativists believe that language influences thought, they do not support the concept that language is a permanent lens through which all thoughts must be filtered. In Deutscher's book ''Through the Language Glass'', the chapter "Where the Sun Doesn't Rise in the East" discusses the language [[Guugu Yimithirr language|Guugu Yimithirr]] spoken by aboriginal Australians and how it reinforces linguistic relativity.

Deutscher introduces the Guugu Yimithirr language, where they describe everything geocentrically based on its cardinal direction (the chair is to the East) rather than egocentrically (the chair is to your right). It is clear how this system of expressing position and location influenced the Guugu Ymithirr's conceptualization of space. Their description of objects' locations, within photos or on television, would change based on the rotation of  the media because they described things using cardinal directions. For example, if there was a photograph with a tree on the left side of the photo and a girl on the right side, the speakers of Guugu Yimithirr would describe the tree as West of the girl. If the photo was then rotated 90 degrees clockwise the tree would now be described as North of the girl.

The implications, as Deutscher describes, were that the speakers of Guugu Yimithirr have a "perfect pitch" for direction and that their sense of direction is completely non-egocentric. In one experiment, speakers were asked to recall a very recent event and describe it. The people recalled their placement, as well as the placement of important people and objects around them perfectly, even accounting for their position in the retelling. Many years later, the same people were asked to recall that same event, and it was shown that over time, they were still able to accurately recall the directionality of objects and people. Deutscher argues that this example illustrates that geocentric direction is encoded into the memories of Guugu Ymithirr because their language requires it. More broadly, they see the world differently due to their unique conceptualization of space, but this does not mean that they are trapped within the constraints of their language.<ref name="Deutscher, Guy 2016">Deutscher, Guy. Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. Cornerstone Digital, 2016.</ref>

In an interview about his work, Deutscher condemned Whorf's strong concept of linguistic relativism because there is no evidence that language can truly restrict the ability to reason or to gain knowledge. Even if languages do not provide "ready made labels" for certain concepts or objects, most people are still able to understand and discuss these ideas.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Silva|first=Mark de|date=2010-11-09|title=Guy Deutscher on 'Through the Language Glass'|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/11/09/guy-deutscher-on-%e2%80%98through-the-language-glass%e2%80%99/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=The Paris Review|language=en|archive-date=2021-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512010412/https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/11/09/guy-deutscher-on-%E2%80%98through-the-language-glass%E2%80%99/|url-status=live}}</ref>