Talk:Edward Sapir

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Was Sapir born in Lauenberg or in Lauenburg?

Good query, turns out it is the latter.  I will attempt to un-stub this article as time permits! nsh 01:15, Mar 17, 2004 (UTC)

We should really add a photo of Sapir to the page, such as http://stills.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/photo/esapir.JPG, provided we can get permission. geshane 2005/01/21

What illness was Sapir suffering from when Whorf sbstituted for him?

"Sapir is also widely known for his ironic appreciation of NASCAR racing, dill pickles, and whoopee cushions." Can somebody provide evidence (sources?) to confirm or refute this claim, added by 216.229.180.164 on 27 September 2006?

Sapir
Is there a reason that Sapir's name has such a ridiculous pronunciation, or is it a mistake? I am referring to the use of the open-mid back vowel in the unstressed first syllable of his name. Such a pronunciation would be unnatural and difficult for an English speaker, who would tend to weaken it to /sə'piɹ/. The use of the sound /ɹ/ obviously indicates that the name is meant to be English.
 * It is not "ridiculous". Some consider and  to be allophones, I think. The article said "suh PEER" before I changed it to IPA, and I simply didn't think too much before translating uh into . I'll change it. --Pablo D. Flores (Talk) 19:49, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed; that's not ridiculous at all. My last name is spelled S-A-P-I-R, and the most common misprononciation is suh-peer.

Add a disambig or something, there's an article existing called Tamir Sapir --Shandris 11:03, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Place of death
I have been unable to find Sapir's place of death for the Persondata for this article. Can anybody help? TheGrappler 23:58, 20 May 2006 (UTC)


 * he died in New Haven. See Language, 15 (2), p. 127. (he was still at Yale.) – ishwar  (speak)  07:48, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Sapir redirects here
I think this is a mistake. There are at least two notable Jewish/Israeli personalities with this last name, such as Yosef Sapir. A disambiguation page is needed. However, I don't have time to create one at the moment. If someone can do this, I'd be greatful. -- Ynhockey (Talk) 23:32, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Was Sapir a structuralist?
Why on Earth Sapir is called here "a leader in American structural linguistics"? Unlike Leonard Bloomfield, Sapir has nothing to do with structuralism! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.237.182.231 (talk) 00:47, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

"most influential figure in American linguistics"?
Not sure that's uncontroversial; supporters of Bloomfield and Chomsky might certainly dispute it... AnonMoos (talk) 09:18, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Agreed wholeheartedly. --Ilikeverin (talk) 02:21, 24 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Chomsky and Bloofield would have no supporters if it weren't for Sapir...·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 23:34, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

"one of the most"
Hello,

Sorry if I got it wrong. It's just that the article has "widely considered to be one of the most important figures" in the opening sentence. Then soon in the next paragraph the article has "one of the most influential and important linguists". I was thinking that this article could go to GAN and even FAC, but repetitious wording could hinder it, especially at FAC, as well as "peacock" descriptions, IMHO. Just my 2 cents.

I minored in Anthropology at Berkeley and Sapir was highly thought of there, though he didn't have a building named after him like Kroeber did! MathewTownsend (talk) 15:08, 11 December 2011 (UTC)
 * well you're right about the repition, but "widely considered an important figure" doesn't really begin to describe his importance in the definition. Maybe we should consolidate the two descriptions into one instead. Anyway there's no shortage of quotes about how he was considered among the most brilliant minds of his generation. Well, Kroeber had special importance at Berkeley of course, but I think he's had a less lasting and much narrower influence than Sapir. We need enough peacockery to make his importance clear, but of course not too much. I don't have plans about GA or FA I must admit - I've pretty much stopped doing that. ·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 15:30, 11 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah by the way repetition between the lead and the body shouldn't be a problem - everything in the lead has to be in the body with citations. ·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 15:33, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

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Mentioning Sapir is Jewish
Is it a problem to say Sapir is Jewish somewhere prominent? It has confused the hell out of me in the course of a dispute on another article due to his views on Hebrew being a "secondary" language, while classifying Arabic as a classical language. I understand from this article he is an expert in Germanic languages but I believe he has a background in Biblical Hebrew as well? It might be helpful to editors working on this subject to have this information because I accidentally removed a quote by him for writing weird things about Hebrew in the 1920s and then I was yelled at and insulted and told to go to 4chan by an editor with 63093(!) edits. I'm still hurt, maybe if we add it to the article, we can spare lowly and simple editors like myself the experience of such strong chastisement in the future? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zephrine (talk • contribs) 06:11, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

Jewish
The importance of him being Jewish is twosome. His life was affected by it, as noted in his personal biography at least three times: About his parents, his marriage, and his acceptance in Otawa and Yale and the antisemitism he met.

Secondly, his interest in linguistics (and of his Jewish personal teachers and friends) stemmed from being foreigners who speak Yiddish (German) and Hebrew and have a separate culture. He actually wrote about this and about his Jewish identity as shown in The Life and Times of Edward Sapir by Edgar E. Siskind published in the Jewish Social Studies publication Vol. 48, No. 3/4, Summer - Autumn, 1986.פשוט pashute ♫ (talk) 06:13, 20 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Add to that what User:Zephrine wrote above... פשוט pashute ♫ (talk) 06:15, 20 October 2021 (UTC)