The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, is a theory concerning the intricate role of language in shaping cultures and influencing our modes of thought and perception of reality. It posits that the structure of a language affects its speakers' worldview or cognition, suggesting that the way people perceive and understand the world is, to some extent, determined by the language they speak. The strong version of the hypothesis argues that language completely determines thought, limiting the ways in which speakers can think about the world, while the weaker version suggests that language influences thought and habitual patterns of perception and cognition without being entirely deterministic. This hypothesis has been influential in linguistic anthropology and sociology, highlighting the close relationship between language, culture, and thought, although the extent of linguistic determinism remains a subject of ongoing debate.