Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and important words

Just to address the original post: First of all, you are thinking of Zapf’s Law, not the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Zapf’s Law states that more frequently used words are shorter.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is something that no linguist believes in anymore. It was an interesting theory in the day, but it’s no longer credible. Language does not limit thought, although it could make expression of that thought more difficult.

I know that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is out of fashion in linguistic circles, but I know of at least one sociologist who believed (he died about a year ago) there’s evidence, at least for the weak form. See http://baserv.uci.kun.nl/~los/Articles/cooc.html.