Abstract This article aims to contribute to scholarly attempts to clarify the claims made by the early proponents of linguistic relativity. It also presents an account of the recently developed area of Cultural Linguistics and outlines how the scope of this multidisciplinary area of research differs from that of studies dedicated to linguistic relativity. For example, while linguistic relativity has been viewed as presenting a ‘hypothesis’ or a ‘theory complex’ regarding the relationship between thought and language, Cultural Linguistics offers a theoretical and analytical framework that focuses on examining features of language that encode conceptualisations rooted in the cultural experiences of speakers. The basic premise underlying the approach of Cultural Linguistics is that certain features of human languages are entrenched in such cultural conceptualisations as cultural schemas, cultural categories, and cultural metaphors.