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Description: The claim of linguistic relativity, broadly, contains two components: (i) languages differ in the way they divide the world into meaningful units, and (ii) the way a language divides the world into meaningful units influences habitual thought. The conjunction of these two components yields the central claim of linguistic relativity: Speakers of different languages live in different habitual thought worlds. Theorists have addressed linguistic relativity in two different domains of linguistic meaning: symbolic and indexical. Roughly, these two domains can be understood as context- independent and context-dependent meaning, respectively. Benjamin Lee Whorf is the central figure in the symbolic domain of linguistic relativity (“Whorfian linguistic relativity”). Michael Silverstein is responsible for the extension of linguistic relativity into the indexical domain (“Neo-Whorfian linguistic relativity”). While theoretically parallel, the two theories are framed in terms that mask their underlying commonality. The present project is thus to formulate both theories within a single coherent framework. I present a framework that rests on a semiotic principle proposed by Silverstein in the Neo-Whorfian domain: The principle of unavoidable referentiality. This principle states that speakers will be less susceptible to the ‘thought grooves’ of their language when the form of the meaning at issue coincides with a form with denotational value. By framing linguistic relativity in the symbolic realm in terms of metaphor, I argue that the principle of unavoidable referentiality can be applied to Whorfian theory. A formulation of the two theories within a common framework highlights their inter-relationship and, ultimately, allows both to be situated within a single theory of culture.