The Philosophical Foundations of Humboldt's Linguistic Doctrines.

229 Pages·1985·10.113 MB·English

by  Martin L. Manchester

HUMBOLDT'S LINGUISTIC DOCTRINES
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E. F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series III - STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES
Advisory Editorial Board
Ranko Bugarski (Belgrade); Jean-Claude Chevalier (Paris)
H.H. Christmann (Tübingen); Boyd H. Davis (Charlotte, N.C.)
Rudolf Engler (Bern); Hans-Josef Niederehe (Trier)
R.H. Robins (London); Rosane Rocher (Philadelphia)
Aldo Scaglione (Chapel Hill)
Volume 32
Martin L. Manchester
The Philosophical Foundations of Humboldt's Linguistic Doctrines
THE PHILOSOPHICAL
FOUNDATIONS OF
HUMBOLDT'S LINGUISTIC
DOCTRINES
MARTIN L. MANCHESTER
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1985
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Manchester, Martin L.
The philosophical foundations of Humboldt's linguistic doctrines.
(Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series III, Studies in the
history of the language sciences, ISSN 0304-0720; v. 32)
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
1. Humboldt, Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1767-1835 -- Contributions in linguistics. 2. Linguis
tics - History - 19th century. I. Title. II. Series.
P85.H8M36 1985 410'.92'4 85-9209
ISBN 90-272-4514-2 (alk. paper)
© Copyright 1985 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE VII
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS IX
INTRODUCTION 1
0.1 Introduction 1
0.2 A brief review of the secondary literature 4
0.3 The structure of Humboldt's philosophy of
language 10
PART ONE: THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS
CHAPTER ONE: HUMBOLDT'S PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND 17
CHAPTER TWO: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE 2 9
2.1 Introduction 29
2.2 The term 'articulation' 31
2.3 Signification and conceptualization 34
2.4 Earlier versions of the articulation
argument 41
CHAPTER THREE: HUMBOLDT'S THEORY OF DESIGNATION 51
3.1 Introduction 51
3.2 Lexical designation 53
3.3 Grammatical designation 60
CHAPTER FOUR: GENERAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE VARIATION 6 7
4.1 Introduction 67
4.2 Different kinds of language variation 68
4.3 Humboldt's treatment of universal grammar 7 0
4.4 The terminology of language variation 79
CHAPTER FIVE: LINGUISTIC VARIATION AND PERCEPTUAL
VARIATION 91
5.1 Introduction 91
5.2 Perceptual variation 91
CHAPTER SIX: NATIONAL CHARACTER AND LANGUAGE 103
6.1 Introduction 103
6.2 Humboldt's early discussion of character 105
6.3 Discussion of character in Humboldt's
later writings 108
VI TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART TWO: THE LINGUISTIC DOCTRINES
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE INFLECTIONAL SUPERIORITY THESIS 125
7.1 Introduction 125
7.2 Language typology 127
7.3 The meaning of 'inflection' for Humboldt 128
7.4 The argument for the inflectional
superiority thesis 133
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY THESIS 143
8.1 Introduction 143
8.2 The historical context 145
8.3 Humboldt's philosophical grounding of the
linguistic relativity thesis 149
8.4 The conjunction of linguistic relativity
with linguistic variation 155
CONCLUSION 159
NOTES 165
REFERENCES 201
INDEX NOMINUM 20 9
INDEX RERUM 215
PREFACE
This study was initially completed in the Spring of
1980 as a doctoral dissertation at the University of
Toronto. The version here published varies from that
version by a number of revisions. The several addi­
tions to the Humboldt literature in the intervening
period (most notably Borsche 1981) have not led me to
alter the basic claims made in this study, but several
tangential sections have been deleted, Chapters two and
seven have been rewritten, a brief conclusion added, and
the whole text somewhat streamlined. A shortened ver­
sion of Chapter seven was published in the interim as an
article (Manchester 1982).
My hope is that the book may succeed both in being
of interest to specialists on Humboldt, and serving as
an introductory survey of Humboldt's ideas on language,
accessible to the general student. If it only manages
to accomplish one of those purposes, however, I would
prefer the latter. The Humboldt literature contains
many treatments of special themes in Humboldt's work,
but very few attempts to establish a general framework
within which the mutual relationship of those special
themes is clearly determined. Regardless of whether or
not such a framework can indeed be justly attributed to
Humboldt (itself an issue of considerable disagreement),
it seems clear that Humboldt interpretation will remain
fragmented until it at least attempts to move in this
direction.
I am indebted to a number of people who assisted me
at various points in this project. In particular I am
grateful to Graeme Nicholson, Kenneth Schmitz, Harry
Roe, Brendon Gillon, and Vahan Benglian. The comments
of the publisher's reader were very helpful in revision
of the dissertation, especially in pointing out sources
which I had overlooked earlier. I am thankful for the
graciously given technical assistance of Joel Taunton in
the final preparation of the manuscript. I am grateful
to the publisher for their acceptance of this study for
the SiHoL series, and for their patience over the long
period between their acceptance and the appearance of
the book at this time. Finally, and most of all, I
appreciate the direction and attention provided by the
editor of the series, Konrad Koerner, whose insistence
VIII PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS
upon clarity and consistency, as well as attention to
details of format, have improved this study both in
terms of presentation and substance. His prompt and
pointed attention to my revisions has been in marked
contrast to the slow pace with which I have completed
those revisions, and I greatly appreciate his patience
and the perspicuity of his advice.
Concord, Massachusetts
September, 198 4 M.L. Manchester
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS
The following list is composed primarily of Hum­
boldt's writings on language from the period 1820-1835,
although several earlier works are included. For con­
venience of citation I use, both in the text and in the
endnotes, the abbreviations given in the left hand col­
umn. All of these writings are to be found in the basic
edition of Humboldt's works, Wilhelm von Humboldts Ge­
sammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1903ff, edited by the Prus­
sian Academy of Sciences. The date indicated is that of
publication, in those cases where the essay was publish­
ed during Humboldt's lifetime. In other cases the date
is the approximate date of composition, as determined by
Albert Leitzmann, principal editor of the Gesammelte
Schriften. I cite that edition throughout. All trans­
lations, unless otherwise indicated, are my own.
Engels Vortr. Aus Engels philosophischen Vor­
trägen. 1785-86.
Kleins Vortr. Aus Kleins Vorträgen über Natur ­
recht. 1785-86.
Tagebücher I and II Tagebücher, vol. I. 1788-98; vol.
II. 1799-1835. (The journals end
in 1801. Other materials are in­
cluded here.)
DuS Ueber Denken und Sprechen. 1795-96
ges. Sprachst. Einleitung in das gesamte Sprach­
studium. 1810-1811.
Sprachverwandtschaft Ueber Sprachverwandtschaft. 1812-14
vergi. Sprachstudium Ueber das vergleichende Sprachstud­
ium in Beziehung auf die verschied­
enen Epochen der Sprachentwicklung.
1820
Entstehen Ueber das Entstehen der grammat­
ischen Formen und ihren Einfluss
auf die Ideenentwicklung. 1821
Einfluss Ueber den Einfluss des Verschied­
enen Charakters der Sprachen auf