Wilhelm Von Humboldts Conception Of Linguistic Relativity

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Paderborn (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Metaphor and Metonymy, language: English, abstract: For hundreds of years scholars have been pondering on the interconnection of language and thought with in some points corresponding and in some points differing results. Two important protagonists in this discussion were Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) and Leo Weisgerber (1899-1985), whose positions to this question I am trying to set out in this paper. As the theme is very complex, I shall at least attempt to point out some aspects, which seem especially important to me. All the authors I consulted agree that Humboldt’s theory cannot be comprehended without considering the philosophical background. Not being a student of philosophy, conceiving this part of the paper was very difficult for me. I tried to do my best by picking out those aspects of his philosophical ideas which I thought indispensable for the understanding of his doctrines.

About a century after the year Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941) was born, his theory complex is still the object of keen interest to linguists. Rencently, scholars have argued that it was not his theory complex itself, but an over-simplified, reduced section taken out of context that has become known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that has met with so much resistance among linguists over the last few decades. Not only did Whorf present his views much more subtly than most people would believe, but he also dealt with a great number of other issues in his work. Taking Whorf’s own notion of linguistic relativity as a starting point, this volume explores the relation between language, mind and experience through its historical development, Whorf’s own writing, its misinterpretations, various theoretical and methodological issues and a closer look at a few specific issues in his work.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Paderborn (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Metaphor and Metonymy, language: English, abstract: For hundreds of years scholars have been pondering on the interconnection of language and thought with in some points corresponding and in some points differing results. Two important protagonists in this discussion were Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) and Leo Weisgerber (1899-1985), whose positions to this question I am trying to set out in this paper. As the theme is very complex, I shall at least attempt to point out some aspects, which seem especially important to me. All the authors I consulted agree that Humboldt's theory cannot be comprehended without considering the philosophical background. Not being a student of philosophy, conceiving this part of the paper was very difficult for me. I tried to do my best by picking out those aspects of his philosophical ideas which I thought indispensable for the understanding of his doctrines.