Wilhelm Von Humboldt and the hypothesis of linguistic relativity

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Wilhelm von humboldt and the hypothesis of linguistic relativity

Introduction

linguistic relativity humboldt

In the second half of the twentieth century the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity caused a lot of controversy in the sphere of philosophical and linguistic studies. The theory of linguistic relativism states that thinking depends on the language spoken by people. This trend is called Neo- Humboldtianism, because W. von Humboldt put the interdependence of language and thinking at the center of his studies. Philosophical anthropology and linguistics of the second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, which was an "intermediate link" between the ideas of the German scholar and modern neo-Humboldtianism, was not fully explored [13, P. 3]. Any hypothesis can't arise out of nowhere, the same occurred to the given one. In linguistics, an important attempt to comprehend the formative role of the language system in relation to thinking was made by the German thinkers of the 18th century, Johann Herder and Wilhelm Humboldt.

The study of W. von Humboldt's works is essential for our research, because the scientist explained the unity of language and thinking, and the thesis about the connection between language and cultural activities of a human is an important component of his concept.

The main material presenting

The question of the relationship between word and concept is one of the greatest Humboldts' services to the world. "Thinking not only depends on the language, but also depends on each language separately" [7, P. 317]. O. O. Radchenko believes that with this statement the linguist supports the uniqueness of the conceptual system, which is due to the uniqueness of the epistemological experience of the language team [12, P. 11]. Each language represents a different way of thinking and perception of reality, which is why the scientist made some conclusions about the embodiment of the originality of culture in language. This Humboldt's idea was the result of understanding the category of internal form of language, which is based on the thesis of the creative activity of human thinking [10, P. 7]. Humboldt introduced a meaningful form of language (ie, idioethnicity) and began to study languages "from within."

In the first case, the scientist was dealing with the sound side of speech, and in the second - with the semantic side of language. The language technique is the ways in which the internal or external form of language was formed. The most difficult is to find the internal form of language, its individual units [5, P. 190-191].

Initially, the term "internal form" German scientist uses in relation to the aesthetic. In his study of “Aesthetische Versuche Uber Goethe's Hermann Und Dorothea”, Humboldt defines poetry as art, and develops the idea of language as a human organ, and the idea of art as a mirror of the world around man. Because of this, the linguist considers that poesy is direct, and intended for objects of two kinds - for external and internal forms, for the world and man [4, P. 193]. The internal form of language is a way of combining sound with a concept and objectifying thinking in language. "A sound form is a form which is created by language to express thoughts. However, it can also be imagined as a framework in which the language is embedded "[7, P. 96].

People use words, their various combinations, and as a result, there is a language of thought. Each word contains its own concept, and thus, depending on the external environment, traditions and customs, each nation has its own concepts. Concepts define the nature of the use of certain values. It is impossible to imagine the true nature of grammatical phenomena without understanding the depth of idioethnic thinking [14].

Language has a cognitive effect on a person, and acts as a mediator between objective reality and the subject, ie, the person. "Language is a world that lies between the world of external phenomena and the inner world of a man" [7, P. 32]. Through human interaction with the environment there is a certain idea of the world. That is why each language is a separate, unique world. Language is a reflection of a person's personal view on the world. According to W. von Humboldt, language is an active force, a powerful spiritual energy that directs thinking in a certain way, which was created in our native language by the people [10, P. 14-15].

In the W. Von Humboldt's works it is impossible to find either a definition of the term "people" or a definition of "a specific language", but the German scholar constantly emphasizes their inseparability: language is the property of an individual people, and people is a crowd of people who speak one language [1, p. 67].

W. von Humboldt constantly raised the question of the role of language in the spiritual life of man. Each language absorbs and shapes the spirit of the people, thus representing a force that contains the entire history of mankind. The linguist exaggerated the influence of language on thinking and man, but still, he did not insist on the complete determinism of thinking in language. O. D. Palkin quotes Humboldt, "The influence of language on man is the regularity of language forms, the inverse human influence on language is the beginning of freedom", and draws attention to the fact that the linguist recognized the independence of thinking [9, P. 55].

Spiritual energy and language neither develop separately from each other nor sequentially, but at the same time they are in close connection, forming the activity of intellectual abilities [7, P. 67].

The German scientist used the term "spirit of the people." For Humboldt, the "spirit of the people" is an invariant category, both a metaphysical and a social quantity. Knowledge of the spirit of the people arises from language, but with the help of language, the spirit is not only known, but also stated [3, P. 23].

Humboldt considered the relationship not only of language and spirit of the people, but also language and thinking. L. G. Zubkova notes that W. von Humboldt recognized the complete identity of language and spirit, but he did not mention the identity of language and thinking. In her work "Linguistic teachings of the late 18th - early 20th centuries" L. G. Zubkova gives the scientist's argument: "mental power needs something equal to it and at the same time different from it." The scientist analyzes clearly the close interaction of language and thinking, but not their identity. "The correct development of language is in natural harmony with the correct development of intellectual ability... if language arises in a person's need to think, then all languages must contribute to the successful movement of thoughts" [7, P. 159]. As a consequence, the reason for the activity nature of language becomes clear [6, P. 35].

Such human actions as thinking, decisions, actions and language are first formed in the inner world of man, and only then are they realized in the environment. Language arises in the depths of human nature, which is why it cannot be the people's work, because it is an amateur; language is an "involuntary outflow" of the spirit. Language arose primarily for the internal needs of mankind, belonging to the nature of the human spirit. Language plays an important role in the development of spiritual forces, which is realized when a person makes his thinking clear in thinking with others. Although language penetrates deeply into the inner world of man, it still has an independent status that affects the man himself [16, P. 11-12].

In Humboldt's concept there is an antinomic understanding of language: on the one hand, the scientist believed that "language is an involuntary emanation of the spirit, not a product of the people, but their destiny" [7, p. 49], but on the other hand he thought that ". there is only one language, as there is only one human race, and the differences between races do not eliminate either the concept of humanity or the possibility of constant reproduction" [11, P. 30-31]. Each language contains 2 aspects: universal-objective and subjective-national. The latter forms a linguistic picture of the world of the ethnos, which represents the same dialectical unity of antinomies as language [17, P. 285-286].

“Language is an organ that forms thoughts. The activity of thinking and language are an inseparable unity" [7, P. 361]. Thinking outside the expression of thoughts is possible, but ineffective, and it can leave no traces of existence. Thinking is created with the help of the sound, which is why thinking and speech are related. Due to articulation, thinking acquires the status of completeness; language is also a prerequisite for thinking [15, P. 70].

According to W. von Humboldt, each language is the result of interrelated factors: "the real nature of things", "the subjective nature of the people" and "the peculiar nature of language" [7, P. 319]. As a result of constant development, each language becomes richer in content and improves structurally, which leads to the complication and enrichment of the human world [3, P. 21].

"Thinking not only depends on the language in general, because to a certain extent it is determined by each individual language" [7, P. 317]. Quoting W. von Humboldt, we can find out that it was he who formulated the hypothesis of linguistic relativity, which was written about by B. Whorf and E. Sapir.

F. S. Batsevich, M. O. Kronhaus, V. A. Zvegintsev claim that the direction of European and American Neo-Humboldtianism developed separately from each other, but S. Y. Boroday takes the opposite view. The scientist reports that in 1820-1830s of the 20th century Humboldt kept in touch with American researchers who developed relativistic ideas. According to linguistic and historiographical sources, G. Steinthal had an influence on F. Boas, in his works F. Boas uses the term "internal form of the word", which belonged to the direction of Humboldtianism [2, p. 44-47]. J. Penn, who argues that there is a relationship between European and American Neo-Humboldtianism, shares this view. J. Penn considers F. Boas the first scientist who developed the ideas of W. von Humboldt in American Neo-Humboldtianism. Thus, the author finds an echo of the ideas of the German scientist in American anthropology of E. Sapir and B. Whorf [19, P. 54].

W. von Humboldt was the first linguist to give a clear idea of linguistic relativism. He put forward the idea of language as a fabric of thought, and that thinking is created through the inner dialogue of man in his native language. The German scholar singled out two fundamental principles in language: inner linguistic consciousness and sound. The linguist interpreted the inner linguistic consciousness as "a principle that comprehends the language from within and gives it an impulse." Sound can be compared to passive matter; and only due to the introduction of linguistic consciousness and the combination of intellectual and spiritual strength, the sound acquires a state of independent creative beginning of language [7, P. 227].

Since language is an innate ability and everyone has a "key" to understanding all languages, W. von Humboldt concludes that the form of languages should be the same and be aimed at achieving a common goal. "Differences can be found only in the means and boundaries that are compatible with achieving the goal" [Ibid, P. 227]. However, languages differ significantly not only in sound but also in internal form and content. The reason for this is the reverse effect of sound, due to the individuality of the manifestation of inner consciousness. The inner energy affects the sound and turns it into a living expression of thinking. However, energy cannot be the same in all languages; it differs in its intensity, liveliness [7, P. 227-228].

Lexical and grammatical dimensions of language are relevant for thinking, but W. von Humboldt pays more attention to the lexis.

S. Y. Boroday quotes the scientist, "the word combines objects into its own ideal world, which replaces the real world in general in language" [1, P. 28]. The German linguist compares words with concepts and thus emphasizes its systematized function. Consequently, each language provides different concepts, and gives a feature of each worldview [ibid, P. 28].

"Languages can not have the same structure, because the nations that speak these languages are different and their way of life is determined by different circumstances". When a human learn a language, it is necessary to consider all its advantages and disadvantages, and their definitions will be closer to a single form of all languages. The only form can be one that is suitable for the general direction of the human spirit, through its activities will promote the growth of the spirit. In consequence, the expansion of the human horizon is in full form due to the presence of a perfect language form [7, P. 229].

"Language is a necessary completion of thinking and natural development of an innate ability that characterizes a person as a person. But this is not an instinct that could be explained physiologically "[Ibid, P. 227].

W. von Humboldt explains the absence of a perfect language by the impossibility of corresponding to each point of it. But he emphasizes that Sanskrit languages are closest to form. They are spiritual languages which have contributed to the development of mankind for a long time. That is why they can be considered the most ideal for comparison with others [7, P. 229].

The linguist had a great number of interpreters, some researchers and even movements studied the philosophy of language of the scientist. But it should be noted that "the futility of efforts to prove that someone discovered "real "Humboldt, is only proof of the failure of linguistic and philosophical hermeneutics" [11, P. 28].

Conclusions

The language model of the German scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt can be generalized as follows: the structure and nature of language formulate the inner life and knowledge of the native speaker; the language must be different from each other in the same way as every nation that uses it. Sound cannot be turned into a word until there is a meaning to the word that is embodied through community thinking. According to Humboldt, the internal form of language is a way of denoting the relationship between parts of a sentence, which reflects the aspect that a person uses to express their relationship to the outside world. The task of morphology is to distinguish the differences of languages by internal form, as well as their classification and ordering accordingly [18, P. 2].

W. Humboldt's ideas of the language connection with the national spirit and thinking enriched the linguistics of the 19th and 20th centuries. In Russian linguistics, the concept of the German scientist influenced the school of O. O. Potebnya, and G.G. Shpet reviewed it thoroughly enough. The linguophilosophical concept of the scientist is a treasure trove of deep ideas that remain relevant at the present stage of development of linguistics [14, P. 110].

In accordance with the above, we can conclude that there was some Humboldt's study influence on American Neo- Humboldtianism.

W. von Humboldt left many questions behind, because the linguist had no students, only epigones. In the monograph

Y. Kryshko writes that young grammarians who study modern languages and dialects became interested in empirical research, which is why they lost the depth of philosophical thought of the great thinker [8, P. 64]. According to S. Y. Boroday, without leaving behind students and schools, W. von Humboldt made it difficult to interpret his ideas to the next generation. That is why it is believed that the 19th century is a period of distance from the scientist [2, p. 29].

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