The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt: With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb — John Shaqi
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt: With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American VerbBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Philosophy
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt: With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Grammar, Comparative and general; Humboldt, Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1767-1835; Indians -- Languages
[3-†] _Die Sprachwissenschaft Wilhelm von Humboldt’s und die Hegel’sche
Philosophie_, von H. Steinthal, Dr., Berlin, 1848. The same eminent
linguist treats especially of Humboldt’s teachings in _Grammatik, Logik
und Psychologie, ihre Principien und ihr Verhältniss zu einander_, pp.
123-135 (Berlin, 1855); in his well-known volume _Characteristik[TN-10]
der Hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues_, pp. 20-70 (Berlin, 1860);
in his recent oration _Ueber Wilhelm von Humboldt_ (Berlin, 1883); and
elsewhere.
[3-‡] _Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Linguistical Studies._ By C. J. Adler,
A.M. (New York, 1866). This is the only attempt, so far as I know, to
present Humboldt’s philosophy of language to English readers. It is
meritorious, but certainly in some passages Prof. Adler failed to catch
Humboldt’s meaning.
[4-*] _Ueber die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren
Einfluss auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts._ Prof.
Adler translates this “The Structural Differences of Human Speech and
their Influence on the Intellectual Development of the Human Race.” The
word _geistige_, however, includes emotional as well as intellectual
things.
[4-†] _Ueber die Verschiedenheit_, etc., Bd. vi, s. 271, note. I may
say, once for all, that my references, unless otherwise stated, are to
the edition of Humboldt’s _Gesammelte Werke_, edited by his brother,
Berlin, 1841-1852.
[5-*] _Aus Wilhelm von Humboldt’s letzien Lebensjahren. Eine Mütheilung
bisher unbekannter Briefe._ Von Theodor Distel, p. 19 (Leipzig, 1883).
[6-*] From his memoir _Ueber das vergleichende Sprachtstudium[TN-11] in
Beziehung auf die verschiedenen Epochen der Sprachentwicklung_, Bd. iii,
s. 249.
[6-†] He draws examples from the Carib, Lule, Tupi, Mbaya, Huasteca,
Nahuatl, Tamanaca, Abipone, and Mixteca; _Ueber das Entstehen der
grammatischen Formen, und ihren Einfluss auf die Ideenentwicklung_, Bd.
iii, ss. 269-306.
[6-‡] _Ueber die Buchstabenschrift und ihren Zusummenhang[TN-12] mit dem
Sprachbau_, Bd. vi, s. 526
[6-‖] This letter is printed in the memoir of Prof. E. Teza, _Intorno
agli Studi del Thavenet sulla Lingua Algonchina_, in the _Annali delle
Università toscane_, Tomo xviii (Pisa, 1880).
[6-§] Compare Prof. Adler’s Essay, above mentioned, p. 11.
[7-*] This is found expressed nowhere else so clearly as at the
beginning of § 13, where the author writes: “Der Zweck dieser
Einleitung, die Sprachen, in der Verschiedenartigkeit ihres Baues, als
die nothwendige Grundlage der Fortbildung des menschlichen Geistes
darzustellen, und den wechsel seitigen Einfluss des Einen auf das Andre
zu erörtern, hat mich genöthigt, in die Natur der Sprache überhaupt
einzugehen.” Bd. vi, s. 106.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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