The Linguistic Relativity Principle and Humboldtian Ethnolinguistics : A History and Appraisal

It is interesting to note that the period in which the linguistic relativity hypothesis was being propounded coincides with that link in the great chain of being which Arthur O. Lovejoy has called "diversitarianism". Coming as a reaction to a longer period of "uniformitarianism", where the basic assumption was that "what is most important, most valuable, normal, in men consists in what is the same in all men", the assumption of diversitarianism, on the contrary, proclaimed that it is the diversity itself of "men and ages and peoples, in their ways of thinking and feeling and expressing themselves in arts and institutions" that is "'natural' and necessary, and also supremely desirable and right". A major consequence of this premise was that the Eigentümlichkeit, the characteristic feature, that which sets one individual, nation, or race off from another, was sought and cultivated. Although this idea, Lovejoy writes, had a long prehistory it reached its climax in the 1790's among the original German Romanticists. Although Lovejoy does not mention language explicitly, for Herder, the chief spokesman of early German Romanticism, language was a nation's most characteristic possession, comprising its mentality and Weltanschauung.

Lexiographica. Series Maior features monographs and edited volumes on the topics of lexicography and meta-lexicography. Works from the broader domain of lexicology are also included, provided they strengthen the theoretical, methodological and empirical basis of lexicography and meta-lexicography. The almost 150 books published in the series since its founding in 1984 clearly reflect the main themes and developments of the field.
The publications focus on aspects of lexicography such as micro- and macrostructure, typology, history of the discipline, and application-oriented lexicographical documentation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION 1. HAMANN, HERDER, HUMBOLDT 2. SAUSSURE, CASSIRER 3. WEISGERBER AND THE WELTBILD OF VOCABULARY 4. THE ‘FIELD’ THEORY OF LINGUISTICS 5. WEISGERBER’S THEORY OF GRAMMAR AND THE WELTBILD 6. SUMMARY AND APPRAISAL SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 127p blue paperback, ink marks to 3 pages, 2 pages dog-eared, rear cover creased slightly, light spotting to front cover, binding firm, very good condition