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Part of
History of Linguistics 2017: Selected papers from the 14th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences, (ICHoLS 14), Paris, 28 August – 1 September
Edited by Émilie Aussant and Jean-Michel Fortis
[Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 127] 2020
► pp. 21–34

Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars

| Independent researcher

The focus of this paper is on three grammars of native North American languages (Massachusett, Mahican, Onondaga) that Wilhelm von Humboldt wrote in 1822–1823. The first part of the paper describes these grammars and situates them in the context of early comparative Americanist linguistics that was emerging in Germany and North America. The second part presents an example of Humboldt’s descriptive work drawn from his analysis of the Massachusett verb and shows how his attempt at understanding the Algonquian system of expressing grammatical relations is linked to the evolution of his language philosophy.

Keywords: comparative Americanist linguistics, Massachusett, Mahican, Onondaga, Algonquian grammar, person hierarchy, animacy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The grammars and their background
  • 3.Morphological analysis and its philosophical import
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.127.02ver
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