But the meaning of this must not be misconstrued. If languages were merely dead instruments which we use to work with, then one would be as good as another to him who had learned it. But this is not the case. Speech is a living, physiological function, and, like any other function, is most invigorating and vitalizing when it works in the utmost harmony with the other functions. Its special relationship is to that brain-action which we call thinking; and entire harmony between the two is only present when the form, structure and sounds of speech correspond accurately to the logical procedure of thought. This he considered an undeniable fact.
20
Steinthal does not like Humboldts expression to make capable (fähig zu machen). He objects that the capacity to express thought is already in the articulate sounds. But what Humboldt wishes to convey is precisely that this capacity is only derived from the ceaseless, energizing effort of the intellect. Steinthal, Die Sprachwissenschaft Wilhelm von Humboldts, s. 91, note. The words in the original are: Die sich ewig wiederholende Arbeit des Geistes, den articulirten Laut zum Ausdruck des Gedanken fähig zu machen.
21
Nur die Stärke des Selbstbewusstseins nöthigt der körperlichen Natur die scharfe Theilung und feste Begrenzung der Laute ab, die wir Artikulation nennen. Ueber das Vergleichende Sprachstudium in Beziehung auf die Verschiedenen Epochen der Sprachentwicklung, Bd. iii, s. 244.
22
Ubi suprá, p. 17. Compare Humboldts words, Im Ich aber ist von selbst auch das Du gegeben. Ueber die Verschiedenheit, etc., Bd. vi, s. 115.
23
Ueber die Verschiedenheit, etc., Bd. vi, s. 116; and compare Dr. Schaslers discussion of this subject (which is one of the best parts of his book), Die Elemente der Phil. Sprachwissenschaft, etc., ss. 202-14.
24
Expressed in detail by Humboldt in his Lettre à M. Abel-Remusat sur la nature des formes grammaticules, etc., Bd. vii, ss. 300-303.
25
Ueber die Verwandtschaft der Ortsadverbia mit dem Pronomen in einigen Sprachen, in the Abhandlungen der hist. phil. Classe der Berliner Akad. der Wiss. 1829.
26
Ueber die Verschiedenheit, etc., Bd. vi, s. 115.
27
Gesammelte Werke, Bd. vii, ss. 392-6.
28
His explanation of inflection is most fully given in his Introductory Essay, Ueber die Verschiedenheit, etc., § 14, Gesammelte Werke, s. 121, sqq. A sharp, but friendly criticism of this central point of his linguistic philosophy may be found in Steinthal, Charakteristik der Hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbones, ss. 58-61. Humboldt certainly appears not only obscure in parts but contradictory.
29
See these teachings clearly set forth in his Essay, Ueber das vergleichende Sprachstudium in Beziehung auf die verschiedenen Epochen der Sprachentwicklung, Werke, Bd. iii, especially, s. 255 and s. 262.
30
The eloquent and extraordinary passage in which these opinions are expressed is in his Lettre à M. Abel-Remusat, Gesammelte Werke, Bd. vii, ss. 336-7.
31
Gesammelte Werke, Bd. iii, ss. 248, 257.
32
This reasoning is developed in the essay, Ueber das Vergleichende Sprachstudium, etc., Gesammelte Werke, Bd. iii, ss. 241-268; and see ibid, s. 270.
33
See the essay Ueber die Buchstabenschrift und ihren Zusammenhang mit dem Sprachbau, Ges. Werke, Bd. vi, ss. 551-2.
34
On this subtle point, which has been by no means the least difficult to his commentators, see Humboldts Introduction Ueber die Verschiedenheit, etc., Ges. Werke, Bd. vi, ss. 45-6, 92-5, 254-5, by a careful comparison of which passages his real intent will become apparent.
35
Lettre à M. Abbe-Remusat, Ges. Werke, Bd. vii, s. 396.