Book contents
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Americas
- Part II The Early Lives of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt
- Part III Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Americanist Linguistics
- Part IV Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Impact on Americanist Linguistics and Anthropology
- 10 First Generation of American Humboldtians of the Early Nineteenth Century
- 11 Second Generation of American Humboldtians in the Nineteenth Century
- 12 Third and Fourth Generations of American Humboldtians at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
- Part V Wilhelm von Humboldt as an Americanist Linguist and Anthropologist
- Book part
- References
- Index
12 - Third and Fourth Generations of American Humboldtians at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Linguistic and Cultural Relativism (Boas, Kroeber, and Sapir)
from Part IV - Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Impact on Americanist Linguistics and Anthropology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2024
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Wilhelm von Humboldt and the Americas
- Part II The Early Lives of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt
- Part III Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Americanist Linguistics
- Part IV Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Impact on Americanist Linguistics and Anthropology
- 10 First Generation of American Humboldtians of the Early Nineteenth Century
- 11 Second Generation of American Humboldtians in the Nineteenth Century
- 12 Third and Fourth Generations of American Humboldtians at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
- Part V Wilhelm von Humboldt as an Americanist Linguist and Anthropologist
- Book part
- References
- Index
Summary
The third and fourth generations consisted of Franz Boas and his prime students, Alfred L. Kroeber and Edward Sapir, reflecting a distinctly Humboldtian perspective from the century’s turn through the years before World War II. Boas had still grown up in the Humboldtian tradition of Theodor Waitz, Adolf Bastian, and Wilhelm Wundt in Germany, and had even consulted Heymann Steinthal. In the United States, Boas offered the first doctoral anthropology program at Columbia University, presenting linguistics in traditional Humboldtian terms and with Kroeber and Sapir as early beneficiaries. When joining Boas’ graduate program, Sapir already brought along Humboldtian notions from his undergraduate Germanic linguistics, eventually to lead to some theoretical differences with Boas about the interpretation of language change (with Kroeber frequently taking an intermediate position). All together, the Boasian program of anthropological linguistics however reflected closely Humboldt’s ideas a century ago, although Boasians did not advertise their historical link.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American LinguisticsResources and Inspirations, pp. 252 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024