Humboldt, Worldview and Language: A Critical Guide

James W. Underhill lectures on Translation Studies at Stendhal University, Grenoble, France. He has worked as a professional translator of both French and Czech and has published articles on poetics, metaphor and translation.

Part I: Language and World; 1, The Word is a World (La parole est un monde); 2, What do we have in mind when we talk about language?; 3, What do we see in the term Worldview?; 4, Boas; 5, Sapir; 6, Whorf; Part II: Humboldt, Man and Language; 7, Worldview (Weltanschauung or Weltansicht); 8, Sprache; 9, The Work of the Mind; 10, Form; 11, Creativity, Culture and Character; 12, Catching the Character; 13, A Seeing and Feeling Worldview; 14, Four Dangers in the Comparative Approach; 15, Reformulating the Worldview Hypothesis; 16, A Final Word

James Underhill shows a great mastery concerning the general theory of language. It is extremely rare to find nowadays any thinker, either in linguistics or philosophy, whose thought continues the way Humboldt linked the word and the world. -- Henri Meschonnic, Paris VIII University A thoughtful and helpful contribution on an important topic. -- W. J. Dodd, University of Birmingham Modern Language Review James Underhill shows a great mastery concerning the general theory of language. It is extremely rare to find nowadays any thinker, either in linguistics or philosophy, whose thought continues the way Humboldt linked the word and the world. A thoughtful and helpful contribution on an important topic.