Character of Language and its Engine: The Fundamental Role of Form of Language in Wilhelm von Humboldt's Kantian Account of Linguistic Creativity

For Wilhelm von Humboldt, the pinnacle of linguistic creativity sits in the ‘character of a language’ that creates ‘worldviews’. Yet, debate surrounds Humboldt’s understanding of their formation. Answers appeal to relativism (Roger Langham Brown), to universalism (Kurt Mueller-Vollmer and Markus Messling) and sometimes to a blend of these together (Jürgen Trabant). I propose that language as a ‘mental power’ is an ‘activity’ that plays a fundamental role in the formation of character, but which resides necessarily in the individual. Character of language is not guaranteed and depends on the universal ‘form of language’ and its development among a people in order to flourish. This position reflects Humboldt’s Kantian worldview. Therefore, the core of my argument proposes that creativity in a language’s character follows Humboldtian linguistic principles of mind that are imaginative, conceptual and logical.