Leo Weisgerber

Weisgerber, Leo 

Born Feb. 25, 1899, in Metz. German linguist (Federal Republic of Germany); specialist on the German language, Celtic studies, and general linguistics. Professor at the universities of Rostock (from 1927), Marburg (from 1938), and Bonn (since 1942). Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen.

Weisgerber is the most prominent representative of the so-called Neo-Humboldtian trend in foreign linguistics. According to Weisgerber, language is the “middle link,” which mediates the influence of the outer world on the “inner spiritual world of man.” Therefore, like W. Humboldt, Weisgerber considered language to be a manifestation of a “national spirit.” Weisgerber attempted to prove that people who speak different languages also perceive the external world in different ways.

WORKS

Die Stellung der Sprache im Aufbau der Gesamtkultur [vols.] 1-2. Heidelberg, 1933-34.
Von den Kräften der deutschen Sprache [vols.] 1-2, 3rd ed. Düsseldorf, 1962.
Das Gesetz der Sprache als Grundlage des Sprachstudiums. Heidelberg, 1951.

REFERENCE

Gukhman, M. M. “Lingvisticheskaia teoriia L. Vaisgerbera.” In Voprosy teorii iazyka v sovremennoi zarubezhnoi lingvistike. Moscow, 1961. Pages 123-62.