Self-world and world of language: Jakob von Uexküll's theory as a basis for integrational linguistic research

Integrational linguistics, which views language as a means of cognition whereby individuals gain access to the world, is argued to rest on two key concepts developed respectively by Jakob von Uexkull & Wilhelm von Humboldt. Uexkull's notion of Umwelt, usually rendered as environment or milieu but better phrased as self-world, provides the first species-specific filter on sensory perception of the extralingual world. The filtered input defining the human Umwelt is filtered a second time, however, through language to be made accessible to thought, yielding the worldview of each language as shown by von Humboldt. A close interrelation between language & thought, which can be discovered in phylogeny & language acquisition, makes von Humboldt's contribution comprehensible. 17 References. J. Hitchcock