When Languages Die: The von Humboldt Brothers
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
Alexander von Humboldt was already renowned during his lifetime as a natural scientist and explorer. Outside of Europe, such as in Latin America, he is also recognised for his respect for non-European cultures as well as his criticism of colonialism. In his holistic understanding of the world, different manifestations of human culture naturally formed part of the natural world. This also sensitised him to questions of linguistic diversity.
Eduard Ender: "Alexander von Humboldt und Aimé Bonpland" (Berlin, Akademie der Wissenschaften)
In the South American rainforest
In 1800, Alexander von Humboldt explored the upper reaches of the Orinoco to determine whether its river system was connected with the enormous Amazon basin. During this trip, he met the Guareca at the waterfalls of the Maipures, who had the following story to tell:
It is reported among the Guareca Indians, that the brave Atures, being pressed upon by cannibal Caribs, withdrew to the rocks of the Cataracts; a melancholy refuge and dwelling-place, in which the distressed tribe finally perished, and with them their language. In the most inaccessible parts of the Raudal there are cavities and recesses which have served like the cave of Ataruipe as burying-places. It is even probable that the last family of the Atures may not have been long deceased, for (a singular fact,) there is still in Maypures an old parrot of whom the natives affirm that he is not understood because he speaks the Ature language. (Aspects of Nature)
What disappeared along with the language of the Atures?
Humboldt did not see the parrot himself. The last sounds of the language of the Atures have also disappeared. However, we can hear an echo of the language in the installation "Maypore" by the performance artist Rachel Berwick. Berwick trained two Amazon parrots to "speak Maipure" with each other, based on Humboldt's notes.
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1836)
As a gentleman scholar, Wilhelm von Humboldt made important contributions to the disciplines of archaeology, cultural anthropology, political theory, education, and linguistics. He served both as a diplomat for the Prussian king during troubled times (Napoleonic Wards, Congress of Vienna) as well as as a key figure in setting educational policy.
Unlike his younger brother, he published little during his lifetime and only became famous posthumously. He is continues to play a central role in the field of linguistics today as an early source of many theoretical ideas and as a pioneer of the study of non-European languages and Basque, a non-Indo-European minority language spoken in Spain and France. While Humboldt feared the imminent extinction of Basque during his lifetime, the language continues to be spoken into the 21st century.
Wilhelm von Humboldt alludes throughout his work to the gaps caused by the disappearance of languages. Here is one such example:
...language in actuality only exists in spoken discourse, its grammar and dictionary are hardly even comparable to its dead skeleton.
Source: GS Vol 6, 147
Food for thought: Back to AvH
Shortly before Alexander von Humboldt left from Maipures, he ran into a misunderstanding during fieldwork with his Guareca guides, as described in Aspects of Nature:
We left the cave at nightfall, after having collected, to the great displeasure of our Indian guides, several skulls and the entire skeleton of a man. One of these skulls has been figured by Blumenbach in his excellent craniological work, but the skeleton (together with a large part of our natural history collections, especially the entomological) was lost in a shipwreck on the coast of Africa, in which our friend and former travelling companion, the young Franciscan monk Juan Gonzalez, perished.