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Jean QUILLIEN: G. von Humboldt et la linguistique générale. The conception of the sign as the central element of language is a constant feature in the history of language theories and becomes essential with Saussure who, by considering the arbitrary sign, the semiotic unit, as the theoretical matrix of the science of language, lays the foundations of modern structural linguistics, which he situates within the general field of semiology. G. von Humboldt, who was the theoretical source of nineteenth century historical and comparative linguistics, developed a theory of language that took structural analysis into account. Language is ergon, a system of signs, and the word, bringing together signifiant and signifié, is the semiotic unit; this, however, is only one dimension, and not the most important. In order to understand language, semiotic analysis must give way to semantic analysis. The definition of language as a semiotic system is only the condition of speech, and not speech itself; it is a virtuality and is not actualized, whereas speech is essentially in actu. Language should not be considered separately from its realization in discourse, that is, the discourse of an actual speaker in a given culture, the member of a community and heir to its history. In short, language is in essence energeia, an infinite production of meaning, and every language includes a certain view of the world. Humboldt tried therefore to account for the two dimensions of language, the semiotic and the semantic, the former being subordinate to the latter. If it is the word sign which is the keyword for Saussure, in the case of Humboldt it is the word meaning.

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