1.2 Wilhelm von Humboldt was the first to take up and seriously develop Plato s idea of language having a complex nature. Language is both ergon and energeia , he wrote, these poles being contrary and complementary to each other at the same time. The thesis is the fact that everything in language is alive. The man creates language in the free process of communication, in every speech act. The essence of language lies in the continuing act of its creation in speech, communication.
Communication is the only real state in which language exists.
Language and real life are inseparable notions. The antithesis admits a fundamental character of language. Vocabulary and grammar are given to an individual as something ready-made and unchangeable. We can use a language but we do not create it. Languages belong to nations, not to individuals, and using them we become their subjects, not vice-versa.