El pensamiento lingüístico de Humboldt tiene influencia directa de los ideólogos franceses para unos, mientras que otros defienden su tradición filosófica alemana. Esta polémica es parte de otra que ha ocupado a los lingüistas vascos: la posibilidad o imposibilidad de controlar políticamente la vida de la lengua (actitudes representadas respectivamente por Arana Goiri y Unamuno)Some people consider that Humboldt' s linguistic thought is directly influenced by the French Ideologues while others think that he has a German philosophical tradition. This controversy is part of a further one that has kept many Basque linguists busy: the possibility or impossibility of controlling the life of a language in a political way (attitudes represented by Arana Goiri and Unamuno respectively