Reimann, Daniel, ed. 2024. Geschichte und Gegenwart der romanistischen Fachdidaktik und Lehrkräftebildung. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. 548 p. ISBN 978-3-8233-8578-3
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Die Fachdidaktik hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten in der deutschsprachigen Romanistik als eigenständige Teildisziplin neben Linguistik, Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft etablieren können. Die Fachgeschichte dieser Teildisziplin bleibt indes zu schreiben. Während die Geschichte des Fremdsprachenunterrichts selbst – die bis ins 19. Jhd. hinein ganz überwiegend eine Geschichte des Unterrichts der romanischen Sprachen, insbesondere des Französischen, war – bereits relativ gut erforscht ist, bestehen im Bereich der Erforschung der Geschichte der Lehrkräftebildung in den romanischen Sprachen und der Geschichte der akademischen Disziplin Fachdidaktik noch große Lücken. Diesen Desiderata möchte der vorliegende Band begegnen, indem er unterschiedliche Untersuchungen und Einzelfallstudien zur Geschichte der romanistischen Fachdidaktik und Lehrkräftebildung seit dem 19. Jhd. vereint.

Zwartjes, Otto. 2024. Missionary Grammars and Dictionaries of Chinese: The contribution of seventeenth century Spanish Dominicans. Amsterdam: John Benjamins (Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 131). 381 p. ISBN 9789027214881. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.131
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This monograph aims to shed light on the linguistic endeavors and educational practices employed by 17th century Spanish Dominicans in their efforts to understand and disseminate knowledge of the Chinese language during this historical period. Ample attention is dedicated to the evolution of Chinese grammars and dictionaries by these authors. Central to the monograph is the manuscript “Marsh 696”, which comprises a Chinese-Spanish dictionary and a fragmentary Spanish grammar of Mandarin Chinese, a hitherto unknown and unpublished anonymous and undated text entitled Arte de lengua mandarina. This text is probably a fragment of the earliest grammar written by a Westerner of Mandarin Chinese (completed in Manila in c.1641), previously presumed lost. It is presented here as a facsimile, a transcription of the Spanish text and an English translation alongside a detailed linguistic analysis. The historical framework outlined in this monograph spans from the predecessors of Francisco Díaz (1606–1646) around 1620, including the Jesuit linguistic production in mainland China and Early Manila Hokkien sources, to the era wherein Antonio Díaz (1667–1715) finalized his revised version of Francisco Díaz’s dictionary. The monograph scrutinizes these texts in relation to the linguistic contributions of Francisco Varo (1627–1687). Additionally, the monograph incorporates other unpublished texts that are significant for reconstructing the educational curriculum for teaching and learning Chinese by Dominican friars during this period.

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Language & History 67(2). 2024. Philosophical Language Schemes: Crossroads for Study, ed. David Cram. Abingdon-on-Thames: Taylor and Francis. Online ISSN: 1759-7544
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Philosophical language schemes: crossroads for study
David Cram

Word as definition. A key principle of the Comenian project for universal language: its sources and contexts
Petr Pavlas

John Wallis on sound symbolism
David Cram

Early modern Europe’s other real characters
Sean O’Neil

Effable characters: the problem of language and its media in seventeenth-century linguistic thought
Kelly Minot McCay

Minervini, Laura & Frank Savelsberg, ed. 2024. New Perspectives on Judeo-Spanish and the Linguistic History of the Sephardic Jews. Leiden: Brill. (Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, 41). 335 p. + index. ISBN 978-90-04-68502-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004685062
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At the intersection of Jewish studies and linguistic research, the essays assembled in this book approach the topic of the languages of Sephardic Jews from different perspectives, spanning chronologically from the Middle Ages to the present day. Drawing on diverse sources – from medical glossaries to inquisition archives, from rabbinic responsa to recordings of today’s speakers – the scholars collaborating on this project have endeavoured to reconstruct fragments of a complex and elusive linguistic reality, which over the centuries has been shaped by the historical experience of its speakers. An innovative collection of rigorously conducted synchronic and diachronic studies that contributes to expanding our knowledge and opening new perspectives on crucial issues, such as the effects of contact on the linguistic structures, the possibility of a norm for polycentric languages, the relationship between the lexicon of a language and the vitality of its speech community.