Tenchini, Maria Paola & Savina Raynaud, ed. 2024. Insights Into the History of Linguistics. Selected Papers From ICHOLS XV. Sesto San Giovanni: MIM Edizioni Srl (Literature/Language, 4). 194 p. ISBN 9788869774553
Publisher’s website
Book in open access

This volume collects a selection of papers concerning the history of linguistics spanning the centuries from the 17th to the 20th. These contributions were presented and debated at ICHoLS XV (Milan, 23 – 27 August 2021). The essays focus on various contexts across the modern and contemporary ages in Europe, Asia, and the United States. This collection offers an accurate exploration of linguistic topics and metalinguistic traditions across diverse historical and geographical settings.

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
Publisher’s website

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
Publisher’s websit

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.

Read more ›

Language & History 67(2). 2024. Philosophical Language Schemes: Crossroads for Study, ed. David Cram. Abingdon-on-Thames: Taylor and Francis. Online ISSN: 1759-7544
Publisher’s website

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