Overview

This volume assembles texts dedicated to the linguistic and educational aspects of missionary and colonial enterprises, taking into account all continents and with an extended diachronic perspective (15th-20th centuries). Strictly speaking, this linguistics is contemporary to the colonial era, so it is primarily the work of missionaries of Catholic orders and Protestant societies.

Retrospective Outlook

It can also belong to a retrospective outlook, following decolonization. In the first category, one mostly finds transcription, translation, and grammatization practices (typically, the production of dictionaries and grammar books). In the second category, one finds in addition descriptions of language use, of situations of diglossia, and of contact between languages.

Focus Areas

Within this framework, the volume focuses on educational and linguistic policies, language teaching and learning, and the didactics that were associated with them.