Linguistics in a Colonial World: A Story of Language, Meaning, and Power - Paperback

by Joseph Errington (Author)

Drawing on both original texts and critical literature, Linguistics in a Colonial World surveys the methods, meanings, and uses of early linguistic projects around the world.

• Explores how early endeavours in linguistics were used to aid in overcoming practical and ideological difficulties of colonial rule
• Traces the uses and effects of colonial linguistic projects in the shaping of identities and communities that were under, or in opposition to, imperial regimes
• Examines enduring influences of colonial linguistics in contemporary thinking about language and cultural difference
• Brings new insight into post-colonial controversies including endangered languages and language rights in the globalized twenty-first century

Back Jacket

As knowledge of exotic languages became important for colonial power, linguistic scholarship became a crucial contributing element to colonial regimes. Linguistics in a Colonial World draws on both original texts and critical literature to survey the methods, meanings, and uses of linguistics in and for colonial projects over three centuries. By focussing on the shaping effects of linguists' work on identities and communities, this book foregrounds their field's larger meanings and uses for the practical and ideological challenges of colonial rule. Additionally, it traces continuities between colonial and postcolonial politics of culture as they emerge in contemporary controversies over language endangerment and rights in a globalizing twenty-first century.

Author Biography

Joseph Errington is Professor of Anthropology and International and Area Studies, as well as Chair of the Council of Southeast Asian Studies, at Yale University. His research and writing have focused on linguistic dimensions of modernization and identity in Java and Indonesia, reflecting his broader interests in semiotics and the politics of language.