New World Babel by Edward G Gray

New World Babel by Edward G Gray

This text presents a cultural and intellectual history of the languages spoken by the native peoples of North America from the earliest era of European conquest through the beginning of the 19th century. It focuses on different aspects of the Euro-American response to indigenous languages. By focusing on different aspects of the Euro-American response to indigenous speech, the author illuminates the ways in which Europeans' changing understanding of "language" shaped their relations with Native Americans. The work brings to light early America as a place of enormous linguistic diversity, with acute social and cultural problems associated with multilingualism. Beginning with the 16th and 17th centuries, the author shows that European explorers and colonists generally regarded American-Indian languages as a divine endowment that bore only a superficial relationship to the distinct cultures of speakers. He demonstrates how, during the 18th century, this perception gave way to the notion that language was a human innovation, and reflected the apparent social and intellectual differences of the worlds people.

"Gray [covers] a vast range of very diverse material, much of it unknown and unread by modern scholars"—Anthony Pagden, The Johns Hopkins University
"A substantial contribution to American intellectual history and to our understanding of how white presumptions shaped the attitudes toward Indian language and culture."—Kenneth Cmiel, University of Iowa

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780691017051
ISBN 10	0691017050
Titel	New World Babel
Autor	Edward G Gray
Serie	Princeton Legacy Library
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Verlag	Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsjahr	1999-04-04
Seitenanzahl	190
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar