“Continuities and breaks in the 19th century missionary linguistics”

The International Conference on Missionary Linguistics focuses on older texts (colonial, postcolonial, mainly from missionaries) with the following objectives: the history of linguistics, linguistic documentation, translation studies and sociocultural analysis. The aim of historical linguistics is to describe older stages of languages as well as (processes of) language change, while the history of linguistics studies early thinking on languages, linguistic typologies and structures. These studies are often interrelated with those of the cultural context in which colonial and postcolonial societies developed. Non-Western languages are our main focus.

The interdisciplinary approach that has enriched so many areas of science is one of the determining marks of Missionary Linguistics. Understood as a branch of linguistic historiography, it presents as a differential characteristic, according to Hernández (2013: 225–226) the fact that it refers to linguistic works produced in non-Indo-European–“exotic”–languages, whose authors are persons representing the religious field, and serving a didactic purpose.

The contributions of typological-descriptive linguistics, history, anthropology, sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, and linguistic documentation converge in the transversal disciplinary space set up by Missionary Linguistics. The result is a varied set of epistemological perspectives that come together for a better understanding of the linguistic descriptions that emerged during the process of evangelization, and which constitute the central object of the discipline, as well as the works of religious instruction that complement them: catechisms, confessionals, doctrines, sermons, etc.

Furthermore, as these works are socially, ideologically and theologically marked, they are anchored in a particular context and respond to a specific communicative need. The possibilities of analytical output based on missionary sources are enhanced through the perspective of pragmatics, religious studies, sociocultural analysis, translation and intercultural studies, among others.

The First International Conference on Missionary Linguistics
(avec Even Hovdhaugen):
Europe: Universitetet i Oslo, Norway, March, 2003.

The Second International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
Orthography/ Phonology.
(avec Cristina Altman):
South America: Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, March, 2004.

The Third International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
Morphology.
(avec Gregory James):
Asia: Hong Kong. University of Foreign Studies/ Inter-university Institute of Macau, China, March, 2005.

The Fourth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
Syntax.
(Avec Emilio Ridruejo):
Europe: Universidad de Valladolid, Spain, March 2006.

The Fifth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
Lexicography.
(Avec Ramón Arzápalo Marín):
Americas: Universidad Nacional Autónome de México, Mérida, Yucatán, México, March 2007.

Sixth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
(Avec Emi Kishimoto & Masayuki Toyoshima):
Asia: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan, March, 2010.

Seventh International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
(Avec Martina Schrader-Kniffki & Klaus Zimmermann).
Europe: Universität Bremen, Germany, February, March, 2012. http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/misling2012bremen/

Eighth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics.
(Avec Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino & Álvaro Ezcurra).
South America: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. March, 2014. http://departamento.pucp.edu.pe/humanidades/linguistica-y-literatura/novedades-lin/eventos-lin/viii-congreso-internacional-de-linguistica-misionera-sera-en-la-pucp/

Ninth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics
(Avec Joaquín Sueiro Justel (Vigo, Espagne), Marlon Sales (Monash University, Australia, and María Luisa Young (El Ateneo, Manila).
Asia: El Ateneo, Manila. March 2016. http://www.admu.edu.ph/ls/soh/modernlanguages/linguistica-misionera

Tenth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics
(Avec Paolo de Troia).
Europe: Sapienza Università di Roma, Istituto Confucio, co-organizers: Centro Studi Cinesi Urbaniana. Dip Lingue Lett. e Culture Straniere, Roma Tre. March 2018. https://web.uniroma1.it/2018missionarylinguistics/en

Eleventh International Conference on Missionary Linguistics
(Avec Alejandra Regúnaga).
South America: Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios Americanos y Europeos (Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Argentina/ Steyler Missionswissenschaftliches Institut, Sankt Augustin, Germany). March 2020. https://missionarylinguistics2020.wordpress.com/organization/

Twelfth International Conference on Missionary Linguistics
(Avec Gabriel Antunes de Araujo.
Asia : University of Macau. November 2022.