Women in the History of Linguistics

Abstract

Women in the History of Linguistics is a ground-breaking investigation into women’s contribution to the description, analysis, and codification of languages across a wide range of different linguistic and cultural traditions. The volume innovates notably in looking beyond Europe to Africa, Australia, Asia, and North America, offering a systematic and comparative approach to a subject that has not yet received the scholarly attention it deserves. In view of women’s often limited educational opportunities in the past, their impact is examined not only within traditional and institutional contexts, but also in more domestic and less public realms. A wide range of spheres of activity is therefore explored, including the production of grammars, dictionaries, philological studies, critical editions, and notes and reflections on the nature of language and writing systems, as well as women’s contribution to the documentation and maintenance of indigenous languages, language teaching and acquisition methods, language debates, language use, and policy. Attitudes towards women’s language—both positive and negative—that regularly shape the linguistic description and analysis are explored, as well as metalinguistic texts specifically addressed to them as readers. Women in the History of Linguistics is intended for all scholars and students interested in the history of linguistics, the history of women, and the intersection between language and gender.