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Part of
Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching: Historical perspectives
Edited by Richard Smith and Tim Giesler
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 20] 2023
► pp. 164–179

Chapter 9
Describing and learning
the Chinese languages

Innovation in Western language pedagogical tools of the late Ming and late Qing periods

| Paul Valéry University, Montpellier

The first works on Chinese languages destined for Western learners were compiled at the end of the 16th century, but it was not until the 19th century that such works were compiled in significant numbers. In these works, Western categories and paradigms were largely adopted and adapted. However, elements from Chinese linguistic and didactic traditions were also integrated, and innovative devices were developed to face the epistemological challenge of analysing and describing distant languages. This chapter analyses the linguistic descriptions contained in the pedagogical tools compiled in the late Ming and Qing periods, focusing on the innovations promoted by the contacts between different linguistic and didactic traditions and underlining their impact on the history of Chinese (applied) linguistics and language learning.

Article outline
  • Introduction: Westerners learning Chinese in the late Ming and Qing periods
  • Learning Chinese pronunciation
  • Describing and learning Chinese grammar
  • Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.20.09gia
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