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Historiographia Linguistica: Online-First Articles

The didactic features of James Summers’s (1828–1891) research on Chinese

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James Summers (1828–1891) is distinguished as the first professor of Chinese in Britain to conduct systematic research on the Chinese language. During his tenure as a Chinese professor, Summers’s research on the Chinese language demonstrated a pronounced didactic emphasis. This was evident in his departure from rigidly following linguistic theories, his adoption of diverse linguistic ideas and methodologies from scholars of varied backgrounds, and his inclusion of multiple varieties of Chinese as target languages, particularly Nanjing Mandarin. Summers’s early missionary work in China, along with his role at King’s College London, where he trained student interpreters for the British Foreign Office, greatly shaped his pedagogical focus. The didactic feature of his works aligns with the broader pragmatic approach of British sinology, reflecting the trend of recruiting retired missionaries and diplomats with experience in China into European university faculties after the mid-19th century.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A concise overview of James Summers’s life and scholarly contributions to Chinese studies
  • 3.The didactic nature of summers’s research on Chinese
    • 3.1Pedagogy over theory: The emphasis in Summers’s research
      • 3.1.1Does Chinese have inflections?
      • 3.1.2Does Chinese have parts of speech?
    • 3.2Collate a diverse array of sources
      • 3.2.1Integrating insights on parts of speech from Chinese and European linguistic traditions
      • 3.2.2Leveraging the strengths of linguistic research by Western scholars
    • 3.3Prioritize students’ needs
      • 3.3.1Summers’s attitude towards Chinese characters
      • 3.3.2The target language of Summers’s Chinese teaching
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 11 November 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00155.wei
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