Cover not available
Article published In:
Quot homines tot artes: New Studies in Missionary Linguistics
Edited by Otto Zwartjes and E.F.K. Koerner †
[Historiographia Linguistica 36:2/3] 2009
► pp. 281–298

Worthy the Name of a Grammar

Verb Morphology and Conjugation in Carochi’s Arte de la Lengua Mexicana (1645) and Eliot’s The Indian Grammar Begun (1666)

| Appalachian State University

This article compares two missionary grammars written in the middle of the 17th century, Horacio Carochi’s (1579–1662) Arte de la Lengua Mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della (1645) and John Eliot’s (1604–1690) The Indian Grammar Begun: or, an Essay to Bring the Indian Language into Rules (1666). Although published only 21 years apart, the two works differ in both context and theoretical underpinnings. These differences are manifested both in the type and depth of analysis undertaken by each author. Indeed, Carochi’s analysis goes much deeper and offers a more complete description of the language treated. While this can be attributed in part to Carochi’s own linguistic ability, the quality and completeness of his grammar is due in large part to the existence of a tradition of scholarship concerning Nahuatl in New Spain, a tradition that is strikingly absent in New England of the time.

Published online: 2 December 2009
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.36.2.06fou
References
Altman, Cristina
1999 “From ‘Insula Vera Cruz’ to ‘Terra Brasiliensis’: History, (hi)stories and historiography of Brazilian linguistics”. Cram, Linn & Nowak, eds. 1996 I1, 71–80.Google Scholar
Andresen, Julie Tetel
1990 Linguistics in America, 1769–1924: A critical history. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Andrews, J. Richard
2003 [1975] Introduction to Classical Nahuatl. Revised ed.. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Auroux, Sylvain, Michel Glatigny, André Joly, Anne Nicolas & Irène Rosier
eds. 1984 Materiaux pour une Histoire des Theories Linguistiques / Essays toward a History of Linguistic Theories / Materialen zu einer Geschichte der sprachwissenschaftlichen Theorien. Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille.Google Scholar
Calvo Pérez, Julio
2000 “Las gramáticas del Siglo de Oro quechua: Originalidad y diversidad”. Zwartjes, ed. 2000.125–201.Google Scholar
Carochi, Horacio
1645 Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaracion de los adverbios della. México: Juan Ruyz. (Facsimile ed. on CD-ROM in Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl compiled by Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla (= Colección Clásicos Tavera Serie IX: Vol. 8, Number 16.) Madrid: Fundación Histórica Tavera / Digibis 1998.)Google Scholar
1645 Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della. Mexico: Iuan Ruyz. (Facsimile ed. with introduction by Miguel León-Portilla. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1983.)Google Scholar
2001 [1645] Grammar of the Mexican Language. Bilingual ed. with an English translation and an introduction by James Lockhart. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Cotton, Josiah
1829 [1708] Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Indian Language. First published ed. of the original manuscript, edited by John Davis and John Pickering. Cambridge, Mass.: E. W. Metcalfe.Google Scholar
Cowan, William
1984 “John Eliot’s Indian Grammar”. Auroux et al., eds. 1984.293–300.Google Scholar
Cram, David, Andrew Linn & Elke Nowak
eds. 1999 History of Linguistics 1996. Selected papers from the Seventh International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS VII). Oxford, 12–17 September 1996). Vol. I1: Traditions in Linguistics Worldwide. (= Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 94.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Edwards, Jonathan
1788 Observations on the Language of the Muhhekaneew Indians. New Haven: Josiah Meigs. (Facsimile ed. in Origins of American Linguistics, vol. I1. Introduction by Roy Harris. London: Routledge/Thoemmes 1997.)Google Scholar
Eliot, John
1666 The Indian Grammar Begun: or, an Essay to Bring the Indian Language into Rules. Cambridge, Mass.: Marmaduke Johnson. (Facsimile ed., Foreword with a Foreword by Caring Hands, Sachem of the Natick Praying Indians. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books 1997.)Google Scholar
Espino Martín, Javier
2002 “El influjo de la hispanización en las gramáticas latinas de la Corona de Aragón en el siglo XVIII: La Sintaxis de Torrella”. Alazet: Revista de Filología 141.209–215.Google Scholar
Galdo Guzmán, Diego de
1642 Arte mexicano. Mexico: Viuda de Bernardo Calderon. (Facsimile ed. on CD-ROM in Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl compiled by Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla (= Colección Clásicos Tavera Serie IX: Vol. 8, Number 16.) Madrid: Fundación Histórica Tavera / Digibis 1998.)Google Scholar
Guice, Stephen Andrew
1990 The Linguistic Work of John Eliot. Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.Google Scholar
Guzmán Betancourt, Ignacio & Eréndira Nansen Díaz
eds. 1997 Memoria del Coloquio La Obra de Antonio de Nebrija y su Recepción en la Nueva España: Quince estudios nebrisenses. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Hanzeli, Victor Egon
1969 Missionary Linguistics in New France: A study of seventeenth and eighteenth century descriptions of American Indian languages. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heath, Shirley Brice
1972 Telling Tongues: Language policy in Mexico, colony to nation. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascensión
1988 Tepuztlahcuilolli: Impresos en nahuatl. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Karttunen, Frances & James Lockhart
eds. 1987 The Art of Nahuatl Speech: The Bancroft dialogues. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications.Google Scholar
Koerner, E. F. K.
2004 Essays in the History of Linguistics. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Launey, Michel
1992 [1979] Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura náhuatl. Spanish translation by Cristina Kraft. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel
1983 “Estudio introductorio”. Carochi 1983[1645].vii–lxix.Google Scholar
Lily, William & John Colet
1549 A Shorte Introduction to Grammar. London: R. Wolfe. (Facsimile ed., Menston: Scolar Press 1970.)Google Scholar
Lockhart, James
2001 “Editor’s Preface”. Carochi 2001[1645].vii–xxii.Google Scholar
López, Diego
1713 Construccion, y explicacion de las reglas del Genero, conforme al Arte de Antonio. Mexico: Heredados de la Viuda de Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio.Google Scholar
Miner, Kenneth L.
1974 “John Eliot of Massachusetts and the Beginnings of American Linguistics”. Historiographia Linguistica 1:2.169–183. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Molina, Alonso de
1571 Arte de la lengua mexicana y castellana. Mexico: Pedro Ocharte. (Facsimile ed. on CD-ROM in Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl compiled by Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla (= Colección Clásicos Tavera, Serie IX: Vol. 8, Number 16). Madrid: Fundación Histórica Tavera / Digibis 1998.)Google Scholar
Nebrija, Antonio de
1481 Introductiones Latinae. Salamanca: no publisher given.Google Scholar
1996 [1488] Introduciones latinas contrapuesto el romance al latín. Ed. and with introduction by Miguel Ángel Esparza and Vicente Calvo. (= Materialien zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft und der Semiotik, 7.) Münster: Nodus.Google Scholar
Olmos, Andrés de
2002 [1547] Arte de la lengua mexicana, concluio en el convento de San Andrés de Uetlalpan en la provincia de la totonacapan que es en la nueva España el 1º de enero de 1547. Edición, estudio introductorio, transliteración y notas de Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla and Miguel León-Portilla. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Osorio Romero, Ignacio
1980 Floresta de gramática, poética y retórica en Nueva España 1521–1767. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Proulx, Paul
2005 “Reduplication in Proto-Algonquian and Proto-Central-Algonquian”. International Journal of American Linguistics 71:2.193–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quiñones Melgoza, José
1997 “Elio Antonio de Nebrija y su gramática latina como texto de enseñanza en la Nueva España”. Guzmán Betancourt & Nansen Díaz, eds. 1997.135–144.Google Scholar
Rincón, Antonio del
1595 Arte mexicana. México: Pedro Balli. (Facsimile ed. on CD-ROM in Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl compiled by Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla (= Colección Clásicos Tavera Serie IX: Vol. 8, Number 16.) Madrid: Fundación Histórica Tavera / Digibis 1998.)Google Scholar
Rivero, Bartolomé del
1695 Explicacion de los libros quarto, y quinto, de la gramatica, conforme al Arte de Antonio de Nebrija. Puebla: Diego Fernandez de León.Google Scholar
Rodrigues, Aryon D.
1986 Linguas brasileiras: Para o conhecimento das linguas indígenas. São Paulo: Loyola.Google Scholar
Salmon, Vivian
1985 “Missionary Linguistics in Seventeenth Century Ireland and a North American Analogy”. Historiographia Linguistica 7:3.321–349. (Repr. in Vivian Salmon, Language and Society in Early Modern England ed. by Konrad Koerner, 212–238. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins 1996.)Google Scholar
Smith-Stark, Thomas
2000 “Rincón y Carochi: la tradición jesuítica de descripción del náhuatl”. Zwartjes, ed. 2000.29–71.Google Scholar
Subbiondo, Joseph L.
1990 “Neo-Aristotelian Grammar in 17th-Century England”. Historiographia Linguistica 17: 1/2.87–98. (Repr. in Vivian Salmon, Language and Society in Early Modern England ed. by Konrad Koerner, 212–238. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins 1996.)Google Scholar
Vázquez Gastelu, Antonio
1689 Arte de lengua mexicana. Puebla de los Angeles: Fernandez de León. (Facsimile ed. on CD-ROM in Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl) compiled by Ascensión Hernández de León-Portilla (= Colección Clásicos Tavera Serie IX: Vol. 8, Number 16.). Madrid: Fundación Histórica Tavera / Digibis 1998.)Google Scholar
Williams, Roger
1643 A Key into the Language of America. London: Gregory Dexter. (Facsimile ed. in Origins of American Linguistics, Vol. I1. Introduction by Roy Harris. London: Routledge / Thoemmes 1997.)Google Scholar
Zwartjes, Otto
ed. 2000 Las gramáticas misioneras de tradición hispánica (siglos XVI–XVII). Amsterdam & Atlanta: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 february 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.