Third-hand colonial linguistics: Adolphe Dietrich’s comparative study of Indian Ocean Creoles
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Philipp Krämer
Abstract
This article gives an overview of the work of Austrian creolist Adolphe Dietrich, his academic background and the epistemological foundations of his research. Dietrich’s comparative analysis of Indian Ocean Creoles differs from the work of most of his contemporaries: While most 19th century creolists describe creole languages on the basis of a racialist framework, Dietrich and his teacher Hugo Schuchardt avoid such a determinist colonial logic. Based on these observations, the article raises the question whether Dietrich can be seen as a ‘colonial’ linguist at all and what degree of ‘coloniality’ we can attribute to his research.
Abstract
This article gives an overview of the work of Austrian creolist Adolphe Dietrich, his academic background and the epistemological foundations of his research. Dietrich’s comparative analysis of Indian Ocean Creoles differs from the work of most of his contemporaries: While most 19th century creolists describe creole languages on the basis of a racialist framework, Dietrich and his teacher Hugo Schuchardt avoid such a determinist colonial logic. Based on these observations, the article raises the question whether Dietrich can be seen as a ‘colonial’ linguist at all and what degree of ‘coloniality’ we can attribute to his research.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- Saints, nobility, and other heroes. Colonial place-naming as part of the European linguistic heritage 13
- “The making of Greenland” – Early European place names in Kalaallit Nunaat 43
- Colonial place-names in Italian East Africa (AOI) (with additional data from Tripoli). The linguistic heritage of colonial practice 75
- Linguistic missionary heritage. Capuchin missionary Father Laurentius and his unpublished German-Chuukese dictionary 93
- Positioning by naming: Constructing group affiliation in a colonial setting 115
- Third-hand colonial linguistics: Adolphe Dietrich’s comparative study of Indian Ocean Creoles 139
- Spanish-Guarani diglossia in colonial Paraguay: A language undertaking 153
- Construction of (transcontinental) railways as a means of colonization. A corpus-based analysis on the German colonial discourse in postcolonial perspective 169
- The Raj English in historical lexicography 191
- Anglo-Norman: Language contact and obsolescence 219
- Index of Authors 245
- Index of Languages 249
- Index of Subjects 251
- Index of Toponyms 253
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- Saints, nobility, and other heroes. Colonial place-naming as part of the European linguistic heritage 13
- “The making of Greenland” – Early European place names in Kalaallit Nunaat 43
- Colonial place-names in Italian East Africa (AOI) (with additional data from Tripoli). The linguistic heritage of colonial practice 75
- Linguistic missionary heritage. Capuchin missionary Father Laurentius and his unpublished German-Chuukese dictionary 93
- Positioning by naming: Constructing group affiliation in a colonial setting 115
- Third-hand colonial linguistics: Adolphe Dietrich’s comparative study of Indian Ocean Creoles 139
- Spanish-Guarani diglossia in colonial Paraguay: A language undertaking 153
- Construction of (transcontinental) railways as a means of colonization. A corpus-based analysis on the German colonial discourse in postcolonial perspective 169
- The Raj English in historical lexicography 191
- Anglo-Norman: Language contact and obsolescence 219
- Index of Authors 245
- Index of Languages 249
- Index of Subjects 251
- Index of Toponyms 253
