Comparative Approaches to Language Learning in the Premodern World

The formation of states often entails the creation of bureaucratic paradigms in the language(s) of the state, the formalization of educational institutions through which to train elites, and the canonization of textual corpora for pedagogical purposes. These educational systems must be concerned with language pedagogy that instruct elites, scholars, and bureaucrats’ proficiency in the languages of state apparatus and of literary prestige. This is often necessary, whether the languages taught are natively spoken by those instructed, where thus forms of diglossia often develop, or they are second or third languages, as is common in multilingual states and empires.

Scholars study this broad set of issues as they come up across the premodern world, but often, unfortunately, without in departmental siloes that elide the possibility of conversation across fields. This workshop proposes to bring scholars of the premodern world into conversation in a set of six workshops across the year, each of which has two speakers to discuss similar issues in different places/time periods.

We hope to address a set of topics in relation to premodern language pedagogy that include (i) the Contexts of learning, (ii) the Materiality of learning, (iii) the Canonization of texts in relation to pedagogy, (iv) the development of commentary and exegetical traditions, (v) the role played by grammars, (vi) distinctions between the oral and written and vernacular and formal language,  (vii) relationships between bilingualism and biliteracy, (viii) the role played by and cultures of translation, (ix) and the modern formation of academic language learning.

If you are interested in attending, we kindly ask that you fill out this google form so we can get a better sense of attendance for lunch and share any pre-circulated materials. As you will see, we have space towards the end of the year and are actively looking for presenters. We welcome graduate students and would love to hear from you. If you are interested in presenting, do please be in touch with us by email or by filling out the form.