First European Linguistic Works on Chinese First European Linguistic Works on Chinese First European Linguistic Works on Chinese
Abstract
This intends to be a brief introduction to the theme of the first European approaches to the linguistic reality of the Chinese language and its variants. The first sustained contacts that begin to occur in the sixteenth century between Europe and the Chinese subcontinent will be markedly religious.
The evangelizing sign of the European presence will produce the explosion of an unprecedented linguistic work, with the creation of up to thirty grammatical and fifty-seven lexical works in only one century. A special emphasis corresponds to the fact that this first approach will be of a dialectological nature, by focusing more on spoken variants of the south and not on the norm of what would come to be called Mandarin.
As an unavoidable part of this linguistic work we will also take into consideration translation works and the development of transcription systems. The ultimate goal of our paper will be to give an overview of an era and its protagonists obscured by later sinologist historiography.