Colonial Language Materials from Mesoamerica in the Holdings of the IAI
The Ibero-American Institute in Berlin houses extensive materials on Mesoamerican languages that were collected and acquired by Walter Lehmann (1878-1939) and Eduard Seler (1849-1922). Among these materials are included several hitherto unedited original manuscripts and unique handwritten copies of colonial dictionaries and doctrinal texts. In particular the Lehmann papers still hold valuable finds, such as the recently rediscovered manuscript of the Arte y vocabulario del idioma Huasteco by Seberino Bernardo de Quirós from 1711 that had been considered lost since the early 20th century and was published in 2013.
The research objective of this project is the documentation, analysis and publication of the IAI’s colonial indigenous language materials from Highland Guatemala. Several K’iche’ and Kaqchikel dictionaries and texts will be edited and disseminated as part of a multi-year project on Highland Maya lexicography by Frauke Sachse (University of Bonn) and Michael Dürr (Free University of Berlin), which also includes collaboration by other researchers. The project falls into the field of missionary linguistics and will contribute to our general understanding of processes of colonial knowledge generation and the transfer of cultural concepts through missionary language planning.
The project will digitise the relevant manuscripts and add them to the Digital Collections of the IAI. In the following stage, the documents are made available as philologically accurate editions in book and article form. The first volume contains the edition of the “Diccionario K’iche’ de Berlín. Primera edición del Vocabulario en lengua 4iche otlatecas” (eds. Michael Dürr / Frauke Sachse), one of the most important dictionaries for colonial K’iche’. Further book projects on dictionaries and doctrinal texts will follow.
Dr Michael Dürr; Dr Frauke Sachse
Coordination at the IAI: Dr. Ulrike Mühlschlegel; Dr. Iken Paap
Duration: Phase 1: 2015-2018; phase 2: 2019-2022
The research objective of this project is the documentation, analysis and publication of the IAI’s colonial indigenous language materials from Highland Guatemala. Several K’iche’ and Kaqchikel dictionaries and texts will be edited and disseminated as part of a multi-year project on Highland Maya lexicography by Frauke Sachse (University of Bonn) and Michael Dürr (Free University of Berlin), which also includes collaboration by other researchers. The project falls into the field of missionary linguistics and will contribute to our general understanding of processes of colonial knowledge generation and the transfer of cultural concepts through missionary language planning.
The project will digitise the relevant manuscripts and add them to the Digital Collections of the IAI. In the following stage, the documents are made available as philologically accurate editions in book and article form. The first volume contains the edition of the “Diccionario K’iche’ de Berlín. Primera edición del Vocabulario en lengua 4iche otlatecas” (eds. Michael Dürr / Frauke Sachse), one of the most important dictionaries for colonial K’iche’. Further book projects on dictionaries and doctrinal texts will follow.
Dr Michael Dürr; Dr Frauke Sachse
Coordination at the IAI: Dr. Ulrike Mühlschlegel; Dr. Iken Paap
Duration: Phase 1: 2015-2018; phase 2: 2019-2022
