Missiology and Orthography: The Unique Contribution of Christian Missionaries in Devising New Scripts

Throughout history and within a number of language communities, orthographies have enabled the initial transcription of spoken languages. This paper examines the few cases in which a person from outside a language community devised a script for a previously unwritten language. In all of the cases st...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Unseth, Peter (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sage 2008
In: Missiology
Year: 2008, Volume: 36, Issue: 3, Pages: 357-371
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Throughout history and within a number of language communities, orthographies have enabled the initial transcription of spoken languages. This paper examines the few cases in which a person from outside a language community devised a script for a previously unwritten language. In all of the cases studied, the outsiders who devised scripts for the language communities were Christian missionaries. Among the eight cases are several common factors, and in all the cases, devising something unique for the community (rather than introducing something from the missionaries' own culture) was part of a successful strategy for church planting within these groups.
ISSN:2051-3623
Contains:Enthalten in: Missiology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/009182960803600307