Volume 38 of SMCExploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts

30 April 2024

Photo: De Gruyter

The latest volume of ‘Studies in Manuscript Cultures’ is devoted to written artefacts that exhibit diverse languages and scripts, thus providing new insights into phenomena that we frequently encounter but that are rarely studied systematically from a comparative perspective.

When we study written artefacts, we frequently encounter the phenomena of multilingualism and multiscriptism. The former concept reflects the interconnected nature of people and languages; the latter refers to the fact that human languages often manifest themselves in multiple scripts using distinct sets of characters and symbols. Despite the prevalence of these two phenomena, scholars often relegate them to the status of exceptions from the alleged standards of monolingualism and monoscriptism.

The most recent publication in the Studies in Manuscript Cultures book series dares to challenge this viewpoint. Adopting a broad perspective that focuses not on individual written artefacts but rather on cultures of writing and their contributions to the realm of multilingual manuscripts and inscriptions, it strives to shed light on the interplay between languages and scripts and to offer valuable insights into the dynamic nature of linguistic expression in diverse societies.

Spanning a wide chronological range from the third millennium BCE to the present day, the contributions to the new volume are structured according to three different scenarios in which we encounter multilingualism and multiscriptism in written artefacts. First, they can serve practical purposes, for instance to foster mutual understanding in multicultural environments. In contrast, scholarly multilingualism occurs in documents with educational purposes, for instance. Finally, especially in the realm of inscriptions, we also see instances of propagandistic multilingualism, which can serve polemic agendas either overtly or implicitly. For each of these types, the volume offers inspiring case studies that deepens our understanding of the social and cultural practices of those who created these written artefacts.

Edited by Szilvia Sövegjártó and Márton Vér, Exploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts is the fruit of a workshop on ‘Mixing Languages and Scripts: Material from Manuscripts and Inscriptions’, which was held in May 2022 at the CSMC. It available open access. Like all previous volumes of this book series, you can download it from our website.