Colonialism and Grammatical Representation: John Gilchrist and the Analysis of the 'hindustani' Language in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

A detailed study of Gilchrist’s grammatical praxis which presents a picture of the complex relationship between grammatical inquiry and the politics of colonial discourse in the early years of the Indian Empire.

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• Develops a method of reading colonial grammars that acknowledges both the technical and the political dimensions of the text
  
• Explores the political consequences of the choices that grammarians made that could easily elicit reactions of fear, confusion, and even contempt in colonial observers
  
• Presents a picture of the complex relationship between grammatical inquiry and the politics of colonial discourse in the early years of the Indian Empire