THE ARTS OF EMPIRE: RE-ARTICULATING THE COERCIVE CONSULTATION EVENT, 1492

290 Pages·2015·2.9 MB·English

by  Matt Bennett

THE ARTS OF EMPIRE:
RE-ARTICULATING THE COERCIVE CONSULTATION EVENT, 1492-1693

by

Matthew David Bennett

B.A., Honours, University of Washington, 2003
M.A., University of South Carolina, 2007

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

Doctor of Philosophy

in

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

(English)

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Vancouver)

April 2015

© Matthew David Bennett, 2015
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Abstract
The following is a transatlantic study of the initial English and Spanish reactions to
the problem of language difference in the Americas, focusing on the language related
literature of England, Spain, New England, and New Spain, from 1492 to 1693. As part of
the arts of empire, which is the use of language technologies for domination, both English
and Spanish explorers, historians, and colonists created bilingual word-lists in the primary
phase of the language encounter, yet the burgeoning empires’ responses diverged
significantly with the deployment of missionary linguistics, resulting in the extremely uneven
production of Amerindian grammars. This disparity in descriptive linguistics signals an
understudied historical problem that I explain through comparative analysis of the English
and Spanish traditions of language policy and language sciences, with particular regard for
the effects of the Reformation on monastic communities and the funding of missionary
expeditions. Another problem resides in the manner in which linguistic imperialism de-
articulates the linguistic data from the language consultant and the historical context. Moving
from texts founded on the interview of language slaves to texts requiring more willing
collaboration, my response is the creation of an interpretive model, called narrative re-
articulation, that combines linguistic data into a virtual syntax in such a way that the moment
of language exchange, called the coercive consultation event, is reinserted into the historical
narrative. This expands our understanding of the language encounter and linguistic
imperialism by identifying language consultants by name, when possible, and by
demonstrating the survivance of Amerindian cultures and Amerindian historical figures.
Pushing against the early modern de-articulation of the Amerindian consultants from the
consultation event, and questioning the reasons for such divergent literary responses to the
problem of language difference, I create an interpretive frame for recovering the moment of
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language exchange and explain the theological and institutional differences between the
English and Spanish models for linguistic imperialism in the Americas.
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Preface
The following research program and all information and analysis contained within
are the sole design of the author. No portion of this investigation has been published
elsewhere and no co-authors or collaborators were involved in the writing of this document.
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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii
Preface .......................................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... v
List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... viii
Dedication .................................................................................................................... ix
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 The Arts of Empire and De-Articulation .............................................................................. 1
1.2 Field of Inquiry: 1492-1693 ...................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Theoretical Framework: The Language Encounter ............................................................. 4
1.3.1 Captivity as Source of Linguistic Data ............................................................................ 4
1.3.2 Linguistic Imperialism ....................................................................................................... 6
1.3.3 The Utopian Model ......................................................................................................... 13
1.4 Background Scholarship ......................................................................................................... 17
1.5 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 21
1.6 Chapter Summaries ................................................................................................................. 23
1.6.1 Chapter 2: Narrative Re-Articulation: How to Read for the Coercive Consultation
Event ........................................................................................................................................... 23
1.6.2 Chapter 3: Early Modern Word-Lists: Restoring Historical Context and the
Source of Linguistic Knowledge ............................................................................................. 24
1.6.3 Chapter 4: The Arts of Empire: Language Sciences and the Colonization of the
Americas ...................................................................................................................................... 25
1.6.4 Chapter 5: Survivance Grammatica: The Timucua and Cockenoe’s Grammar ..... 26
1.6.5 Epilogue ............................................................................................................................. 27
2 Narrative Re-Articulation: How to Read for the Coercive Consultation Event ....... 29
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 29
2.2 The Silent Rhetoric: From Gestural Language to Pointing .............................................. 37
2.3 Interpreters are Language Slaves ........................................................................................... 42
2.4 Language Learning, Pointing, the Body ............................................................................... 49
2.5 Words ≠ Words ....................................................................................................................... 55
2.6 The Rhetoric of Lists: Virtual Syntax ................................................................................... 60
2.7 Earliest Examples of the Arts of Empire ............................................................................ 66
2.8 “I, with pen in hand, asked him for other words” ............................................................. 68
2.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 74
3 Early Modern Word-Lists: Restoring Historical Context and the Source of
Linguistic Knowledge .................................................................................................. 76
3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 76
3.2 Merismus: “he bit his tong in twayne within his mouth” .................................................. 78
3.3 Colonial Decency: “Icune, Come hither” ............................................................................ 85
3.4 Congeries: “Ka ka torawincs yowo. What call you this [?]” .................................................... 90
3.5 Counter-Translations: “what they wanted to understand” ............................................. 101
3.6 The Face of Kempes: “Sakahocan, to write” .................................................................... 109
3.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 117
4 The Arts of Empire: Language Sciences and the Colonization of the Americas ... 120
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 120
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4.2 The Uneven Advance of Linguistic Imperialism .............................................................. 123
4.3 Linguistic Ideology: The Shared Background ................................................................... 132
4.4 Pre-Contact Language Sciences and Policies .................................................................... 148
4.5 The Monastic Tradition and Imperial Expansion ............................................................ 159
4.6 Catholic and Puritan Evangelism ........................................................................................ 167
4.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 182
5 Survivance Grammatica: The Timucua and Cockenoe’s Grammar ....................... 186
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 186
5.2 Reduction(s): The Missionary Reservations ...................................................................... 188
5.3 Amerindian Colleges ............................................................................................................. 195
5.4 Printing Presses ...................................................................................................................... 201
5.5 Literacy and the Bible ............................................................................................................ 206
5.6 Conversion Theology: Iconography and Textuality ......................................................... 215
5.7 “these Ruines of Mankinde:” Cockenoe’s Indian Grammar Begun ................................... 224
5.8 “Quien te enseña:” Knowledge and Laughter in the Arte timvqvana .............................. 238
5.9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 257
Epilogue ..................................................................................................................... 260
Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 268
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List of Figures

Figure 5.1 Molina, Arte de la lengua mexicana (title page)...…………………………….219
Figure 5.2 Eliot, The Indian Grammar Begun (title page)...……………………………..221
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Acknowledgements
I offer my sincere gratitude to my dissertation director, Nick Hudson, for his
generous support, loyalty, confidence in my work, and lively historical discussions. Likewise,
many thanks to Vin Nardizzi for his editing acumen, poignant references, and generous help
with designing the flow of my argument. I am also muy agradecido to Kim Beauchesne for her
insight into Hispanic literature, willingness to support a comparative project, sincere
kindness, and encouragement. Mark Vessey provided critical insight early in this project, and
I would like to thank him for our conversations and his astute observations. I also recognize
Siân Echard for her understanding during my research assistantship and the University of
British Columbia English Department for funding and housing this project. Raúl Álvarez-
Moreno contributed at a late stage to this project, yet his references and critical
understanding were invaluable. Thanks are in order to Patsy Badir for reading my work and
commenting on it and for her calming presence at my defense. To Farid Laroussi, who
chaired my dissertation defense, I am thankful for his professionalism and friendliness, and
to David Murray, I am abundantly grateful for his willingness to read and comment on the
dissertation project, as well as his perceptive questions. Also, my thanks to the Timothy
Yuswack for his readiness to listen and his patient and unassuming advice.
My father Phil was an essential ally during this project and I am forever indebted to
his generosity and enduring pride – as well as his willingness to have me explain over and
over again the byzantine character of graduate studies. To my parents Tom and Anita, I am
thankful for their lasting confidence and help. A los Gutiérrez, desde mi corazón, estoy muy
agradecido por su apoyo y me es fuente de orgullo ser yerno de gente tan piola y tan sincera.
To my grandparents, my love and respect. Thank you to all the wonderful people I met
during my research, especially those I count among my friends, Garrett, Weldon, Jude, José,
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Javier, Eve, Dan, Dustin, Katie, Mike S. and Mike V., and those I’ve forgotten to name. My
gratitude and affection to Carmel Ohman for her support during the writing process, for her
friendship and kindness, and for her cloud-like gentleness. To my friend Ximena Osegueda,
who began her doctoral studies in the same year, who shared with me ideas, aspirations, and
scholarly resources, and who enchanted everyone she ever met, my eternal remembrance.
Finally, to Analía Gutiérrez, the amount I owe, in so many regards, is infinite. Ani was the
only thing that mattered in the darkest moments, and my life, my project, my future, and my
love are all the fruit of her vital and unwavering companionship.
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Dedication
Para mi guerrera, Analía.