A TREASURE LONG FORGOTTEN: Arthur Chéon’s Cours de Chữ Nôm Rediscovered at Keiō University and How to Study It
This research project is the first of its type as it is based on a newly-discovered, unique material. It also has a new focus on often overlooked French resources relevant to Vietnam during the colonial period. The project shows that the French colonial language policy had significant impacts on the teaching and learning of the Vietnamese language by means of a multi-script method. Located in such contexts, Chéon’s Cours de chữ Nôm stands out not only as the first Nôm textbook written on the foundation of modern linguistics, but also as a rich source that allows its readers to better understand Vietnam from cultural, literary, historical, and anthropological perspectives.
