Linguistic distinctions were extended to claim ontological differences between peoples

Evidence

The lexicographic revolution in Europe, however, created, and gradually spread, the conviction that languages (in Europe at least) were, so to speak, the personal property of quite specific groups – their daily speakers and readers – and moreover that these groups, imagined as communities, were entitled to their autonomous place in a fraternity of equals. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 345 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Philological reduction of language legitimates claims connecting race to mind and character.; Languages came to be seen as the property of specific national communities — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 345; Colonial officials used language hierarchy to justify claims of Indigenous mental inferiority (+3 more)

Related

• Languages came to be seen as the property of specific national communities (similarity 0.88)
• Colonial conquests powered the scientific comparative study of languages. (similarity 0.81)
• Linguistic difference was mapped directly onto presumed racial difference. (similarity 0.81)
• Nineteenth-century ethnology treated shared language as proof of shared biology (similarity 0.79)
• Once languages lost divine status, their native speakers became their owners. (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial officials used language hierarchy to justify claims of Indigenous mental inferiority (similarity 0.79)
• Early American nationalisms did not depend on language difference (similarity 0.78)
• Language hierarchy alone does not create inferiority; colonization does (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Languages came to be seen as the property of specific national communities #expands (0.85) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 345
• Colonial officials used language hierarchy to justify claims of Indigenous mental inferiority #complicates (0.78)