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Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 44:1 (2017) ► pp.1–46

The Development of Linguistics in China

A study of the contributions of Yuen Ren Chao and Wang Li

| Zhejiang University

Prompted by Western science in late 19th century, Chinese linguistics gradually moved to a new direction after two thousand years of philological tradition centered on rhetoric and textual exegesis. Through the intense efforts of a few scholars in the early twenti-eth century, linguistic study in China became a science and a discipline. Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and Wang Li (1900–1986) were first-generation linguists who led the movement to apply the methodology of modern linguistics to the systematic study of Chinese. This paper investigates the trend setting achievements of these founders of the discipline, and it introduces their biographical and scholarly backgrounds. It also provides a brief history of philology through the lens of Wang Li who was the first historian of Chinese linguistics. Contemporary linguists need both a critical mind to understand the philological legacy of Chinese and an open mind to welcome new interdisciplinary approaches that could produce innovative theories and facilitate the growth of the discipline. Moreover, this paper expands the history of linguistics by introducing linguistic features not found in Indo-European languages, thereby making the history of linguistics more inclusive than it has previously been. Consequently, this paper contributes to a rethinking of the definition of language.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Yuen Ren Chao — the father of Chinese linguistics
    • 2.1Biographical sketch
    • 2.2Chao’s research in linguistics in China
      • 2.2.1National Romanization
      • 2.2.2Chao’s surveys of dialects
    • 2.3Chao in the United States of America
      • 2.3.1Chao’s language instruction in the American universities
      • 2.3.2A Grammar of Spoken Chinese
    • 2.4More than a linguist
  • 3.Wang Li — founder of the first Department of Chinese Linguistics
    • 3.1Biographical sketch
    • 3.2Founding the first Department of Chinese Linguistics
    • 3.3A prolific scholar and writer
      • 3.3.1Works on grammar
      • 3.3.2Works on phonology
      • 3.3.3Works on lexicology and dictionaries
      • 3.3.4Works on versification
      • 3.3.5Textbooks on Classical Chinese
      • 3.3.6Works on language reform
    • 3.4Wang Li’s history of Chinese linguistics
      • 3.4.1The study of meaning
      • 3.4.2The study of sound
        • 3.4.2.1Earliest rhyme book Qièyùn
        • 3.4.2.2Living language study
      • 3.4.3A comprehensive study of Chinese in Qing era
        • 3.4.3.1Official dictionaries
        • 3.4.3.2Evidential studies
        • 3.4.3.3Old Chinese pronunciation
      • 3.4.4The first indigenous Chinese grammar
  • 4.Institutional platforms and the relevance to contemporary linguistics
    • 4.1Current status of linguistic programs
    • 4.2Institutional platforms for Chao and Wang
  • 5.Conclusion: A call for innovative theory
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 3 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.44.1.01che
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