Luo Changpei (; 9 August 1899 – 13 December 1958) was a Chinese

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. He made important contributions to the study of

historical Chinese phonology Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably ...

. He was also a pioneer of the modern studies of Chinese dialects and of non-Chinese languages in China. Born into a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

family, he graduated from the

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

. Besides spending some years in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a visiting scholar, he spent most of his academic life at Peking University. Among his students there were the British scholars

Michael Halliday Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M. A. K. Halliday; 13 April 1925 – 15 April 2018) was a British linguist who developed the internationally influential systemic functional linguistics (SFL) model of language. His grammatical descrip ...

and David Hawkes. In 1929, along with

Y.R. Chao Yuen Ren Chao (; 3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982), also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born an ...

and

Li Fang-kuei Li Fang-Kuei (Chinese: 李方桂, Cantonese: Lei5 Fong1 Gwai3 ej˩˨ fɔŋ˦ gʷaj˧, Mandarin: Lǐ Fāngguì i˨ faŋ˦ gʷej˥˩ 20 August 190221 August 1987) was a Chinese linguist known for his studies of the varieties of Chinese, his rec ...

, he became a researcher at the Institute of History and Philology (歷史語言研究所) of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

(then located at

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

). He also served as director of the Institute of Linguistics at the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

until his death in 1958. Luo also co-authored a book on the 'Phags-pa script with

Cai Meibiao Cai or CAI may refer to: Places * Cai (state), a state in ancient China * Caí River, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Cái River, Vietnam * Cairo International Airport (IATA airport code) * Caithness, a historic county in Scotland (Chapman code) Org ...

().

Bibliography

With Zhou Zumo () *1958. ''Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao yunbu yanbian yanjiu'' 漢魏晉南北朝頸部演變研究. Peking. 科學出版社 With

() *1959. ''Basibazi yu Yuandai Hanyu iliao Huibian' 八思巴字與元代漢語 ��料彙編 Beijing : Kexue Chubanshe. Revised edition, 2004.

References

Biographical sketch
(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

by

Lao She Shu Qingchun (3 February 189924 August 1966), known by his pen name Lao She, was a Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was one of the most significant figures of 20th-century Chinese literature, and is best known for his novel ''Rickshaw Boy'' a ...

Linguists from China Chinese sinologists 'Phags-pa script scholars Manchu people National University of Peking alumni Peking University faculty 1899 births 1958 deaths Educators from Beijing Northwest University (China) faculty Xiamen University faculty Sun Yat-sen University faculty Writers from Beijing Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Southwestern Associated University faculty 20th-century linguists {{China-linguist-stub