Yang Naisi (; 20 October 1927 – 5 March 2019), also known by his pen name Yang Daojing (), 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 ...

and a research professor at the Institute of Linguistics of the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

. He was noted for his research on modern Chinese phonology, the

ʼPhags-pa script The Phags-pa script is an alphabet designed by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor (later Imperial Preceptor) Drogön Chögyal Phagpa for Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty, as a unified script for the written languages within the Yu ...

, and

Xiang Chinese Xiang or Hsiang (; ); Changsha Xiang: ''sian1 y3'', also known as Hunanese (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages, spoken mainly in Hunan province but also in northern Guangxi and parts of neighborin ...

Life and career

Yang was born on 20 October 1927 in

Linxiang, Hunan Linxiang () is a county-level city in Hunan province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yueyang. Linxiang is located at the northeastern edge of Hunan province, on the southeastern (right) bank of the Yangtze Ri ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

. His father participated and died in the revolutions of the tumultuous period, and his mother also died early. Orphaned at young ages, Yang and his brother were raised by their aunt and grew up in poverty. After graduating from high school in

Yueyang Yueyang, formerly known as Yuezhou or Yochow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake and Yangtze in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative area of a ...

, Yang entered the Department of Linguistics of

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

in 1951. When the new Communist government reorganized China's universities on the Soviet model, Yang's department was merged into the Department of Chinese of

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 ...

, and Yang transferred to PKU in 1954. After graduating from Peking University in 1955, Yang was admitted as a graduate student at the Institute of Linguistics of 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 ...

. He studied

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 ...

under advisors

Luo Changpei Luo Changpei (; 9 August 1899 – 13 December 1958) was a Chinese linguist. He made important contributions to the study of historical Chinese phonology. He was also a pioneer of the modern studies of Chinese dialects and of non-Chinese languages ...

and

Lu Zhiwei Lu Zhiwei (; 6 February 1894 – 21 November 1970), also known as C. W. Luh, was an influential Chinese psychologist and linguist from Wuxing, Zhejiang. He was also an important figure in Chinese poetry, both for his critical ideas and as a poet ...

, and earned his associate doctor degree in 1960. He subsequently worked at the Institute of Linguistics (which became part of the

in 1977) for his entire career.

Contributions

Yang made significant contributions in Chinese phonology,

, and

Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...

orthography. His research on the

, '' Zhongyuan Yinyun'', and the development of modern Chinese phonology is especially influential. His major works include ''Menggu Ziyun Jiaoben'' (蒙古字韵校本; A critical edition of the ''

Menggu Ziyun ''Menggu Ziyun'' (, "Rimes in Mongol Script") is a 14th-century rime dictionary of Chinese language, Chinese as written in the 'Phags-pa script that was used during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The only surviving examplar of this dictionary ...

''), co-authored with

Junast Junast (also Junastu and Zhaonasitu; 1934–2010) was a Chinese linguist of Mongolian ethnicity who specialized in the study of the Monguor language, Eastern Yugur language and the 'Phags-pa script. Biography Junast was born in Horqin Right M ...

in 1987; ''Zhongyuan Yinyun Yinxi'' (中原音韵音系; The phonological system of ''Zhongyuan Yinyun''); and ''Jindai Hanyu Yinlun'' (近代汉语音论; A treatise on modern Chinese phonology). Yang was awarded the Wang Li Linguistics Prize in 1986. He was awarded a special pension by the

State Council of China The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...

in 1992.

Personal life

Yang's wife died in her middle age and his son predeceased him in 2011. Yang's brother also died early, and he financially supported his sister-in-law and nephew Yang Wensheng. Yang died on 5 March 2019 at

Beijing Hospital } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

at the age of 91. He was survived by his grandson Wang Baolin and other grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Naisi 1927 births 2019 deaths 'Phags-pa script scholars Linguists from China Linguists of Chinese Scientists from Hunan People from Yueyang Sun Yat-sen University alumni Peking University alumni Xiang Chinese