Mei Tsu-lin (; 14 February 1933 – 14 October 2023) was a Chinese-American linguist.

Life and career

Mei was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

on 14 February 1933, and immigrated to the United States in 1949, during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in 1954, and completed a master's degree in the same subject at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

two years later, then obtained a doctorate in philosophy from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1962. Mei taught at Yale and held an assistant and associate professorship at Harvard before joining the

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

faculty in 1972. From 1994 to 2001, Mei held Cornell's

Hu Shih Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...

Chair Professorship. Mei was elected to Taiwan's

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

in 1994 and served as president of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics that same year, Republished as: succeeding Ting Pang-hsin. Mei was a founding board member of the Li Fang-Kuei Society for Chinese Linguistics from 2003 to 2014, and also a member of the Taiwan-based Association of Chinese Phonology. Mei Tsu-lin's parents were and Nyi Vong-kyih, and his uncle was Mei Yi-chi. Mei Tsu-lin was married twice. During his marriage to Chen Yu-shih, Mei had two daughters and a son. His later marriage to Teresa spanned five decades. Mei died at the Cayuga Medical Center on 14 October 2023, at the age of 90.

References

External links

* * 1933 births 2023 deaths Chinese Civil War refugees Chinese emigrants to the United States Yale University alumni Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Oberlin College alumni Members of Academia Sinica Linguists of Chinese Cornell University faculty Educators from Beijing {{China-linguist-stub