Paul King Benedict (; July 5, 1912 – July 21, 1997) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

mental health professional A mental health professional is a health care practitioner or social and human services provider who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental disorders. This broad category was developed as a ...

, and

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. Lingu ...

who specialized in languages of East and Southeast Asia. He is well known for his 1942 proposal of the

Austro-Tai The Austro-Tai languages, sometimes also Austro-Thai languages, are a proposed language family that comprises the Austronesian languages and the Kra–Dai languages. Related proposals include Austric ( Wilhelm Schmidt in 1906) and Sino-Austron ...

language family and also his reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan and

Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Tibeto-Burman (commonly abbreviated PTB) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Tibeto-Burman languages, that is, the Sino-Tibetan languages, except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined ...

. He was also a practicing psychiatrist in the New York area for 20 years and was also a pioneer in the field of ethnopsychiatry.

Life and career

Benedict was born in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeeps ...

and graduated from

Poughkeepsie High School Poughkeepsie High School is the public high school (grades 9-12) in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is categorized as an inner city school district as a result of the high percentage of students living in low-income households. In the 20 ...

in 1930. He attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

before transferring to

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, earning a bachelor of arts degree there in 1934.Blust, Robert (1998). In memoriam: Paul King Benedict ''

Oceanic Linguistics ''Oceanic Linguistics'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the indigenous languages of the Oceanic area and parts of Southeast Asia, including the indigenous Australian languages, the Papuan languages of New Guin ...

'' Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jun. 1998), pp. 1-11 He then attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

earning a master's degree in 1935 and a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1941. During his studies, he traveled to Asia and studied at

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

for two years.Staff report (June 28, 1941). Receives degree. '' Poughkeepsie New Yorker'' After he received his M.D. degree at the

New York Medical College New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the Schoo ...

, he served as Chief Psychiatrist and Director of the Diagnostic Center at the New York State Department of Corrections.Bellak, Leopold (Ed. ) (1958). ''Schizophrenia: a review of the syndrome.'' Logos Press Benedict later published work on mental health in other cultures before turning his attention to language studies. Benedict's work on Proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction was published in the 1972 monograph ''Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus''.Benedict, Paul K. (1972).
Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. His work formed the basis for

James Matisoff James Alan Matisoff ( zh, , t=馬蒂索夫, s=马蒂索夫, p=Mǎdìsuǒfū or zh, , t=馬提索夫, s=马提索夫, p=Mǎtísuǒfū; born July 14, 1937) is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a ...

's work on the ''

Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus The ''Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus'' (commonly abbreviated ''STEDT'') was a linguistics research project hosted at the University of California at Berkeley. The project, which focused on Sino-Tibetan historical linguistics, st ...

'', including Matisoff's

reconstructions. Benedict died in a traffic accident in

Ormond Beach, Florida Ormond Beach is a city in central Florida in Volusia County. The population was 43,080 at the 2020 census. Ormond Beach lies directly north of Daytona Beach and is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL Metropolita ...

Selected publications

*Benedict, Paul K. (1972).
Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus
'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Benedict, Paul K. “Remarks on A Comparative Vocabulary of Five Sino-Tibetan Languages, by

Ilia Peiros Ilia Peiros (full name: Ilia Iosifovich Peiros, Илья Иосифович Пейрос; born 1948) is a Russian linguist who specializes in the historical linguistics of East Asia. Peiros is a well-known scholar in the Moscow School of Compa ...

and Sergei A. Starostin.” ''Mother Tongue'' 4:151-2. * Benedict, Paul K.,

Graham Thurgood Graham Thurgood () is a retired professor of linguistics at California State University, Chico. Thurgood graduated with a Ph.D. in linguistics from University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under James Matisoff. Thurgood's areas o ...

, and James A. Matisoff, and David Bradley (eds.). 1985. ''Linguistics of the Sino-Tibetan area: the state of the art: papers presented to Paul K. Benedict for his 71st birthday''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Benedict, Paul K. 1997. ''Special volume dedicated to Dr. Paul K. Benedict on the occasion of his eighty-fifth birthday'' (Mon Khmer Studies vol. 27). Salaya, Thailand: Mahidol University; Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict, Paul K. 1912 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American physicians 20th-century linguists Linguists from the United States Historical linguists Linguists of Southeast Asian languages American orientalists Paleolinguists American psychiatrists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni New York Medical College alumni University of New Mexico alumni Cornell University alumni Linguists of Sino-Tibetan languages Linguists of Austro-Tai languages Linguists of Kra–Dai languages Linguists of Hmong–Mien languages