Dular Osor Chaoke (; born 1958) is a Chinese linguist at the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese state research institute and think tank. It is a ministry-level institution under the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The CASS is the highest academic institution and c ...

. His primary area of study is on the

Tungusic languages The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu–Tungus and Tungus) form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered. There are approximately 75,000 native speakers of the ...

, especially his native

Evenki language Evenki ( ), formerly known as Tungus, is the largest member of the northern group of Tungusic languages, a group which also includes Even, Negidal, and the more closely related Oroqen language. The name is sometimes wrongly given as "Evenks". ...

Personal life and education

Chaoke was born in Nantun (南屯),

Evenk Autonomous Banner Ewenki Autonomous Banner or Evenk Autonomous Banner ( Evenki: ; Mongolian: ; zh, s=鄂温克族自治旗) is an autonomous banner that lies on the border between northwestern Greater Khingan and Hulun Buir grasslands and directly south of the ...

in northeastern

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. "Osor" is the personal name of his father, while "Dular" is that of his ancestors, i.e. surname. He grew up speaking Evenki at home and attending a Mongolian-

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

school, but says he did not become fully fluent in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

until he graduated from high school. After his high school graduation, Chaoke spent some years as a herder; he then became part of the "Class of 1978" (those who took the first offering of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination after it was reinstated that year) and with his results attained admission to the Central University for Nationalities (

Minzu University of China The Minzu University of China (MUC) is a national public university in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construc ...

) Department of Linguistics. He wrote his senior thesis on the structure of the Evenki language. Chaoke is married to Wang Lizhen (汪丽珍), who is of

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

ethnicity. The rest of his family are also highly educated, with four doctorates among them; his younger sister Kalina did her Ph.D. in anthropology at the Central University for Nationalities, while his younger brother Chogja did his at

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Japan. It offers doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in ...

in Chiba, Japan.

Career

Following his graduation, Chaoke took up a position as a researcher at his alma mater in 1982. In 1988, he received a Japanese government scholarship, and departed his home country for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to enroll in a doctoral program at the

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies , often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist National university, national research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international relations, international affairs and area studies. ...

. He quickly completed his coursework there and began work on his thesis, and also began extending his impressive publication record to Japanese, with ten papers and two books. In total from 1982 to 2006 he published 120 papers and eighteen books, a total output estimated at six million characters. Outside of academia, Chaoke has served as a representative to the ninth, tenth, and eleventh

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

es. He saved a portion of the money from his Japanese government scholarship, and upon his return to China used it to establish an "Evenk Ethnic Culture Village" in the

Selected works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaoke, D. O. 1958 births Linguists from China Minzu University of China alumni People from Hulunbuir Tokyo University of Foreign Studies alumni Tungusologists Living people People's Republic of China politicians from Inner Mongolia Writers from Inner Mongolia Scientists from Inner Mongolia Evenks