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 language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

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 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 ...

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

ʼPhags-pa script The Phagspa ( ), Phags-pa or ḥPags-pa script is an alphabet designed by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor (later Imperial Preceptor) Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) for Kublai Khan (), the founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1 ...

, and

Xiang Chinese Xiang or Hsiang ( Chinese: 湘; Changsha Xiang: , Mandarin: ), 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 n ...

Life and career

Yang was born on 20 October 1927 in

Linxiang, Hunan Linxiang () is a county-level city in Hunan, 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 Yan ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. 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 the Yangtze river in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative ...

, Yang entered the Department of Linguistics of

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (; SYSU) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education, SASTIND, and Guangdong Provincial Government. The university is p ...

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 university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

, 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; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

. 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 considerabl ...

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 language ...

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 poe ...

, 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 ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). ...

orthography. His research on the

, ''

Zhongyuan Yinyun ''Zhongyuan Yinyun'' (), literally meaning "Rhymes of the central plain", is a rime book from the Yuan dynasty compiled by Zhou Deqing (周德清) in 1324. An important work for the study of historical Chinese phonology, it testifies many ph ...

'', 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'' ( zh, c=蒙古字韻, "Rimes in Mongol Script") is a 14th-century rime dictionary of Old Mandarin Chinese as written in the 'Phags-pa script that was used during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The only surviving examplar o ...

''), co-authored with Junast 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 of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

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 Hospital ( zh, t=北京醫院 , s=北京医院 , p=Běijīng Yīyuàn) is a large-scale Class-A tertiary hospital directly under the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. Founded in 1905 as a German military hosp ...

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