Professor Yang Duanzhi is a Tier-2 Professor in the School of Literature of Shandong University, and a Dissertation Advisor for Ph.D. students. He is the academic leader for the Ph.D. program in Chinese Linguistics, as well as academic leader for the effort to strengthen the construction of the key discipline of Chinese Linguistics in Shandong Province. Professor Yang serves as a member of the Academic Committee, and of the Academic Degrees Evaluation and Standards Committee, of the School of Literature. He is the faculty member in charge of the Stage-2 and Stage-3 Research Project in Chinese Language and Its Application in the “985 Project” of Shandong University. He is an advisor for Shandong University’s Department of Academic Development and Research,and serves also as a Professor of Ancient Chinese Philosophy and in the Center for Research in the Zhou Classic of Change at Shandong University. In addition to positions he holds at Shandong University, Professor Yang serves in advisory and consultation capacities far and wide, including as a correspondent member of the Assessment Committee for National Projects in Philosophy and the Social Sciences, and as a correspondent member of the Ministry of Education’s Assessment Committee for Research Projects in Philosophy and the Social Sciences. He is also a leadership member of the Committee for Academic Disciplines Construction and Development for the School of Liberal Arts of Ludong University, a member of the Academic Committee of the College of International Education of Yantai University, an advisor to the Academic Committees of the School of Chinese Language of Qingdao University and a member of the Academic Committee of the Center for East Asian Literature and Cultural Studies of Qingdao University as well. In addition, among other things, Professor Yang serves as President of the Shandong Association of Foreign Languages Studies, President of the Shandong Semiotics Association, and as a Standing Director of the Chinese Association of Classical Lexical Semantics. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Beijing University’s Chinese Linguistics, and an editorial consultant for Fudan University’s Sinological Studies. Professor Yang has authored (or co-authored) and published twenty scholarly monographs, including Classical Lexical Semantics, An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language, and Collected Writings on the History of the Chinese Language. In addition, Professor Yang has authored and published over sixty scholarly papers, including “A Phonological Examination and Reading of the Zhou Classic of Change”, “The Distinction Between Words and the Meaning of Words”, “A Tentative Discourse on the Principles that Determine What Words in the Chinese Language Mean and Are”, and “Misreading and New Meaning”. He has undertaken 19 major research projects, including “A General History of Chinese Vocabulary”, a State-sponsored National Key Project in Philosophy and the Social Sciences, and “Linguistic Research on the Zhou Classic of Change”, a major research project in the Ministry of Education’s Key Base in Philosophy, Humanities and Social Sciences Research, and has been awarded, for his scholarly and research accomplishments, twenty prizes at the provincial level as well as at the level of the Ministry of Education and other ministries of the State. Professor Yang was invited to be a Visiting Professor at the Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea for a year, and he has given invited lectures many times, at many universities in China, including many language and culture universities. Professor Yang is listed in the Who’s Who of World Education Experts, the Who’s Who of Education Experts in China, A Survey of Notable Young and Middle-aged Professors in the Top One Hundred Institutions of Higher Education in China, Who’s Who Among International Sinological Researchers, and Firsts at Shandong University. Professor Yang is well known for having exerted a major influence in the circles of scholarship in Linguistic at home and abroad.
EducationalBackground and Experience:
Professor Yang considers himself fortunate to have had his educational background and experience in comparison with others of his generation. He had studied at Beijing University, Nanjing University, and Beijing Normal University, having the opportunity to be taught by many great masters of scholarship of the older generation. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing University with a concentration in Chinese Language, taking courses with Professors Wang Li, Tang Zuofan, Guo Xiliang, Jiang Shaoyu and He Jiuying in the field of the Ancient Chinese Language, with Professors Zhu Dexi, Lin Tao, Lu Jianming and Ma Zhen in the field of Modern Chinese Language Studies, and with Professors Cen Qixiang, Xu Tongjiang, Shi Anshi, Jia Yande in the field of Linguistic Theory. Beginning in August 1976, he became a teaching assistant in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Shandong University. During this period, the leaders of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature arranged for Yang to continue his studies, under the mentoring of Professors Yin Menglun and Yin Huanxian, concentrating in the areas of Linguistics (especially the study of written texts,) Phonology, and Classical Lexical Semantics. Furthermore, in the ensuing years, Yang was also given further opportunities to more formally deepen his studies in these three fields. In 1979, he participated in the “National Graduate Research Seminar in Classical Lexical Semantics for Upper-Level Faculty Members in Key Colleges and Universities” conducted by Nanjing University under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, (instructors of the seminar included Messrs. Hong Cheng, Xu Fu, Yin Menglun and Lu Zongda) and from August 1980 to August 1981, he participated in the “Graduate Research Seminar in Chinese Classical Lexical Semantics” conducted by the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing Normal University, also under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. In this latter seminar, Yang was taught by Messrs. Lu Zongda, Yu Min, Xiao Zhang, Cao Shujing. Xu Jialu, and Wang Ning.
[Professor Yang himself commented as follows on the education he received from the masters of the discipline]: When they taught us, our mentors of an older generation not only taught the subject matter of “disciplines” or “fields of knowledge,” such as the “field” of ancient lexicons, ancient writing, phonology, classical lexical semantics, grammar, linguistic theory, the history of Western linguistics, and so on, but they also taught on the basis of specific books and texts of the past, such as Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words) – the version edited and annotated by DuanYucai, Wang Niansun’sGuangyashuzheng (Guangya Annotations and Proofs), and Dushuzazhi (Miscellaneous Notes on Reading the Classics), Wang Yinzhi'sJingzhuanshici (Explanation and Interpretation of Words in the Classics), Zhang Taiyan’sGuogulunheng(A Broad Discussion of Our Nation’s Literary Legacy) and Qiushu (Forced Words), Yang Shuda’sJiweijuxiaoxueshulin (Writings on the Study of Language at Jiweiju) and Ciquan (Annotations on Words), and Ferdinand de Saussure’s Cours de linguistiquesgenerale (A Course in General Linguistics), Chinese translation. In addition, they also often gave lectures on specific and special topics. For instance, Mr. Jiang Shaoyu and Mr. Xu Fu lectured on the subject of digging up the various multiple meanings of certain especially difficult-to-pin down words, such as the word “pu” (仆) in Mr. Jiang’s case, and, in Mr. Xu’s case, the word “dai” (歹). Mr. Lu Jianming gave a lecture on the structure of the word “de” (的) and Mr. Ma Zhen lectured on the meaning of the formats and the function words of the “if so … then” construction, comparing the “ji…ze” (既…则) construct in the ancient language and the “jiran …jiu” (既然…就) construct in Modern Chinese. Furthermore, our teachers of an older generation also taught us about people, special people who paved the way of scholarship for us, people such as Gu Yanwu, Dai Zhen, Wang Niansun, DuanYucai, Wang Yinzhi, Zhang Taiyan, Huang Kan, and Wang Li. The content of these lectures involved imparting to us the foundational knowledge, fundamental theories, and understanding of the cutting-edge research in both traditional Chinese linguistics and modern linguistics.
Professor Yang, who has served in the military services, has experienced the rigors of the arduous military life, and possesses a scrupulous spirit of dedication to the profession and readiness to struggle. Having also worked as a middle school language teacher, he has long nurtured an intense and passionate thirst for knowledge, and naturally would not let such excellent opportunities for learning pass him by. When he was studying at Beijing University, he had organized an “extracurricular linguistics study group” among his schoolmates. They would continue to study in their dormitories after “lights-out,” burning goodness knows how many extra packs of candles. He became known as “the man who carried sacks to school to carry the knowledge he received.” Similarly, at Nanjing University and Beijing Normal University, after the lights were turned off in the dormitories, Professor Yang would go outside and stand under the electricity poles to read, and, by the light of the street lamps, recite the radical categories in the classical dictionaries such as Shuowenjiezi – bang [帮], pang [滂], bing[并], ming [明] and so on, and the affiliated words in those categories. There was one time, when he was reciting words from sections of an ancient Classical manual for rhyming under the lights from a street lamp on a snowy night on the campus of Nanjing University, that his voice was heard by a colleague who later became the president of a renowned university. She was amazed. The earnest mentoring of his many teachers and mentors, the encouragement of his colleagues, and his own unremitting effort, all that conspired to put down a good foundation for Professor Yang’s academic career. Teachers at different stages along the way also provided very helpful criticism and evaluation and great encouragement. Special mention should be made that, in particular, Professor Yang received especially meaningful multi-faceted training, and acquired a store of knowledge in Classical and modern linguistics in working with Messrs. Wang Li, Tang Zuofan, Jiang Shaoyu, Cen Qixiang, Xu Tongjiang, Zhang Wanqi et al in compiling A Dictionary of Commonly Used Words in Classical Chinese, as well as in working with Messrs. Lu Jianming, Ma Zhen, Shi Anshi et al in editing and compiling Modern Chinese Grammar and Rhetoric and A Dictionary for the Primary School Student.
Summary of Academic Career:
Professor Yang began his academic career as a teaching assistant at Shandong University in 1976. In 1979, he became a regular member of the staff/faculty, serving as Associate Director of the Ancient Chinese Language Teaching and Research Office in what was then the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Shandong University. He was promoted to the position of Lecturer in 1985. In 1987, he was named as a Young Academic Leader for an Academic Discipline both at Shandong University and in Shandong Province as a whole, and, as such, was rewarded with a monthly extra stipend, or subsidy to his regular salary, of 45 yuan, until he reached the age of 50 years old. In 1988, he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor by exception to the normal criteria and normal process, and in 1992, also by exception, he was promoted to the rank of Professor. In 1998, Professor Yang, together with another professor, co-listed as Academic Leaders for the proposal, submitted an application for the formation of a doctoral degree program in Classical Chinese Philology, which was approved by the Academic Degrees Evaluation and Standards Committee of the State Council. In the same year, he was promoted to serve as a Dissertation Advisor for Ph.D. students in the Chinese Language and Linguistics Ph.D. program at Shandong University, and he became one of the principal academic leaders for that doctoral degree program. From August 2000 to August 2001, Professor Yang was invited to be a Visiting Professor at the Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea for one year. In September 2011, he served as Director of the Research Institute of Chinese Language and Linguistics in the School of Literature at Shandong University and as the academic head for the Area of Chinese Language and Linguistics at Shandong University, as well as academic leader for the effort to strengthen the construction of the key discipline of Chinese Linguistics in Shandong Province. In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Key Position University Professor at Shandong University. In July 2010, he was promoted to be a Tier-2 Professor of Shandong University.
Academic Research and Contribution to Scholarship:
Professor Yang's academic research work is relatively far-ranging, full of a spirit of exploration and innovation, and involving many departments or branches of linguistics. It is roughly divided into two stages, with the publication of his work Classical Lexical Semantics as the dividing line. Professor Yang took a few years to write the two-volume opus, Classical Lexical Semantics, and meantime he also published more than a dozen papers. For the book, and for this body of research work, Professor Yang earned the recognition on the part of the scholars in the field from earlier generations as an "expert" who had “discovered novel lines of reasoning and achieved winning concepts” in the discipline. The leadership of his Department of Chinese Language and Literature praised his work, describing it as “debuting with a call that shook people up,” and the academic leadership applauded Professor Yang for “establishing a brand-new system” of scholarly inquiry in the field. It was for this reason that he was promoted to the rank of Professor ahead of schedule and by exception to the normal criteria. From that point on and because of the experience he gathered from that earlier research, Professor Yang came to deeply understand that exploring for new paths and innovation of new ways of learning in the humanistic disciplines need to be built upon deeper foundations, that in order to achieve greater innovation, a scholar must dig all the more deeply to construct a deeper and firmer foundation. Moreover, his being promoted to the rank of Professor ahead of normal schedule also gave him extra time. Thereupon, Professor Yang devoted more than a decade’s time to read deeply in the Classics – The Annotations of the Thirteen Classics of the Canon, the Collected Works of the Ancient Philosophers, and, in the vast compendium of the “Twenty-Five Dynastic Histories,” he read all the way up to the Former History of the Tang Dynasty. In doing that, Professor Yang read volumes of books that incomparable scholars of an earlier generation had themselves read, scholars such as Zhang Taiyan and Huang Kan, and he also read up on Western Linguistics Theory, especially in Semiotics and Symbolic Language Theory. Thus he began to engage in a new, and broader, path of study. He was then able to propose his own unique ways of interpretation and points of view in many branches and sub-fields in the discipline of Chinese Linguistics, including in the areas of lexical semantics, especially classical lexical semantics, philology, phonology, vocabulary, the science of annotations and hermeneutics, and language philosophy. Along the way, Professor Yang made many significant accomplishments and as a result many of his scholarly points of view and opinions came to be used by expert colleagues in the field as bases for their own arguments, or even as conclusions to be referenced and cited.
1. In the area of lexical semantics, especially Classical lexical semantics: China’s civilization has a history of five thousand years, which is to say that the history of the Chinese language is a five thousand-year record of written and spoken Chinese words, or “characters.” Five thousand Chinese characters, and the Chinese language with its five thousand-year historical record of written characters – this is an extremely complicated subject. In earlier times, the academic disciplines of studying these characters, or words, and their evolution over five millenia was collectively known in China as xiaoxue, or “the lesser learnings,” and at the core of these disciplines was the study of lexical semantics, which, put simply, referred to the study of the meaning of words and the elements of language. Therefore, lexical semantics has been called an “elite discipline.” The degree of difficulty in the study of lexical semantics has been compared, by some scholars, to the difficulty of theoretical physics. Professor Yang spent many years earnestly studying and probing the practice of lexical semantics over the past two thousand years, writing the two-volume study Xunguxue (Classical Lexical Semantics) which was published in 1986, in which he investigated the subject of Chinese lexical semantics from the perspective of China’s own unique theories of linguistic philosophy, and thereby constructed a fundamental theoretical framework, a foundation of information and knowledge, the basic methodologies, as well as a historically-grounded scientific system for the study of Chinese lexical semantics. The book was published at precisely a time when, in the wake of the "Cultural Revolution," China was going through an era of cultural drought and desert-like wilderness; it was also a period in which, in the course of sorting things out, of clearing out chaos and finding the nation’s way back to the right path, China’s universities, and Chinese higher education in general, found useful textbooks and teaching material extremely scarce and lacking. Therefore, as soon as Professor Yang’s book was published, it was met with a high degree of attention, as well as a great deal of laudatory comments and evaluations, on the part of senior veteran experts in the field of linguistics, the leadership institutions in education, scholarly circles in the field of dealing with, treating, organizing and studying ancient writings and documents, the publishing field, and literary and cultural circles in general. Mr. Yin Menglun, at that time the president of the Chinese Association for Lexical Semantic Studies, inscribed the book with comments in which he acclaimed Professor Yang’s scholarship as a “most worthy heir, since the times of the Qianlong and Jiajing emperors of the Qing dynasty, to the scholarly accomplishments of the great scholars DuanYucai and Wang Yinzhi,” and said that Professor Yang’s study was “truly exceptionally outstanding, and ought to be broadcast to all corners in order to cover everybody with the benefits of such remarkable knowledge and education.” At the same time, Mr. Yin Huanxian, the president of the Association For the Teaching of the Chinese Language Overseas at the time wrote a “preface” for the publication, in which he praised the study for “five major characteristics.” The fifth of these characteristics, according to Mr. Yin, was that Professor Yang’s study “employed the newest standards of development in the discipline to assess and critique where traditional knowledge in the field was correct, and where it fell short,” “used the latest new theories (mainly theories of and in linguistics) to scientifically criticize and analyze concept and understandings that were obscure, fuzzy, or contained errors,” “supplementing and amending old interpretations with new-found knowledge,” and so on. Mr. Yin went on to write, in this “preface,” that “all these characteristics [of this study] have the effect of guiding readers smoothly and successfully into the field of lexical semantics, helping them comprehend in detail the ins and the outs of the subject, understand where the scholarship in the field has been correct and where it has erred, grasp useful knowledge, dismiss the shortcomings of earlier teachings in the field while adopting their strengths, and thereby, in the end, broaden and bring greater illumination and glory to the discipline of lexical semantics.” At the same time, Professor Ma Zhenya, then vice president of the Chinese Association for Lexical Semantic Studies, wrote an article titled: “Grounded in Practical Application and Innovative in Intent: A Critique of Classical Lexical Semantics by Yang Duanzhi” in which he enthusiastically applauded the book for its innovativeness, scientific quality, and practicality. Very quickly, the book was adopted as a textbook or as a reference text, both for the undergraduate curriculum and for graduate-level studies, by Beijing University, Fudan University, Beijing Normal University and Shandong University. Taiwan's Wunan Publishing House has reprinted the book every two years since it was first published, and in Taiwan, it has been adopted as a textbook at Taiwan University, Taiwan Normal University, Chengchi University and Foguang University. For more than 30 years since the publication of Chinese Classical Lexical Semantics, its concepts, assertions, illustrations, and even its fundamental framework of analysis, have been ceaselessly adopted as well as widely cited as authoritative by peers and colleagues in the field. Many young scholars say that they “grew up reading and studying Mr. Yang's Chinese Classical Lexical Semantics.” There is, in fact, an article titled “Three Years in the Foreign Language Department of Yanjing University” in which the author claims to have purchased Mr. Yang's Classical Lexical Semantics “when I was in high school, and reading it has helped me get admitted to the university, and I was still reading and using it when later I became a university teacher.” In short, this book has been listed as a masterpiece in Linguistics in many elite national-level university programs as well as in numerous Linguistics websites.
2. In the area of Paleography: It has been forty years since Professor Yang's research work in paleography began in 1978 when he offered an elective course in the subject for students in the Class of ‘77. Along the way, he also taught this subject for a year for the doctoral class of Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. By the time Professor Yang taught a class on this field for students in the Class of ‘80, he already had completed a manuscript on the subject. Three publishers, successively, have asked Professor Yang to consign the manuscript to them for publication. However, Professor Yang’s ideal is to establish a complete theoretical framework for the study of paleography in China. He believed that there are still many theoretical problems in the field of linguistic studies, such as the nature of Chinese characters, the relationship between Chinese characters and the spoken Chinese language, as well as the origin of Chinese characters, and so on, that remain as yet not fully resolved, and therefore he has so far withheld permission for the manuscript to be published. Thus, conducting his research work while teaching the subject, he took several decades’ time to conduct comparative research on the “T-headed writing system” of West Asia, the "Holy Book characters" of North Africa, and the Mayan texts of Central America. He used the ancient writings of ancient ethnic peoples of China, such as the Naxi Pictographs and the writing system of “Western Xia,” as platforms for the research and study of the pictorial narrative recordings made by the indigenous peoples of the world, and, through them, studied and researched Semiotic Theory (or the Theory of Signs and Symbols) which is the key theory in the Western interpretation of paleography, or ancient writing. On this basis, Professor Yang finally arrived at the formation of his own theoretical viewpoint on paleography and on ancient Chinese characters, as well as the construction and establishment of his own framework for the study of Paleography. Using material and data such as the original narrative pictographs and drawings of ethnic groups and indigenous peoples around the world as reference, Professor Yang proceeded to sketch out the complete step-by-step developmental process that led from primitive pictures and pictographs to the formation of the “oracle bone” inscriptions in China, thus providing a scientific basis and proof for the argument that the Chinese language and Chinese writing originated from the drawing of pictures, or pictographs. Through this method, Professor Yang also expounded a dual-level and multi-directional construction theory of ancient Chinese characters in which form, sound (or tone) and meaning are integrated, and explored the multi-level and multi-directional relationship among word, the meaning of words, lexicon and grammar in ancient Chinese writing and the ancient Chinese language as a whole. At this time, Professor Yang’s book, Paleography, is finally about to be published. In the article “The Differences and the Complementarities Between Classical Lexical Semantics and Modern and Contemporary Research in Lexical Glossary and Lexical Semantics” Professor Yang argued: “The relationship between written symbols and language exists at two levels: In the first level, all writing is a system of symbols for the recording of a spoken language. On this level, Chinese writing is not different from any phonogrammic system of writing. On the second level, however, writing becomes an ideographic or ideogrammic system, a system that expresses meaning of multiple types. While this ideographic system also consists of symbols that records language, but this kind of symbol has become symbols that have received sounds, and meanings, of language projected onto them, and thus they have become symbols that are capable of ‘having a relationship with the whole word.’ They are symbols that are capable of ‘relating indirectly to the concepts they express.’ Therefore, the essence of Chinese characters does not in fact reside at the first level, at which Chinese writing can be juxtaposed with phonogrammic systems of writing, and Chinese characters fall into the same category of symbols as those of the phonogrammic systems. Rather, the essence of Chinese writing and that of Chinese characters lies in the second level of relationship, at which Chinese characters can be seen as symbols that project not only the sounds but also other meanings of language.” In an article published by a colleague in the field, titled “The Relationship between Chinese Characters and the Chinese Language,” this viewpoint expressed by Professor Yang has been cited alongside those expressed by Zhao Yuanren, as well as those of Ferdinand de Saussure, and furthermore, deemed the most accurate and the most clearly explained. In his own monographic study titled An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language Professor Yang opined that the relationship between the shape of a character and the linguistic meaning of the word, as well as the relationship between the shape of a character and the sound of the word all occurred at the beginning of the process of the creation of the written character. At that moment, Professor Yang argues, the shape of the character is what is called ‘meta-shape’ or ‘meta-form,’ the sound is what is called ‘meta-sound,’ and the meaning of the character is what is called ‘meta-meaning.’ At that stage, Professor Yang found, the ideogram, or ideo-grapheme, of a meta-form of the word is, in most cases, a monosyllabic seme. This finding and concept, as advanced by Professor Yang, connects the analysis of the form of a word or character with the analysis of the meaning of the monosyllable, and thus provides a “formal mark” for the semantic analysis of the monosyllabic seme. This concept thus serves to clear up the relationship between “character” and “word” in the Chinese language, and significantly influenced any new understanding on the subject. Furthermore, in addition to this achievement, in the related areas of paleography and Classical lexical semantics, Professor Yang, along with a number of MA and Ph.D students whom he has mentored or who are currently under his tutelage, have spent a total of eight or nine years compiling A Supplement to Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words), a project that is underway (see below).
3. In the area of phonology: Professor Yang's article, “A Phonological Examination and Reading of the Zhou Classic of Change” conducted a thorough examination of the rhyme system in The Zhou Book of Changes, one of the most important of canonical texts of ancient China. In doing so, Professor Yang discovered that this ancient rhyme system consisted of twenty-six groups or categories, and, by comparing this rhyme system in The Zhou Book of Changes with the rhyme system found in the Oracle Bone scripts and that in another ancient canon, The Classic of Poetry, Professor Yang found that the rhyme system in The Zhou Book of Changes emerged historically later than the rhyme system found in the Oracle Bone scripts but antedated the rhyme system in The Classic of Poetry. Therefore, he concluded that the tones and sounds in The Zhou Book of Changes must represent the vernacular voice of the period at the end of the Shang era and the beginning of the Zhou era, thus resolving the many controversial questions regarding the proper punctuation of the texts in the ancient canonical classics and regarding the dates at which these classics were created. Furthermore, Professor Yang then proceeded to construct a reading of this ancient classic based on the phonological pronunciation of the end syllables in the rhyming meters, and thereby produced a reader of the lyrics of ancient divination songs from the late-Shang early-Zhou period that is replete with the tones and flavors of antiquity of the time. Another article by Professor Yang, “Examining the Rhymes in the Tuanzhuan (The Commentary on the Judgment in The Zhou Book of Changes)” examined the rhyming patterns and the rhyme system in the Tuanzhuan. He discovered that, in the case of the “dong” (winter) rhyme category, there were six instances in which this rhyme stood alone as an independent rhyme, four instances in which this rhyme was combined and cross-rhymed with the “dong” (east) category, two instances in which it was combined with both the “dong” (east) category and the “zheng” (vapor) category, one instance in which it produced a combined rhyme with the “zheng” (vapor) category, and seven instances in which the “dong” (winter) rhyme was combined and cross-rhymed with the “zheng” (vapor) category. These findings indicated that at an earlier time there were slightly more instances in which these rhymes were used in combination with one another than when they were used alone or independently, which also demonstrated that with the passage of time, the “dong” (winter) rhyme category was striding toward greater independence. The rhymes in the Tuanzhuan reflected the vernacular voice of the mid-early part of the Warring States period. In making this study, Professor Yang proposed the idea of analyzing ancient rhyme categories through the concepts of “syllable sentence”, “rhyme segment” and “semantic segment”. He found that in general, the rhyme segment is consistent with the semantic segment, and the sameness of the rhyme category is a major controlling factor for the semantic meaning of the rhymed passage of text. Thus, the article proposed and provided a general principle for a semantic explanation of the rhymed text in the Tuanzhuan, and indeed for ancient rhymed texts in general. In yet another work, the Preface that he wrote for the book A Glossary of Rhymes for Lyrical Literature of Various Genres, Professor Yang discussed the aesthetics of speech tonal forms as a part of linguistic aesthetics. In this article he pointed out: “In the practice of speaking, people came to gradually realize that they not only can use the phonetic form of monosyllabic words, that is, syllables, to form sentences through which they can express their sentiments and the meanings of what they want to say, but they can also, at the textual level, use rhymes, or tones, to compose auditory forms that are pleasing to the ear of the listener, thus giving people a sense of beauty, as well as serving as an aid to memory. In this way, aside from being a conveyor of semantic significance and an expressor of feelings or meaning, the signifier voice also adds to the text the function of the aesthetics of the voice form. The aesthetics, or the beauty, of the form of the voice/speech in text is primarily demonstrated in the elegance in the patterns of the text, or, in other words, in the rhyming and the tonal pattern, such as, in the case of Chinese texts, the arrangement of the level and oblique tones (ping/ze).” This article brings to light the aesthetic value and function of the speaking voice. These and many other essays and studies in phonology and subjects in the area of phonology written and published by Professor Yang have been esteemed as “classics” in the field and have been placed on a large number, and variety, of websites of “Classical Academic Papers.”
4. In the areas of vocabulary theory and the history of Chinese vocabulary: In the field of Chinese vocabulary theory, many problems remain as yet unresolved, including, for instance, the question of the relationship between the written character and the word, between the word itself and its semantic meaning(s), the boundary and distinction between polysyllabic words and phrases. In the field of the history of vocabulary, too, there are unresolved problems. Unlike phonological history, or the history of tones in speech, in which a study of the three major categories of Sound/Tone, Rhyme, and Rhythm produces a methodological system that covers and governs phonological research on the Chinese language as a whole from ancient Chinese to modern and contemporary Chinese, and unlike the history of grammar, in which the same type of methodological system has been produced through the study of word categories and the five major structural parts of speech, such a system has never emerged in the history of vocabulary, or the history of lexicography. Furthermore, in the area of the history of vocabulary, the problem of the standards by which that history could be properly chronologized – that is, separated into distinct historical stages or periods, has also not been resolved. Professor Yang's research is directed at these major issues. His article, “The Distinction Between Words and the Meaning of Words” pointed out that word and the semantics of word are different things, in terms of fundamental nature or quality, quantity, structure and composition. A word is a symbol, and is the smallest unit of language, containing the signifier (signans) and the signified (signatum), that is, the form and the meaning of the speech sound. In other words, the meaning of a word is what is signified by the word, that is, the meaning being carried, or conveyed, by the phonetic form, the form of the speech sound. The constituent component of a word is a morpheme, whereas the constituent component of a word meaning (or sememe) is a semantic element, or seme. A word often has multiple meanings or sememe, and the multiple meanings of a word, or sememe, are together called a “semantic base” (yiku). Each sememeis formed by, or composed of, a number of semantic elements or seme, and a “semantic base” is formed by, or composed of, a number of sememe. All that, together, is the “meaning” of a “word.” By puttingforward the concept of “sense base” (yiku), this article forms a three-level semantic system of “seme – sememe – semantic base”, which serves then as a fundamental system of Chinese vocabulary from the perspective of lexicology. It differs from the “aggregate”“combination” systemin grammar. This then causes the research to distinguish between two levels of language -- the “word” level and the semantic, or “meaning” level, and break away from the actual practice of “one sememe for each pronunciation” and “grammatical modifier following the sememe,” which is divorced from linguistic vocabulary.Another one of Professor Yang’s articles, “A Tentative Discourse on the Principles that Determine What Words in the Chinese Language Mean and Are”discusses the shortcomings of determining “what is a word” by applying separately grammatical standards, phonetic standards, morphological standards, and semantic standards. It proposed a new standard for determining and defining “word” by arguing that “any language unit that is equivalent to a written character’s combination of form, sound and meaning is word,”and thereby proposed a method for determining the sound of monosyllabic, double-syllable, and multi-syllable words, thus examining successfully the thorny issue of the concept of “word”.A third article, “A Re-examination of Word Formationin the Chinese Language,” advances the opinion that in the case of the Chinese language, the word formation method is the same system, whether in regard to ancient Chinese or in regard to the modern and contemporary Chinese language, and that, in regard to the structure relationship(s) of any word, it is the structure of the word at the beginning of the word’s formation that must be accepted, or used as its structure for analysis, so that we may discuss and analyze the typology of word formation in the Chinese language from its source, its very beginning. In the area of the theory of word semantics(lexical meanings), in his article, “The Problems with Several Very Well-known Theories in Lexical Semantics Analysis in Olden Times,” Professor Yang, employing the methodology of seme analysis, explored a number of phenomena in the history of the development of lexical semantics, such as the “theory of the likelihood of two semantic meanings co-existing within the same item,” the theory of “generalization speech,” and the theory of “sameness of semantic meaning,” in which the development or evolution of the semantic meaning of word has been confused, and thereby proposed a more effective new method of lexical semantic analysis based upon the recognition of the “seme – sememe – semantic base” semantic system. In his monograph An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language Professor Yang explores the similarities and differences between the semantic meaning of words and the concept of words. On the basis of defining and determining the character of the semantic meaning of words, in this study Professor Yang focused on researching the distinction between the semantic meaning of monosyllabic words and that of composite or synthetic words in terms of the foundation, the conditions and the forms of their composition, their components, and their semantic relationships. In this study he also proposed the concept of “essential elements of semantic meaning of words,”employing this concept to study monosyllabic and composite words, thereby opening up a new domain in word semantics research. The theoretical foundation of this research is cognitive theory, and the knowledge required is a combination of philology and lexicology. The results of this research has been deemed as “extremely highin ‘gold content’,” and there have been many who emulate Professor Yang’s research and its methods. Finally in this area, Professor Yang’s article “The Differences and the Complementarities Between Classical Lexical Semantics and Modern and Contemporary Research in Lexical Glossary and Lexical Semantics” discussed, and argued, at a theoretical level, why the mission or task of vocabulary research in the Chinese language cannot be completed either by solely employing modern and contemporary lexicological methods or by solely employing the method of Classical lexical semantics, but that if we combine the two, we could blaze a path for a new environment in the field of Chinese vocabulary studies altogether.
5. In the area of the history of vocabulary: In this area of research work we have encountered even more difficulties and obstacles. In the first place, it is because the study of the history of vocabulary in terms of periodization, or the separation of that history into stages or periods, has tended to follow along the same path as that of the history of grammar, and failed to have its own independent standards or criteria, when, in fact, vocabulary and grammar are different in nature and character. Secondly, there are also difficulties because vocabulary is too large in volume – there are about 420,000 words – thus causing previous research in this area to have largely been only in the form of “giving examples.” According to the principle of “a rule cannot be established unless and until there are at least ten examples or cases”, researchers have therefore taken to the practice of reaching, or drawing, a conclusion as long as they have found ten or more examples to back it up, thus producing a situation in which there are often multiple and conflicting personal opinions and “conclusions” concerning the same phenomenon, and very few enduring conclusions that are capable of standing up to rigorous challenges. In fact, due to the fact that the vocabulary is too large, not to mention that it becomes even larger when one takes into consideration the even greater volume of the historical use of each word over the passage of time, vocabulary research simply cannot be based on the “a rule cannot be established unless and until there are at least ten examples or cases”principle. If we do, we would, as the adage goes, not see the forest for the trees, and would not be able to critique, assess, or even make sense of the forest as a whole. In response to the above problems, Professor Yang's article titled “The Sources, and the Development of Modern Neologisms from the Perspective of New Words, or Neologisms, in the Scientific Novels in the Late-Qing and Early-Republican Era – With also a Discussion of the ‘Signature New Word Field’ Theory and of the Beginning, or Starting Point of the ‘Modern History of Chinese Vocabulary’” proposed the “Signature New Word Field” Theory as a way to periodize the history of vocabulary – that is, to divide it into chronological periods or stages of development. This theory believes that “new words – that is, neologisms -- are unique to a period, and are a concept of synchronicity. Thus the new word system of a period is a signature sub-word field, a sign that distinguishes the current “period” from the previous, preceding, period, and therefore can be taken to be the standard, or criterion, for periodizing the history of vocabulary.” The "signature sub-word field" theory solves a major problem in the field of the history of vocabulary, namely, the problem of what are the standards or criteria by which periodization of this history can be made. It has been approved by the experts of an older generation in the field. Furthermore, Professor Yang used this theory to study new words, or “neologisms,” in the Ming and Qing dynastic periods. He discovered that the system of words in the modern Chinese language that reflected the appearance ofnew culture, new science, new society, new economy and new modalities of lifeactually came about in the late-Mingearly-Qing era. Therefore, Professor Yang concluded that the late-Mingearly-Qing erawas actually the starting point of modern vocabularyin the history of the Chinese language, which is a very different conclusion from the one that have been drawn in the past by other scholars who have employed a political set of criteria to set the starting point of modern vocabulary in the Chinese language at the time of the May Fourth Movement, or at “the year 1949.” It is also a conclusion that more closely reflects the reality in the development of Chinese vocabulary. Peer experts in the field also believe that this discovery and the resulting conclusion are innovative and groundbreaking. In order to study more vocabulary phenomena and to clarify the basic features of Chinese vocabulary history, Professor Yang proceeded to organize and supervise the compiling of The History of Vocabulary in Chinese Novels, a study that is specifically and topically genre-focused. The papers for this compilation have already been collected and put together, and the full manuscript is in the last stages of editing and revising, and the study will soon be published. This is a study that intends to fill a gap in the general history of vocabulary in the Chinese language and its literature in regard to specific literary and writing genres, in this case the genre of the novel. Finally in this area, Professor Yang's article “The Contributions of The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Languageto the Value and the Research Method in the Study of the History of the Development and Evolution of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language” comprehensively described how the Dictionary was compiled – how, in the words of Luo Zhufeng, it represented the “arduous efforts and hard struggle on the part of more than a thousand people over eighteen years’ time,” and in the words of RuanJinrong, employed “over ten thousand volumes of the most relevant and essential reference texts and books,” that project chose to include in its grand scope more than 23,000 words, more than 346,000 complex words or phrases, and a total vocabulary of more than 370,000 items. The article pointed out that the Dictionary lent itself to the study and research methodology on sixteen kinds of phenomena in the history of vocabulary and the history of lexical semantics, but the article also pointed out that, due to the fundamental difference in character and in purpose between a dictionary and the study of the history of vocabulary, there are inevitably serious limitations to how much The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language could contribute to the study of the history of vocabulary.Professor Yang’s colleagues and peers in the field who are experts in this area believe that this article demonstrated “big thinking” and great vision, is the product of a major innovation, and has groundbreaking impact on the study of the history of vocabulary. Professor Yang's assertion on the relationship between The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language and the history of vocabulary has attracted tremendous attention in the fields of vocabulary history and dictionary editing/compiling. Experts at the editorial office of The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language have expressed their intention that, as they proceed with their work of compiling and editing and putting together this encyclopedic opus, they are prepared to give the most serious consideration to Professor Yang’s opinions and comments.
6. In the area of linguistic research of specific books and texts in Chinese culture and excavated scripts and documents: The Zhou Classic of Change is a work of the deepest and most important philosophical meaning in Chinese history; it is also a work that has been most repeatedly and prolifically annotated and interpreted over the centuries -- there are over three thousand annotated versions of this text. At the same time, it has also been acclaimed as the most difficult to understand and to study and research; almost every single sentence or phrase, even every single word in this text has been interpreted and discussed and argued about from different points of view. Professor Yang has devoted himself significantly to the linguistic research of the Zhou Classic of Change and has written and published eight scholarly articles on the topic. For instance, his article “Problems for Linguistic Research in the Bamboo-Script Version of the Classic of Change, in the Silk-Book Version and in the Version that has been Passed On Down the Generations” focuses on the new questions of research that have emerged since the older versions of the text of the Zhou Classic of Change have been excavated from the ground, and it points out how misunderstandings have emerged in terms of how different versions of a text are accepted or understood, as well as misunderstandings and misinterpretations in the areas of the linguistic characteristics and qualities of writing, and in the areas of research methodology and theories of research. This article provided guidance and a sense of direction for linguistic research in excavated documents and texts. This and various others of Professor Yang’s papers in this area have been acclaimed as classics in the field, andhave been collected in multiple anthologies as well as incorporated into many websites of “Classical Academic Papers.”
7. In the area of annotative scholarship and in the area of the philosophy of language: Language is the product of human thought. The very nature of language, and every unit of language, especially the semantics, or meaning of words, and the concept of words, all invariably contain philosophical principles, and are all related to the scholarship of annotation (or “hermeneutics”) and the philosophy of language. Nonetheless, the field of research in the Chinese language in the past had not emphasized its philosophical aspect, and most of our scholars in this field have not comprehended or made sense of the philosophical status or value of the linguistic realities that they have studied and researched.In this regard, then, our predecessors have already suffered from this disadvantage, and even today, this is still the case. Professor Yang attaches great importance to the scholarship of annotation or explaining meanings, and to the philosophy of language, and believes that it is precisely in the scholarship of annotation, as well as in philosophical thinking that the Chinese language has developed and evolved. His articles, “ ‘Misreading’ and New Meaning”, “Linguistic Unit Theory, Structural System Theory, Semantic Interpretation Method Theory and Semantic System Theory in the Chinese Language From the Perspective of Theories of Annotative Scholarship in Ancient China” are pioneering works -- classical works – in this area, works that have highly acclaimed not only in the field of linguistics, but in the field of philosophy as well. The former explored the linguistic achievements as well as the philosophical achievements and values that came out of the “misreading” of ancient books and texts since the Warring States Period. The latter exploredhow, since the Han Dynasty, ancient Chinese scholars have theoretical understandings and philosophies regarding the basic nature and character of the Chinese language, the units of language, the structure of and the structural relationships in language, semantic interpretation method theory and semantic system theory. These two papers are highly valuable, and highly valued, in their impact on opening up the scope and dimensions of the discipline.
8. In the area of research on foreign languages and in research on the interaction and exchange among cultures: Professor Yang has written and published eight major academic papers related to the study of a foreign language, namely the Korean language, including: “A Vocabulary and Semantic Study of Korean Languages As Represented in Chinese Texts and Documents From the Second Century BCE to the Second Century CE”, “On Questions Related to Language and Written Languages Exchange and Interaction Between China and Korea”, “Problems in the Language of Advertising in Korea”,“Should a Certain Number of Chinese Characters be Retained in the Korean Language?”, and “The Question of Second-Language Teaching in Sino-Korean Cultural Exchange”. The Korean language, or the language of the people of the Korean Peninsula (known as hanguk-eo in South Koreaand choson-mal in North Korea) is an ancient language. Unfortunately, there is very littlefirm corpus linguistic evidence proofs of the language that dates to before the 15th century. In his paper, “A Study of the Typology and Nature of Languages in the Korean Peninsula Before the Second Century CE”, Professor Yang describes how it is discovered, in a number of ancient Chinese histories and other texts, including Shiji(Historical Records), Han Shu (The History of the Han Dynasty), Hou Han Shu (The History of the Latter Han Dynasty), Sanguozhi(The History of the Three Kingdoms), Fangyan(Dialects) and Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words) that back in the period from the second century BCE to the second century CE, the languagesin the Korean peninsula included ancient Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, the language of Mahan, the language of Jinhan, and the language of Byeonhan, and the Chinese language was also used by people living in the Peninsula, and how, after several processes of historical division and integration, from the time of the establishment of the four garrisoned “prefectures” (jun) by Chinese Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty onward, a unified language of the Korean Peninsula, the Korean Language (hanguk-eo or choson-mal) evolved and was ultimately formed, adopting as foundational dialects ancient Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, the language of Mahan, the language of Jinhan, and the language of Byeonhan, and the Chinese (Han) language as a supplementary language.
Current Ongoing Research:
1. Professor Yang is supervising the research project “A General Comprehensive History of the Development of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language.” This research is based on the 370,000 words/phrases entries that have been collected in The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language and supplementing that with words and phrases in the linguistic corpus culled from the Oracle Bones scripts, the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou dynastic period, excavated documents and texts dating back to the Warring States, the Qin dynasty and the Han dynasty eras, the Buddhist texts from the Wei, Jin, and Six-dynasties periods, and the fiction-novel literature of the late-Qing era. The monosyllabic word, complete in its original form-shape, original sound and original meaning, forms the foundation of the vocabulary of the Chinese language. In order to carry out this research of “A General Comprehensive History of the Development of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language,” the research group of Professor Yang and his cohorts engaged in producing A Supplement to Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words), a work in which the group increased the contents of Shuowenjiezi(Explanation of Texts and Words) to cover 23,000 words. Professor Yang has been involved in this research project for thirteen years, and his group has created thirty-three large-scale corpus databases, which enable them to conduct research on the origins, generation, development and ultimately extinction of all kinds of vocabulary and language categories. The basic manuscript for this multivolume work is now completely finished. In 2008, this project was sent up as a proposal for funding to the Foundation for the Humanities and the Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, and was approved. In 2010, the project was approved as a Key National Research Project in Philosophy and the Social Sciences by the State Council Office of Planning. This project aims to fill a major gap in the development of large-scale historical narratives of the evolution of vocabulary in China with its innovativeness and pioneering quality in concept and line of reasoning and thinking. At this moment, the work of editing and revising the manuscript for forthcoming publication is progressing steadily.
2. The project “A Linguistic Study of the Zhou Classic of Change” has been designated in 2007 as a major project of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Base under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. Over the last two, three decades, many ancient versions and incarnations of the Zhou Classic of Change have been discovered and excavated, including a bamboo-strips version dating back to the Warring States period, the silk-book version from the Mawangdui excavation, and the bamboo-script version discovered at Fuyang in Anhui province that dates back to the Han dynasty. It is therefore a highly opportune moment to be engaged in the linguistic research of the Zhou Classic of Change. The target subject areas of this research project are the histories of the transmission and the verification of the various versions of this canonical text, the Zhou Classic of Change, and the vocabulary, the grammar, the phonetic pronunciation of words in them, as well as variant and alternative writings and texts. This project promises to exemplify innovation and historical value in the field of the linguistic historical research of specific books and special texts.
3. “Linguistic Research in New Media and Communication”: This is a major research project under the auspices of Social Sciences Planning for Shandong Province. The object of this research is the latest, newest, and most lively and fresh contemporary vernacular idioms and colloquialisms. At this point, the manuscripts for the seven topical studies in the overall project have already been completed and are under revision and editing.
4. The latest research project under Professor Yang’s supervision is “A Supplement to Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words)”. Shuowenjiezi(Explanation of Texts and Words) is the root of the Chinese system of words/characters, and therefore also the root of the vocabulary system of the Chinese language. To be precise, the monosyllabic word in its original form-shape, original sound and original meaning, is the foundation of the vocabulary of the Chinese language, and therefore also the foundation for studying the history of the vocabulary of the Chinese language. This research group increased the coverage of words in Shuowenjiezifrom its original inclusion of 9,353 words/characters to approximately 17,000 words/characters, representing a true count of Chinese words/characters that have real linguistic value, and a true count of independent monosyllabic words in the Chinese language. To do that, the group of researchers have to distinguish each word by form/shape, by phonetic pronunciation, by semantic meaning(s) and by example usage phrases and sentences one by one. This research project is ongoing.
Teaching and Graduate Student Mentoring:
Professor Yang has, for many years now, engaged in teaching and mentoring/advising of students at all five major levels of instruction – of undergraduate students, MA students, PhD students, post-doctoral students and Advanced Training for Teachers. Professor Yang started to instruct undergraduate students when the undergraduate Class of 1977 matriculated. The courses he has offered for undergraduate students included:
· The Chinese Language of Ancient Times
· Lexical semantics
· Classical Philology
· Phonetics
· The History of the Chinese Language
· A Linguistic History of the Chinese Language
· The Study of Ancient Documents
· Linguistic semantics
· A General Introduction to Linguistics
The courses he has offered for graduate students included:
· Methods of Linguistic Research
· Theory and Methods on Linguistic Research
· Semiotics
· Semantics in the Chinese Language of Ancient Times
· Topics in Lexical Semantics
· Topics in Classical Philology
· Topics in Phonetics
· Topics in the History of the Chinese Language
· Topics in the History of Linguistics
· Lexical Semantics in the Qing Dynasty
· Topics in the Study of Ancient Documents
· Selected Readings in Special Texts in the Field of Linguistics
Professor Yang’s pedagogical methods and style are precise and exacting, with cutting-edge contents in each part of his curriculum, and rich in research orientation and inspiring the opening of students’ minds. In particular, in the area of the humanities and related disciplines, he has spearheaded the concept of allowing MA students and PhD students take part in his own research projects, thus greatly enhancing the research capacities and active and actual operational capabilities of his MA and PhD students. Close to two hundred MA students, PhD students, post-doctoral students and junior faculty members have graduated under Professor Yang’s tutelage and mentoring, many of whom have become themselves university professors, mentors of another generation of PhD students, leaders in their respective disciplines and fields, university deans and associate deans. Many of his students have written fondly in memory of their experience of being taught by Professor Yang, articles such as “An Indelible Remembrance of My Mentor and What He Bestowed On Me,” and “Fond Memories of My College Days.” Professor Yang has also instructed a large number of foreign students studying in China, including students from Japan, South Korea, the United States of America, Vietnam and so on, among whom there are two who have become department heads in their respective academic institutions.
Sponsored Research Projects Undertaken:
1. “A Study of Qing-Dynasty Lexical Semantics,” Key Research Project sponsored by the Youth Researchers Foundation of the Ministry of Education. Project established and registered in 1986. Budget 5,000 yuan. Completed
2. “A Study of Qing-Dynasty Writings, Papers and Scholarly Letters and Notes in Lexical Semantics,” Research Project in Organization and Treatment of Ancient Books, Shandong Province. Project established and registered in 1988. Budget 6,000 yuan. Completed
3. “Editing, Authentication and Annotation of the Book Bieyading (别雅订) [by Xu Han],” Research Project in Organization and Treatment of Ancient Books, Shandong Province. Project established and registered in 1995. Budget 6,000 yuan. Completed
4. “A Study of Semantics in the Chinese Language,” Key Research Project sponsored under the aegis of the “Cross-Century Human Resources Development” program of Shandong University. Project established and registered in 1996. Budget 7,000 yuan. Completed
5. “A Study of Vocabulary and Semantics in the Chinese Language,” Major “211 Project” Research Project of Shandong University. Completed
6. “A Translation and Annotation Classical-Vernacular Side-by-Side Reading of the book Baopuzi(抱朴子The Book of the Teacher of Embracing Simplicity),” One of the “Eight-Five Plan” Research Projects of the Commission of Ancient Texts Studies of the National Council of Institutions of Higher Education. Completed
7. “A Linguistic Study of the Zhou Classic of Change,” A sub-topic of a major topical study project in the Humanities and Social Sciences under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. Registration no.: 2002DXM720013. Budget 40,000 yuan. Completed
8. “A Linguistic Study of [Hao Yixing’s] Er-yayishu(尔雅义疏 Annotations for the Er-ya),” Research Project in Organization and Treatment of Ancient Books, Shandong Province. Budget 5,000 yuan. Publishing costs subvention 25,000 yuan. Completed
9. “A Comprehensive Integrated Study of Texts and Documents Excavated in Shandong Province (The “Inscriptions on Clay Objects” volume),” Key Research Project sponsored by Shandong Province Social Sciences Planning Office, December 30, 2006-December 30, 2008. Budget 20,000 yuan. Completed
10. “The Assessment System of Academic Degrees and the Quality of Graduate Education in Shandong Province: A Study Report,” Key Research Project sponsored by Shandong Province Academic Degree Office and Department of Education, Shandong Province. January 30, 2006 – December 30, 2008. Budget 15,000 yuan. Completed
11. “The Chinese Language and A Study of the Applied Usage of the Chinese Language,” Shandong University “985 Project” Stage 2 and Stage 3 Research Project. Project supervisor
12. “A General Comprehensive History of the Development of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language,” Key Research Project sponsored by the National Social Sciences Planning Office, December 30, 2010 - December 30, 2015. Budget 200,000 yuan. Registration no.: 10AYY004. Supervisor
13. “Research on A General Comprehensive History of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language,” Research Project sponsored by the Social Sciences Planning Office of the Ministry of Education, December 30, 2008 - December 30, 2011. Budget 50,000 yuan. Supervisor
14. “A Linguistic Study of the Zhou Classic of Change,” Major Research Project of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Base of the Ministry of Education. December 30, 2008 - December 30, 2014. Budget 200,000 yuan. Registration no.: 2007JJD720041. Supervisor
15. “Reforming the System of Cultivating and Training Graduate Students in the Humanities and the Social Sciences: A Study Report,” Research Project sponsored by Shandong Province Academic Degree Office. April, 2010 – December, 2012. Budget 10,000 yuan. Supervisor
16. “Linguistic Research in New Media and Communication,” Key Research Project of the Social Sciences Planning Office of Shandong Province. October 30, 2013 – December 30, 2016. Budget 30,000 yuan. Supervisor
17. “Developing Linguistic and Linguistic Theory Research in New Media and Communication,” Research Project supported by the Shandong Province Treasury Department. December, 2013 – December, 2017. Budget 400,000 yuan. Supervisor
18. “A Linguistic Study of the Thirteen Classics,” a horizontal research project, March 2013 – December 2017. Budget 300,000 yuan. Supervisor
19. “The Cultural Essence of Ejiao [CollaCoriiAsini],”a horizontal local service research project in Shandong Province, January 28, 2014 – December 30, 2022. Budget 500,000 yuan. Supervisor
Awards and Prizes Received:
1. For Classical Lexical Semantics, (2 volumes), Shandong Province Educational Commission Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research Authorship and Publication, 1987; East China Regional Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research Authorship and Publication, 1987; Shandong Province Linguistics Association Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research Authorship and Publication, 1987; and Shandong University Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research Authorship and Publication, 1987
2. For Basic Knowledge of Classical Chinese, Shandong University Level 2 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publicationof a Monograph, 1989
3. For Explaining Key Questions in the Essential Texts in Chinese Linguistics Studies (co-authored), Shandong Province Educational Commission Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication, 1993
4. For A Dictionary of Strategies Down the Ages, Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication of a Book in Philosophy in the Northern Fifteen Provinces of China, 1994; East China Regional Level 1 Prize for Authorship and Publication of an Outstanding Book in Political Theory, 1994
5. For Selected Vernacular Translations From the History of the Latter Han Dynasty (Hou Han Shu), Government of Shandong Province Level 1 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication, 1994
6. For Index to The Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Shandong University Level 2 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication, 1994
7. For An Annotated Vernacular Translation of the book Baopuzi(抱朴子The Book of the Teacher of Embracing Simplicity), Shandong University Level 2 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication, 1996
8. For Index to The Selected Writings of Deng Xiaoping, Shandong University Level 2 Prize for Excellence in Authorship and Publication, 1997
9. For An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language (August 2003 edition), one of the six volumes in Chinese Vocabulary Studies, Level 2 Prize for Excellence in Achievement in the Social Sciences, Shandong Province, 2004 (tied in No. 2 ranking)
10. Shandong Province Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Mentoring, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, July 15, 2007. For Shi Guanxin, A Study of Modal Words in the Dialect of Linzi, nominated as Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Shandong Province by The Office of Academic Degrees Regulation, Shandong Province
11. Prize for Mentoring Outstanding Achievement in Innovation, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, June 6, 2008. For Yan Congfa, who was awarded a Level-1 Prize for Outstanding New Accomplishment in Scientific and Technological Innovation by a Graduate Student in 2008 for A Study of Neologisms in the Ming Dynasty
12. Prize for Mentoring Outstanding Achievement in Innovation, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, June 6, 2008. For Zhou Linna, who was awarded a Level-2 Prize for Outstanding New Accomplishment in Scientific and Technological Innovation by a Graduate Student in 2008 for A Study of the Development and Evolution of Neologisms and Newly Emerging Sememe in the Ming Dynasty
13. Shandong University Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Mentoring, December 2007, for Xu Weidong, A Study of Adverbs in Gaosengzhuan (Biographies of the Exalted Buddhist Masters), nominated as Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation at Shandong University in 2008
14. Shandong University Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Mentoring, November 2009, for Wang Xinhua, A Study of Regional Phonetic Characteristics in the Dialect of Dunhuang in the Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties Period, nominated as Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation at Shandong University in 2009
15. Shandong University Prize for Outstanding Accomplishment in Graduate Education Instruction, November 20, 2009
16. Shandong University Prize for Outstanding Mentoring of an Innovative Project by a Graduate Student, October, 2010, for Wang Yi, A Study of Vocabulary in The Zhou Classic of Change, awarded Outstanding Academic Achievement by a Graduate Student at Shandong University
17. Shandong Province Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students Prize, in the 3rd year of the award, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, November 7, 2012
18. Shandong Province Prize for Mentoring Outstanding Achievement in Innovation, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, May 30, 2012. For Wang Yi, who was awarded a Level-3 Prize for Outstanding New Accomplishment in Scientific and Technological Innovation by a Graduate Student for A Study of Vocabulary in the Classic Text The Zhou Classic of Change
19. Shandong Province Prize for Excellence in Mentoring of an Undergraduate Thesis for the Baccalaureate Degree, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, and the Department of the Treasury, Shandong Province, May 30, 2012. For Song Xue, A Study of Additive Word Formation of Adjectives and Adverbs in the Chinese Language, nominated as Outstanding Baccalaureate Degree Thesis in Shandong Province
20. Shandong University Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students Prize, October 25, 2012, Shandong University
21. Shandong Province Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Mentoring, Provincial-level award, conferred by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Government of Shandong Province in conjunction with the Department of Education, Shandong Province, June 13, 2014. For Wang Yi, A Study of Vocabulary in The Zhou Classic of Change, nominated as Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Shandong Province
A Catalog of Major Works in Publication in the Field of Linguistics
Books and Monographs
1. Modern Chinese Grammar and Rhetoric, (participating editor,) Commercial Press, November 1978
2. A Dictionary of Often-Used Words in The Chinese Language of Ancient Times, (participating co-author,) Commercial Press, November 1979. This work has been revised and reprinted many times, and translated editions in English, Japanese, German and other languages have been published
3. A Dictionary for the Primary School Student, (participating co-author,) Guangdong People's Publishing House, September 1981
4. Classical Lexical Semantics, 2 volumes, (sole author,) Shandong Literature and Art Publishing House, 1stedition, May 1986; revised 1st edition, March 1992; 2ndedition, November 1997.
5. Basic Knowledge of Classical Chinese, (co-author,) Hebei People's Publishing House, May 1988
6. Explaining Key Questions in the Essential Texts in Chinese Linguistics Studies,(co-author,) QiluShushe Publishers, November 1991
7. Selected Vernacular Translations From the History of the Latter Han Dynasty (Hou Han Shu), (co-author,) Shandong University Press, November 1992
8. The Creative Art of Emperor Shihuang of the Qin Dynasty, (co-author,) People's China Publishing House, June 1993;Zhibiao Publishing House(Taiwan), February 1994
9. Words of Humor for Nurturing Life,QiluShushe Publishers, August 1994
10. Index to The Selected Works of Mao Zedong (co-author,) Shandong People's Publishing House, December 1993
11. Index to The Selected Writings of Deng Xiaoping (co-author,) Shandong People's Publishing House, August 1994
12. A Dictionary of Strategies Down the Ages (co-author,) Qingdao Publishing House, October 1994
13. An Annotated Treatment of [Zhu Xi’s] Shijizhuan (Collected Commentaries onShijing), (co-author,) (One of the Classics of Chinese Poetry volumes,) Shandong University Press, September 1994;3rdedition, January 2008
14. An Annotated Vernacular Translation of the book Baopuzi(抱朴子The Book of the Teacher of Embracing Simplicity) (co-author,) Shaanxi Education Press, September 1995;Zhonghua Book Company (Taiwan), 1998
15. A Dictionary of the Chinese Language of Ancient Times for Practical Use, (co-author,) Henan People's Publishing House, 1997
16. Classical Lexical Semantics (sole author,) Wunan Book Publishing House(Taiwan), 1stedition, November 1997; 3rdedition, March 2007
17. Learning in the Chinese Language and the Practice of Writing, (Associate Chief Editor,) Capital Normal University Press, May 1999
18. An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language (sole author,) Shandong University Press, October 2002
19. An Exploration of the Meaning of Words in the Chinese Language, (One of the Vocabulary Studies in the Chinese Language volumes,) August 2003
20. Collected Writings on the History of the Chinese Language (sole author,) QiluShushe Publishers, April 2008
21. The Linguistic and Philological Studies in the Chinese Language book series, (Editor-in-Chief,)QiluShushe Publishers. Beginning in June 2008, already published volumes in the series now include: A Study of New Words and New Meanings in Modern Chinese, A Study of Aphorisms in the Chinese Language, A Study of Taboo Words and Words of Avoidance
Forthcoming and Imminent Publications
1. Chinese Paleography, (sole author)
2. A New Lexical Semantics, (sole author)
3. The History of Vocabulary in Chinese Novels, (Editor-in-chief, author)
4. A General Comprehensive History of the Development of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language, (Multi-volume, Editor-in-chief, author)
5. A Supplement to Shuowenjiezi (Explanation of Texts and Words), (Editor-in-chief, author)
6. Linguistic Studies ofThe Zhou Classic of Change, book series, (Editor-in-chief, author)
7. Function Words in the Chinese Language of Ancient Times, (sole author)
8. A Dictionary of Homographs in the Chinese Language, (co-author)
9. A Linguistic Study of Hao Yixing’s Er-yayishu (尔雅义疏Annotations for the Er-ya), (sole author)
10. An Analytical Glossary of Commonly Used Polysemous Words in the Chinese Language, (sole author)
11. An Archive of the History of New Words and New Meanings of Words in the Chinese Language Through the Centuries, (Editor-in-chief, author)
12. An Archive of the History of the Disappearance and Extinction of Old Word and Old Meanings of Words in the Chinese Language, (Editor-in-chief, author)
Major Papers and Articles Published
1. “The Meaning of Lexical Semantics,” Shandong University Papers in the Humanities and Liberal Arts, no. 1, 1983
2. “A Critical Discussion of the Transfer of Language,” Papers in the Study of the Chinese Language, Shandong University, September 1989
3. “A Critical Discussion of Contemporary Annotations of the Er-ya,” Studies in the Chinese Language of Ancient Times, no. 3, 1989
4. “Classical Lexical Semantics and Classical Literature,” A Chinese Language Learning Guide,no. 3, 1992
5. “A Phonological Examination and Reading of the Zhou Classic of Change,” Academic Journal of Shandong University, no 3, 1994. The People’s University’s Reprints of Research Materials in Chinese Language and Linguistics (full text reprint)
6. “The Zhou Classic of Change and Traditional Linguistics,” Research on the Zhou Classic of Change, no. 1, 1990
7. “A Review of An Introduction to Ancient Chinese Culture,”Academic Journal of Jilin Normal University, no. 1, 1991
8. “ ‘On Heaven’ in the Book Xunzi: An Appreciative and Analytical Commentary,” in An Appreciative Dictionary of Masterpieces of Chinese Literature, Shandong University Press, September 1992
9. “ ‘Exhortation to Learning’ in the Book Xunzi: An Appreciative and Analytical Commentary,” in An Appreciative Dictionary of Masterpieces of Chinese Literature, Shandong University Press, September 1992
10. “Lu Dian,” in Critical Biographies of Scholars of Linguistics in Ancient China, Shandong Education Publishing House, October 1992
11. “Luo Yuan,” in Critical Biographies of Scholars of Linguistics in Ancient China, Shandong Education Publishing House, October 1992
12. “A Culture Exalting Yellow-ness: A Topic for a Lengthy Discussion,” The Yellow River, The Yellow Land, The People of a Yellow Race, no. 6, 1994
13. “Preface”forAn Annotated Treatment of [Zhu Xi’s] Shijizhuan (Collected Commentaries on Shijing), (co-author,) Shandong University Press, 1994
14. “Does the Word ‘Mao’ (毛) Refer to Plants or Seedlings?” (co-author),Language Construction, no. 2, 1995
15. “Preface” for Ren Weiqing'sA Selective Collection of Famous Sayings of the Ancient Philosophers, QiluShushe Publishers, February 1995
16. “ ‘Preface’for A Dictionary of Strategies Down the Ages,”Popular Daily, February 25, 1995
17. “Let’s Talk about How to Learn Ancient Chinese,”Shandong University Adult Education,no.1, 1997
18. “Observations From the Perspective of the Semantic Explanation of Words on The Question of What Two Large-scale Dictionaries Appear to have Absorbed – or Not – From the Results of Lexical Semantics Scholarship,” Academic Journal of Jilin University, no. 2, 1997
19. “Several Problems in Teaching the Ancient Chinese Language,”Academic Journal of Shandong University, June 1999
20. “Preface” for An Explanatory Study of The Zhou Classic of Change [by Yang Jide],” Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House, October 1999
21. “The Distinction Between Words and the Meaning of Words”, Wen-Shi-Zhe (A Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy), no. 2, 2000
22. “A Tentative Discourse on the Principles that Determine What Words in the Chinese Language Mean and Are,”중국학연구(Junggughagyeongu [SinologicalStudies]), (Korea), no. 1, 2000
23. “The Problems with Several Very Well-known Theories in Lexical Semantics Analysis in Olden Times,” 중국학연구(Junggughagyeongu [SinologicalStudies]), (Korea), no. 1, 2000
24. “On Questions Related to Language and Written Languages Exchange and Interaction Between China and Korea,” 한화저널 (Hanhwojeoneol [The Korea-China Academic Journal]), no. 1, 2001
25. “Problems in the Language of Advertising in Korea,” 중앙일일신문(Jungangil-ilsinmun [Central Daily News], Korea), January 6, 2001
26. “Problems in Language of Describing Museum Displays of Treasured Relics and Artifacts in Korea,”중앙일일신문 (Jungangil-ilsinmun [Central Daily News], Korea), February 3, 2001
27. “Preface” for The Chinese Language, Traditional Chinese Culture, and Modern Chinese Society, Hanzhong Times Publishing House, February 2001
28. “Should a Certain Number of Chinese Characters be Retained in the Korean Language?” 중앙일일신문(Jungangil-ilsinmun [Central Daily News], Korea), May 26, 2001
29. “The Question of Second-Language Teaching in Sino-Korean Cultural Exchange”, 중앙일일신문 (Jungangil-ilsinmun [Central Daily News], Korea), June 23, 2001
30. “The Necessary Presence of Commonly Used Chinese Characters in the Korean Language,” Korea’s Culture of Chinese Writing, no. 7, 2001
31. “A Re-examination of Word Formation in the Chinese Language,” in An Anthology in Celebration of Professor Xu Weihan's 75th Birthday, Shanghai Education Press, January 2002
32. “Reading A Detailed Annotation of [Zhang Taiyan’s] Qiushu (Forced Words),”Journal of the College of Liberal Arts of Nanjing Normal University, no. 1, 2002
33. “The Meaning of the Morpheme and the Semantic Meaning of the Compound Word,”Proceedings of the 2002 Advanced-Level Forum on the Chinese Language and Linguistics (Changchun), China Social Sciences Press, October 2002
34. “A Culture Exalting Yellow-ness: Color Words and Culture,”Folklore Research, no. 1, 2003
35. “Examining the Rhymes in the Tuanzhuan (The Commentary on the Judgment inThe Zhou Book of Changes),” Research on the Zhou Classic of Change, no. 1, 2003
36. “A Study of the Typology and Nature of Languages in the Korean Peninsula Before the Second Century CE”, 한화저널 (Hanhwojeoneol [The Korea-China Academic Journal]), 2003
37. “A Vocabulary and Semantic Study of Korean Languages As Represented in Chinese Texts and Documents From the Second Century BCE to the Second Century CE,” Humanistic Writings, 2003
38. “The Differences and the Complementarities Between Classical Lexical Semantics and Modern and Contemporary Research in Lexical Glossary and Lexical Semantics,” Wen-Shi-Zhe (A Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy), no. 6, 2003; The People’s University’s Reprints of Research Materials in Chinese Language and Linguistics (full text reprint), 2004
39. “Chinese Vocabulary Theory, Dictionary Segmentation, and the Recognition of ‘Words’,” Academic Journal of Shandong University, no. 6, 2003
40. “Problems for Linguistic Research in the Bamboo-Script Version of the Classic of Change, in the Silk-Book Version and in the Version that has been Passed On Down the Generations”, Academic Journal of Shandong University, no. 2, 2005.The People’s University’s Reprints of Research Materials in Chinese Language and Linguistics, no. 7, 2005 (full text reprint). Subsequently also incorporated in An Investigative Study of Silk Books, Ancient Books Publishing House, Shanghai, May 2007
41. “Linguistic Unit Theory, Structural System Theory, Semantic Interpretation Method Theory and Semantic System Theory in the Chinese Language From the Perspective of Theories of Annotative Scholarship in Ancient China,”Chinese Annotative Studies, vol. 3, 2005
42. “General Preface” for Studies in the Chinese Language book series (a major book series item in the “985 Project” of Shandong University,) QiluShushe Publishers, January 2007
43. “The Sources, and the Development of Modern Neologisms from the Perspective of New Words, or Neologisms, in the Scientific Novels in the Late-Qing and Early-Republican Era – With also a Discussion of the ‘Signature New Word Field’ Theory and of the Beginning, or Starting Point of the ‘Modern History of Chinese Vocabulary’,”Academic Journal of Shandong University, no.1, 2007
44. “Preface”for A Study of Vocabulary in Yan zichunqiu (The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan), in Studies of Vocabulary in the Writings of Master Yan, BashuShushe Publishers, October 2007
45. “Preface”for A Study of Time-Related Adverbs in Gaosengzhuan (Biographies of the Exalted Buddhist Masters),in A Study of Adverbs in Gaosengzhuan (Biographies of the Exalted Buddhist Masters),BashuShushe Publishers,August 2008
46. “Preface” for An Annotated Treatment of [Zhu Xi’s] Shijizhuan (Collected Commentaries onShijing), Shandong University Press, March 1995
47. “The Contributions of The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language to the Value and the Research Method in the Study of the History of the Development and Evolution of Vocabulary in the Chinese Language: On the Guidelines for Conducting Research on the History of Vocabulary Through The Comprehensive Dictionary of the Chinese Language,” in Collected Writings on the History of the Chinese Language, QiluShushe Publishers, April 2008
48. “ ‘Misreading’ and New Meaning”, Research on the Zhou Classic of Change, no. 5, 2010
49. “Beijing University is a Spirit, a Realm of the Mind,” in Our Alumni,Beijing University Press, October 2010
50. “Contemporary Developments in the Theory of Lexical Semantics,” Studies in Folklore Texts and Other Writings, vol. 7, 2010
51. “Preface” for A Glossary of Rhymes for Lyrical Literature of Various Genres,QiluShushe Publishers, May 2010
52. “The Idea of ‘When One Has Grasp of the Meaning, One May Set Aside the Specifics of the Word’ Within the Perspective and Scope of Annotative Scholarship,” (co-author), Journal of Theoretical Studies, no. 7, 2012
53. “Preface” for A Study of Vocabulary in Guoyu (Discourses of the States), Chinese Social Sciences Press, May 2014
54. “Problems for Linguistic and Philological Research in the Study of The Zhou Classic of Change,” in Philological Linguistics, China Bookstore, July 2016
55. “The Category in the ‘Chuo’辵Radical-Section and Words of the Same Sort in Shuowenjiezi(Explanation of Texts and Words),” (co-author,) Theory and Application of Lexicology, Commercial Press, June 2017
56. “Preface” for A Study of the Vocabulary and Glossary in the Documents and Scriptures of the Religion of Daoism in the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern DynastiesPeriod, Shandong University Press, May 2018
Academic Influence
1. The name “Yang Duanzhi” is cited or mentioned in 7,540 instances/entries in Google, and shows up in approximately 2,940 search items.
2. Numerous essays and articles, including “An Indelible Remembrance of My Mentor and What He Bestowed On Me,” “Fond Memories of My College Days,” and “Three Years in the Foreign Language Department of Yanjing University” have been written in remembrance of experiences of being mentored and taught by Professor Yang.
3. Professor Yang is listed in the Who’s Who of World Education Experts, the Who’s Who of Education Experts in China, A Survey of Notable Young and Middle-aged Professors in the Top One Hundred Institutions of Higher Education in China, Korea’s Who’s Who Among International Sinological Researchers, TheNationalCommittee For Research and Collation of Ancient Books in the Nation’s Institutions of Higher Education’s A Directory of Scholars Engaged in the Research, Collation and Treatment of Ancient Books in Institutions of Higher Education in China, Beijing University’s Beida People, and Shandong University’s Firsts at Shandong University.
4. Notable academic articles critically acclaiming Professor Yang’s academic writings and publications include:
· Professor Yin Menglun, FormerPresident of the Chinese Association for Lexical Semantic Studies, “Preface Inscription and Remarks for the Book Classical Lexical Semantics,” incorporated in General Publishing Office of Shandong Province, ed. and comp., A Collection of Prefaces, Remarks, Dedicatory Inscriptions and Postscripts Written For Books Published in Shandong, Shandong People’s Press, 1987; also published in Lexical Semantics Teaching and Research, no. 1, 1987
· Professor Yin Huanxian, “ ‘Preface’ for Yang Duanzhi, Classical Lexical Semantics,” incorporated in General Publishing Office of Shandong Province, ed. and comp., A Collection of Prefaces, Remarks, Dedicatory Inscriptions and Postscripts Written For Books Published in Shandong, Shandong People’s Press, 1987
· Professor Ma Zhenya, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Northeast Normal University, and FormerVice President of the Chinese Association for Lexical Semantic Studies,“Grounded in Practical Application and Innovative in Intent: A Critique of Classical Lexical Semantics by Yang Duanzhi,” also published in Lexical Semantics Teaching and Research, no. 1, 1988.