| 词条 | William J. Gedney |
| 释义 |
William J. Gedney (born April 4, 1915 in Orchards, Washington; died November 14, 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) was an American linguist and Southeast Asian language specialist. Gedney did extensive work relating to Tai historical linguistics. LifeGedney was born in Orchards, Washington, and spent his childhood there. He was the son of John Marshall Gedney and Viola Gedney (nee Woster), the descendants of English immigrants. Gedney's father died of pneumonia in 1918, when Gedney was three years old. In 1935, Gedney graduated summa cum laude from Whitman College. After graduation, Gedney lived in Leavenworth, Washington and worked as an English teacher in Oregon and Washington. During the summers, he occupied himself seriously with linguistics. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the army in August 1942. He joined the Army Language Unit in New York City, where he began to work with the Thai language. Following the war, he studied Sanskrit at Yale University as a student of Franklin Edgerton. His PhD dissertation was Indic Loanwords in Spoken Thai. In 1947, Gedney obtained his doctorate and moved to Thailand, where he studied Thai language and literature, working with some of the most important scholars of the country. He met his wife, a native of Ayutthaya Province, in Thailand. Mrs. Gedney was one of the native speakers of Thai consulted for the Thai grammars written by Richard B. Noss (1954, expanded 1964). During this time Gedney began collecting Thai literature, ultimately building a 14,000 volume collection. He gave his small library in 1975 to the University of Michigan. In the following two decades Gedney worked on the Tai–Kadai languages, seeing through numerous projects to the end. He sought in particular many in the less spoken languages of this family in Southeast Asia and southern China in order to capture the characteristics of these languages. He was known for the accuracy of his notes on the tonal and phonological characteristics of these languages, and developed important word lists and representations for the study and comparisons of their tone. All in all Gedney worked on over 22 languages, including Saek, Lue, and Yay, often creating the first dictionaries of those languages. His findings have been published in an eight-volume series with the Center for South and South East Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, edited by Thomas John Hudak, one of Gedney's students. Gedney retired in 1980 the faculty of the University of Michigan from after 1972-1975 as Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics had worked. Throughout his career, Gedney was in the Linguistic Society of America, the American Oriental Society, the Siam Society, the Association for Asian Studies and Southeast Asian Linguistic Society. In 1981, he served as vice president of the American Oriental Society, serving in 1982 as its president. By focusing on data and his extensive knowledge of the Tai–Kadai languages, Gedney established himself as a leader in the comparative-historical study of Tai languages and dialects. But his influence went far beyond linguistics. Researchers from other disciplines including history, political science, art history and anthropology sought his advice. William J. Gedney died on 14 November 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Published works
StudentsGedney advised many dissertations in Tai linguistics, and made his extensive field notes available to his students. He continued to serve on dissertation committees after his retirement in 1980. A selection of Gedney's notable students and their dissertations is as follows:
References* Compton, Carol J. and John F. Hartmann (eds.). 1992. Papers on Tai languages, linguistics, and literatures: in honor of William J. Gedney on his 77th birthday. Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies.{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Gedney, William J.}} 5 : Linguists from the United States|Linguists of Southeast Asian languages|1915 births|1999 deaths|University of Michigan faculty |
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