Junast

Junast (; 1934–2010) was a Chinese Mongol linguist who specialized in the study of the Monguor language, Eastern Yugur language, and the 'Phags-pa script.

Biography

Junast was born in Horqin Right Middle Banner county in Inner Mongolia in 1934. His father and grandfather were farmers, originally from Chaoyang in Liaoning. His father wanted him to have an education, so Junast was sent to a local private school from the age of eight, where he studied Chinese and Mongolian, including the Confucian classics. In 1951 he passed the entrance exam for the Hinggan Middle School in Ulan Hot, where he specialized in the Mongolian language, but in the autumn of the following year he was accepted into the newly established Mongolian Languages and Literature program at the Inner Mongolia Teachers College, despite having only been at high school for one year. In March 1953 he joined the Chinese Communist Party, and in September he was sent to study Mongolian language at Beijing University. After graduation, in 1954, he was assigned to teach at the Inner Mongolia Mongolian Specialist College .

In 1954 he went back to Beijing to participate in a survey of Mongolic languages, and on completion of this work he transferred to the National Minority Languages Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. From 1955 to 1956 he engaged in fieldwork in Qinghai, collecting materials for the study of the Monguor language. He returned to Qinghai to study the Monguor language several more times during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1988 Junast was invited to teach in Japan, and he accepted a position as visiting professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, where he remained until the mid-2000s. In 1994 he retired from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, but he continued to publish articles on the 'Phags-pa script, and was engaged in research on the computerization of the 'Phags-pa script.

He died in hospital in Beijing on 9 April 2010.

Works

1977. "Yuan Basibazi Zhuanshu Guanyin Jicun" (Collection of Yuan official seals in the 'Phags-pa seal script); Wenwu Ziliao Congkan 16. 1980. "Lun Basibazi" ; Minzu Yuwen 1980.1. 1981. "Basibazi Baijiaxing jiaokan" . In Minzu Yuwen Lunji . Beijing : Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe. 1981. Dongbu Yuguyu Jianzhi (Introduction to the Eastern Yugur language). Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe. 1981. Tuzuyu Jianzhi (Introduction to the Monguor language). Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe. 1982. "Nanhua Si cang Yuan Basibazi Mengguyu shengzhi de fuyuan yu kaoshi" . 1987. "Basibawen yuanyin zimu zixing wenti shang de liangzhong tixi" ; Minzu Yuwen 1987.4: 1–6. 1988. "Youguan Basiba zimu ė de jige wenti" ; Minzu Yuwen 1988.1: 1–8. 1989. "Basibazi zhong de ling shengmu fuhao" ; Minzu Yuwen 1989.2: 29–36. 1990. ('Phags-pa and Mongolian Documents Part 1: Research). Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. 1991. ('Phags-pa and Mongolian Documents Part 2: Documents). Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. 2000. "Huihuwen zimu de Basibazi zhuyin" ; Minzu Yuwen 2000.4: 50–51. 2003. "Yizhong cong Basibazi tuotai erlai de wenzi" ; Minzu Yuwen 2003.1: 56–58. 2007 "Basibazi Mengguyu wenxian de yuyin xitong" (The Mongolian Phonological System Reflected in Documents Recorded in the 'Phags-pa Script); Minzu Yuwen 2007.2.

With Yang Naisi 1987. Menggu Ziyun Jiaoben (A critical edition of the Mongolian Rhyming Dictionary). Beijing : Minzu Chubanshe.