Zhengzhang Shangfang

Zhengzhang Shangfang (9 August 1933 – 19 May 2018) was a Chinese linguist, known for his reconstruction of Old Chinese.

Early life and education Zhengzhang was born as Zheng Xiangfang (郑祥芳 Zhèng Xiángfāng) in Yongjia County, on the outskirts of Wenzhou. As 祥 and 尚 have the same pronunciation in the Wenzhou dialect, his personal name became Shangfang (尚芳). While in high school, his parents changed his family name to Zhengzhang, which combined his father's surname Zheng (郑) with his mother's surname Zhang (张).

His early life was marked by challenges. His father left home due to his involvement in a labor strike, and Zhengzhang was raised by his grandfather. This early family situation did not stop his pursuit of knowledge.

Academic career Zhengzhang Shangfang's academic career was filled with research and contributions to the field of linguistics. His initial research projects were deeply rooted in his passion for dialects, which was ignited during his early life. With a focus on Chinese dialectology, he mainly dedicated himself to analyzing the linguistic landscape of China.

One of his earliest research projects was on the Wenzhou dialect. He analyzed the phonetic, lexical, and grammatical aspects of Wenzhou dialect. His in - depth study of the Wenzhou dialect not only provided a comprehensive understanding of this local language but also laid a solid foundation for his further exploration of Chinese dialects. The main methodology used for his research of the pronunciation, vocabulary, and usage of the Wenzhou dialect was fieldwork. In 1964, two papers were published in the periodical "Studies of the Chinese Language", namely "The Phonological System of Wenzhou Dialect" and "Successive Tone Sandhi of Wenzhou Dialect".

He also worked at Fishery Machinery Factory for more than a decade around the period of the Cultural Revolution. He analyzed Chinese texts, historical records, and comparative data from related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family in order to reconstruct Old Chinese phonology. He conducted a large number of field surveys and refined the accuracy of the areas he was responsible for in the atlas to the township level.

He published more than 100 papers and some other works like Selected Blogs of Zhengzhang Shangfang. Through the comparison of cognate words within the Sino - Tibetan language family, he reconstructed the phonological system of Old Chinese and, together with Pan Wuyun, established the Zhengzhang - Pan System. He proposed a six - vowel system for Old Chinese. Essentially the same system was independently developed by William Baxter (building on a proposal by Nicholas Bodman) and by Sergei Starostin. In 1980, he joined the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Publications

上古音系 [Old Chinese Phonology] (Volume One)(in Chinese), Shanghai Educational Publishing House, 2003. 上古音系 [Old Chinese Phonology] (Volume Two) (in Chinese), Shanghai Educational Publishing House, 2013. 温州方言志 [Records of Wenzhou Dialect] (in Chinese), Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, 郑张尚芳语言学论文集 [Collected Linguistic Papers of Zhengzhang Shangfang] (in Chinese), Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, 2012, 汉字字音演变大字典 [The Great Dictionary of the Evolution of Chinese Character Pronunciations] (in Chinese), Jiangxi Educational Publishing House, 2012. (Zhengzhang Shangfang and Pan Wuyun) 温州方言文献集成 [Collection of Wenzhou Dialect Documents] (in Chinese), Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2013. (Zhengzhang Shangfang and Shen Ke)