Georg Orlandi
Osaka University, Japanese Literature, Post-Doc
- Kansai University, Faculty of Letters, Department MemberXiamen University, Humanities, Department MemberXiamen University Malaysia, Department of Humanity, Department Memberadd
- General linguistics, Pragmatics, Speech & Hearing Sciences, Historical Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, Humanity, and 28 moreChinese Philology, Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Chinese linguistics, Chinese Historical Phonology, Logic, Classical Chinese literature, History, History of Science, Chinese history (History), Sociology, Theoretical Linguistics, History of Mathematics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Indo-European Studies, Comparative Linguistics, Languages, Linguistics, Chinese Studies, Chinese Language and Culture, Old Chinese, Middle Chinese, Phonology, Buddhist Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Indo-European, and Speech Processingedit
- I embarked on my academic journey in 2015, initially focusing on historical linguistics with a specialization in the ... moreI embarked on my academic journey in 2015, initially focusing on historical linguistics with a specialization in the history and phonology of East Asian languages, particularly Trans-Himalayan and Japonic languages. My research primarily involved the examination of philological sources to gain insights into the diachronic aspects of these languages. During this period, historical phonology and linguistics underwent significant transformation, owing to the rapid advancement in computer processing power and the incorporation of insights from various scientific disciplines, notably genomics.
As someone with a penchant for numerical analysis, I readily embraced the shift towards phylolinguistics in the field. Phylolinguistics combines computer modelling with genomic and linguistic data to address questions such as the origins of languages and their historical dispersion. However, as the late 2020s approached, I felt that my colleagues and I had substantially addressed many of the intriguing questions that initially drew me into this field. Consequently, I found myself less enthusiastic about contributing meaningfully to my areas of expertise.
This realization prompted a swift professional transition towards the realm of complexity science in general, with a particular focus on cliodynamics—a burgeoning interdisciplinary discipline that melds history and macro-sociology with statistical and mathematical modelling. I am among the few researchers actively applying complexity theories to comprehend population dynamics and explore the underlying mechanisms responsible for sociopolitical instability in East Asian societies, notably China and Japan.edit
Review of Alexander Vovin. The Footprints of the Buddha. The Text and the Language, Languages of Asia Series 25. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021. xviii, 190 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-44977-0 (hardback).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Reviewed publication:
Mark Irwin and Matthew Zisk. Japanese linguistics, The Japanese language I. Tokyo: Asakura Publishing. 2019, x, 311 pp, 5,280 JPY (hardcover). ISBN: 978-4-254-51681-4
Mark Irwin and Matthew Zisk. Japanese linguistics, The Japanese language I. Tokyo: Asakura Publishing. 2019, x, 311 pp, 5,280 JPY (hardcover). ISBN: 978-4-254-51681-4
Research Interests:
The book under review serves as a significant contribution to the field of Trans-Himalayan linguistics. Designed as a vade mecum for readers with little linguistic background in these three languages, Nathan W. Hill’s work attempts, on... more
The book under review serves as a significant contribution to the field of Trans-Himalayan linguistics. Designed as a vade mecum for readers with little linguistic background in these three languages, Nathan W. Hill’s work attempts, on the one hand, a systematic exploration of the shared history of Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese, and, on the other, a general introduction to the reader interested in obtaining an overall understanding of the state of the art of the historical phonology of these three languages. Whilst it is acknowledged that the book in question has the potential to be a solid contribution to the field, it is also felt that few minor issues can be also addressed.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper analyzes the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) through the lens of the Structural Demographic Theory (SDT), a general framework for understanding the drivers of socio-political instability in state-level societies.... more
This paper analyzes the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) through the lens of the Structural Demographic Theory (SDT), a general framework for understanding the drivers of socio-political instability in state-level societies. Although a number of competing ideas for the collapse have been proposed, none provide a comprehensive explanation that incorporates the interaction of all the multiple drivers involved. We argue that the four-fold population explosion during the 19th century, the competition for a stagnant number of elite positions, and increasing state fiscal stress combined to produce an increasingly disgruntled populace and elite, leading to significant internal rebellions. We find that while neither the ecological disasters nor the foreign incursions witnessed during the 19th century were sufficient on their own to bring down the Qing, when coupled with the rising internal socio-political stresses, they produced a rapid succession of triggering events that culminate...
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This article evaluates the pioneering works on Chinese historical phonology by Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), who is routinely credited as the first scholar to have produced a romanisation of the Chinese language for English speakers. This... more
This article evaluates the pioneering works on Chinese historical phonology by Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), who is routinely credited as the first scholar to have produced a romanisation of the Chinese language for English speakers. This article seeks to demonstrate that Marshman's transcriptional/reconstructive approach has led to an advancement in the field of Chinese historical phonology mainly on two aspects: (i) it led to the establishment of a general theory of phonetic description; (ii) it paved the way to the formulation of a mechanic and systematic model for the individuation of sound changes. For these reasons, Marshman must be regarded as the first real forerunner of modern historical Chinese phonology.
Research Interests:
Review of Alexander Vovin. The Footprints of the Buddha. The Text and the Language, Languages of Asia Series 25. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021. xviii, 190 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-44977-0 (hardback).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The history of several attempts, both long-range and short-range, at linking the Japanese language is surveyed and scrutinized in the present paper. Special attention is given to some earlier proposals which are largely ignored by current... more
The history of several attempts, both long-range and short-range, at linking the Japanese language is surveyed and scrutinized in the present paper. Special attention is given to some earlier proposals which are largely ignored by current scholarship, albeit it can be demonstrated that they still define certain long-range comparisons which continue to enjoy some popularity among modern scholars. The two most important hypotheses examined in the present paper are those linking Japanese (Japonic) with the languages that have been classified under the labels “Turanian” and “Altaic”. It is shown that the (Macro-)Altaic hypothesis, recently also called “Transeurasian”, has close historical connections with the Turanian hypothesis and its predecessors.
Research Interests:
The book under review serves as a significant contribution to the field of Trans-Himalayan linguistics. Designed as a vade mecum for readers with little linguistic background in these three languages, Nathan W. Hill’s work attempts, on... more
The book under review serves as a significant contribution to the field of Trans-Himalayan linguistics. Designed as a vade mecum for readers with little linguistic background in these three languages, Nathan W. Hill’s work attempts, on the one hand, a systematic exploration of the shared history of Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese, and, on the other, a general introduction to the reader interested in obtaining an overall understanding of the state of the art of the historical phonology of these three languages. Whilst it is acknowledged that the book in question has the potential to be a solid contribution to the field, it is also felt that few minor issues can be also addressed.
Research Interests:
The ‘discovery’ of early Chinese, and its subsequent reconstruction, have allowed the modern linguist to reach a wide range of firm conclusions about the Chinese language and its position within the Tibeto-Burman family. Reverend Joseph... more
The ‘discovery’ of early Chinese, and its subsequent reconstruction, have allowed the modern linguist to reach a wide range of firm conclusions about the Chinese language and its position within the Tibeto-Burman family. Reverend Joseph Edkins (1823–1905) should be credited with initial work on early Chinese as the ancestor language of the various Sinitic languages, and with its first partial reconstruction. This article is an attempt to supply at least a first historical guide for those interested in obtaining a better understanding of the implicit discovery of Sinitic and the first reconstructions of early Chinese.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Linguistics and VOWEL
is the hypothesis that postulates a bifurcate genetic relationship between Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman. The history of the subgrouping of its components as well as its overall membership are briefly though exhaustively summarized. Special... more
is the hypothesis that postulates a bifurcate genetic relationship between Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman. The history of the subgrouping of its components as well as its overall membership are briefly though exhaustively summarized. Special attention is given to the methodological shortcomings of a recent Bayesian approach that further professes to substantiate this bifurcate Sino-Tibetan model. Future directions and broader affinities of Trans-Himalayan are also discussed.
Research Interests:
This article evaluates the pioneering works on Chinese historical phonology by Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), who is routinely credited as the first scholar to have produced a romanisation of the Chinese language for English speakers. This... more
This article evaluates the pioneering works on Chinese historical phonology by Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), who is routinely credited as the first scholar to have produced a romanisation of the Chinese language for English speakers. This article seeks to demonstrate that Marshman's transcriptional/reconstructive approach has led to an advancement in the field of Chinese historical phonology mainly on two aspects: (i) it led to the establishment of a general theory of phonetic description; (ii) it paved the way to the formulation of a mechanic and systematic model for the individuation of sound changes. For these reasons, Marshman must be regarded as the first real forerunner of modern historical Chinese phonology.
Research Interests:
Summary The present paper seeks to discuss and clarify the notions of ‘Grades’ and ‘Calls’ of traditional Chinese rime tables, which are commonly related to the presence or absence of glides, and continue to be taken as a basis for... more
Summary The present paper seeks to discuss and clarify the notions of ‘Grades’ and ‘Calls’ of traditional Chinese rime tables, which are commonly related to the presence or absence of glides, and continue to be taken as a basis for reconstructing vocalic and semi-vocalic portions of the post-initial elements in medieval and pre-medieval Chinese syllables. It is argued that, based on the discussions of Grades/Calls by Chinese scholars of the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, they were probably conceived as degrees of stricture of the phonatory apparatus, with progressive narrowing of the articulatory aperture, from wide and open to narrow and close. It is concluded that the linguistic perspective underpinning the classification of “sounds” in the linguistic tradition of China appears to be remarkably close to concepts long held in other linguistic traditions.
This article is a continuation of the rst part published in JEAL 2/1. It explores several proposals of genealogical relationship that link Japanese to other linguistic families. In linguistics, genetic (or genealogical) relationship is... more
This article is a continuation of the rst part published in JEAL 2/1. It explores several proposals of genealogical relationship that link Japanese to other linguistic families. In linguistics, genetic (or genealogical) relationship is the relationship between languages that are members of the same language family. So called "long-range comparisons" (also called distant genetic relationships) are those proposed language families where we deal with results with lower steadiness in the statistical context and where disagreement persists among linguists. This article analyses some speculative long-range comparisons, as well as other short-range attempts to link Japanese to other languages such as Ainu and Korean.
Research Interests:
The history of several attempts, both long-range and short-range, at linking the Japanese language is surveyed and scrutinized in the present paper. Special attention is given to some earlier proposals which are largely ignored by current... more
The history of several attempts, both long-range and short-range, at linking the Japanese language is surveyed and scrutinized in the present paper. Special attention is given to some earlier proposals which are largely ignored by current scholarship, albeit it can be demonstrated that they still define certain long-range comparisons which continue to enjoy some popularity among modern scholars. The two most important hypotheses examined in the present paper are those linking Japanese (Japonic) with the languages that have been classified under the labels “Turanian” and “Altaic”. It is shown that the (Macro-)Altaic hypothesis, recently also called “Transeurasian”, has close historical connections with the Turanian hypothesis and its predecessors.
Research Interests:
The Ng Yap (formerly Sze Yap) dialects are routinely considered a branch of the Yue subfam-ily. This paper seeks to demonstrate that, contrary to this widespread opinion, these dialects show a wide range of distinctive features which, for... more
The Ng Yap (formerly Sze Yap) dialects are routinely considered a branch of the Yue subfam-ily. This paper seeks to demonstrate that, contrary to this widespread opinion, these dialects show a wide range of distinctive features which, for formal purposes of language/dialect classification, may warrant their separation from the Yue subfamily. This paper also discusses the criteria which are often at the basis of language subgrouping in the field of Chinese linguistics. Nevertheless, this work should be regarded only as an attempt of stimulating a further discussion into a topic which has been overlooked for far too long.
Research Interests:
This paper analyses and evaluates the alleged genetic relationship between Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian, proposed by the French sinologist Laurent Sagart. The aim of the following paper is neither to prove, nor to disprove the... more
This paper analyses and evaluates the alleged genetic relationship between Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian, proposed by the French sinologist Laurent Sagart. The aim of the following paper is neither to prove, nor to disprove the Sino-Tibeto-Austronesian superphylum but to argue whether the data presented in favour of this proposed genetic relationship do or do not stand the scrutiny of a historical linguist. This paper also considers the hypothetical homeland of Proto-Sino-Tibeto-Austronesian people, with an eye towards competing hypotheses , such as Sino-Indo-European. It is concluded that Sagart' s approach may be insufficient for proof of controversial cases of disputed genetic relationship, given the non-obvious relatedness of the languages he is comparing.
Research Interests:
Reverend Joseph Edkins (1823–1905) should be credited with initial work on early Chinese as the ancestor language of the various Sinitic languages, and with its first partial reconstruction.
Research Interests:
This paper analyzes and evaluates the linguistic ideas of the British Protestant missionary Joseph Edkins (1823–1905), as well as the linguistic trends of his time, in order to recognize the merits and the achievements in the field of... more
This paper analyzes and evaluates the linguistic ideas of the British Protestant missionary Joseph Edkins (1823–1905), as well as the linguistic trends of his time, in order to recognize the merits and the achievements in the field of historical Chinese phonology. Furthermore, this paper seeks to demonstrate that many ideas about the sound system of Old Chinese were posited or at least presaged by Edkins in his philological works, where the earliest attempt to reconstruct the old language of the ancient Chinese classics took place for the first time.
Research Interests:
在Luschützky（1991，1997）的基礎上，本文主要關注語言重建與“類型現實主義”的關係，旨在說明後者應作為驗證重建語言模型的基本先決條件。更具體地說，本文從語言類型學的角度對古漢語中小舌輔音的重建進行了分析和評估。小舌輔音由潘悟雲教授（1997）首先構擬得出，然後由白一平和沙加爾（2014）進一步調整和擴展。但從語言類型學的角度來看，這套小舌輔音的構擬更像人為創造的系統，不符合類型學規律。而事實上，這一套小舌輔音的構擬也是不必要的，因為學界已經對小舌輔音所要解決的... more
在Luschützky（1991，1997）的基礎上，本文主要關注語言重建與“類型現實主義”的關係，旨在說明後者應作為驗證重建語言模型的基本先決條件。更具體地說，本文從語言類型學的角度對古漢語中小舌輔音的重建進行了分析和評估。小舌輔音由潘悟雲教授（1997）首先構擬得出，然後由白一平和沙加爾（2014）進一步調整和擴展。但從語言類型學的角度來看，這套小舌輔音的構擬更像人為創造的系統，不符合類型學規律。而事實上，這一套小舌輔音的構擬也是不必要的，因為學界已經對小舌輔音所要解決的問題得出了一個更為符合類型學規律的方案，即白一平（1992）和許思萊（2009）。作者認為，遵循類型學研究的成果，應當作為比較及內部重構工作的前提。
