Bernhard Karlgren | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | |||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 20 October 1978 Stockholm, Sweden | (aged 89)||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Uppsala University | ||||||||||||||||||||
Known for | Pioneering reconstructions of Middle Chinese and Old Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||
Scientific career | |||||||||||||||||||||
Fields | Ancient Chinese linguistics, literature | ||||||||||||||||||||
Institutions | Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities University of Gothenburg | ||||||||||||||||||||
Academic advisors | Johan August Lundell | ||||||||||||||||||||
Notable students | Hans Bielenstein Göran Malmqvist | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 高本漢 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 高本汉 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hanyu Pinyin | Gāo Běnhàn | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈbæ̌ːɳaɖ ˈkɑ̂ːɭɡreːn]; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducted large surveys of the varieties of Chinese and studied historical information on rhyming in ancient Chinese poetry, then used them to create the first ever complete reconstructions of what are now called Middle Chinese and Old Chinese.