William J. Gedney

William J. Gedney ( born April 4, 1915 in Orchards, Washington, † November 14, 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) was an American linguist Southeast Asian languages ​​and Thaiist.

After graduating, he at Whitman College summa cum laude in 1935, Gedney worked as an English teacher in Oregon and in Washington State. In the school-free summer months he occupied himself seriously with the linguistics, but he was drafted City at the outbreak of World War II for the Army Language Unit in New York, where he worked with the Thai language. At the same time he went to a Sanskrit studies at Yale University.

1947 Gedney graduated from his PhD and moved to Thailand, where he continued his studies on the Thai language and literature at some of the most important scholars of the country. At the same time he started to build a collection of Thai literature, which should grow to more than 14,000 copies. This small library he gave in 1975 at the University of Michigan. In the following two decades Gedney worked on the Kam - Tai languages ​​, and led numerous projects at the moment. He sought in particular many representatives of the less spoken languages ​​in this family in Southeast Asia and southern China to capture the characteristics of these Sprachzen. He was known for the accuracy of its records to the tonal and phonological peculiarities of those languages.

All in all, Gedney worked more than 22 languages ​​such as Saek, Lue and Yay, he explored deeply. His findings, he stepped down in an eight-volume series, published by the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan.

1980 Gedney retired from the faculty of the University of Michigan, after he had worked 1972-1975 as Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics. Throughout his career, Gedney worked in the Linguistic Society of America, the American Oriental Society of the Siam Society of Association for Asian Studies and the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society. In 1981, he served as vice president of the American Oriental Society in 1982 as its president.

By focusing on data and his extensive knowledge of the Kam - Tai languages ​​Gedney was one of the outstanding scientists of the comparative- historical research of the Siamese, Thai language, and other Tai languages. But his influence extended far beyond linguistics. Researchers from other disciplines, such as history, political science, art history and anthropology, seeking his advice.

William J. Gedney died on November 14, 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

  • Linguist
  • Thai Studies
  • Americans
  • Born in 1915
  • Died in 1999
  • Man
Washington (state) Saek language Dean (education) Integrated Authority File
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