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Y.R. Chao

Yuen Ren Chao
Zhao Yuanren.jpg
Chao as a young man (c. 1916)
Native name 趙元任
Born (1892-11-03)3 November 1892
Tianjin, Qing Empire
Died 25 February 1982(1982-02-25) (aged 89)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Citizenship American (from 1954)
Nationality Chinese
Institutions University of California, Berkeley
Harvard University
Tsinghua University
Education Harvard University (Ph.D.)
Cornell University (B.A.)
Notable students Jerry Norman
Anne O. Yue-Hashimoto
Known for Gwoyeu Romatzyh system, Mandarin Primer, Chinese dialect studies
Spouse Buwei Yang Chao (m. 1921–81)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 趙元任
Simplified Chinese 赵元任

Yuen Ren Chao (Chinese: 趙元任; pinyin: Zhào Yuánrèn; 3 November 1892 – 25 February 1982) was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born and raised in China, then attended university in the United States, where he earned degrees from Cornell University and Harvard University. A naturally-gifted polyglot and linguist, his Mandarin Primer was one of the most widely used Mandarin Chinese textbooks in the 20th century. He invented the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization scheme, which can, unlike pinyin and other romanization systems, transcribe Mandarin Chinese pronunciation without needing diacritics to indicate words' tone.

Born in Tianjin with ancestry in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, Chao went to the United States with a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship in 1910 to study mathematics and physics at Cornell University, where he was a classmate and lifelong friend of Hu Shih, the leader of the New Culture Movement. He then became interested in philosophy, and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1918 with a dissertation entitled "Continuity: Study in Methodology".


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