Daniel Kane (linguist)
Encyclopedia
Daniel Kane is an Australian linguist, one of the world's foremost authorities on the extinct Jurchen
and Khitan language
s and their scripts.
He graduated from he University of Melbourne in 1971 with First Class Honours in Chinese and was granted a PhD scholarship to the Australian National University. His PhD was conferred in 1975 with a thesis on the Jurchen language, a language related to Manchu
spoken during the Jin Dynasty
in North China. He is also MA (Asian Studies) from he Australian National University (1976).
Parallel to his academic career, Dr. Kane has also had a career in diplomacy. He joined the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in 1976 and was posted to Beijing during the early part of the reform period and particularly the period of the Democracy Wall. He was also Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Beijing during the 90s.
Academically he was lecturer in Chinese at the University of Melbourne in 1981 and visiting scholar at the Department of Chinese at Peking University
in 1988 and 1993. Since 1997 he has been Professor of Chinese at Macquarie University
in Sydney
.
He was widowed in 2010 when his wife, the brilliant Shanghai
scholar of Chinese modernization, Yè Xiǎoqīng (葉曉青), died of cancer, after risking her initial recovery from an early diagnosis of cancer to bear their son Ian (易安 (Yìān).
Jurchen language
Jurchen language is an extinct language. It was spoken by Jurchen people of eastern Manchuria, the creators of the Jin Empire in the northeastern China of the 12th–13th centuries. It is classified as a Southwestern Tungusic language.-Writing:...
and Khitan language
Khitan language
The Khitan language is a now-extinct language once spoken by the Khitan people . Khitan is generally deemed to be genetically linked to the Mongolic languages. It was written using two mutually exclusive writing systems known as the Khitan large script and the Khitan small script...
s and their scripts.
Biography
Daniel Kane (Kāng Dān:康丹) was born in 1948 in Melbourne. Bereaved of his father when young, circumstances constrained him to cut his education short and enter the work force at 15. He left school and joined a bank, working as a teller. There he discovered that he had a talent for languages. Melbourne was a magnet for immigrants from over the world and he found that when they came into the bank, with little effort he could communicate with them. He undertook further education in his spare time and matriculated to the University of Melbourne with high honours in several languages.He graduated from he University of Melbourne in 1971 with First Class Honours in Chinese and was granted a PhD scholarship to the Australian National University. His PhD was conferred in 1975 with a thesis on the Jurchen language, a language related to Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
spoken during the Jin Dynasty
Jin Dynasty
Jin Dynasty may refer to:* Jin Dynasty , Chinese dynasty, subdivided into the Western and Eastern Jin periods* Later Jin Dynasty , one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China.* Jin Dynasty , a Jurchen kingdom in northern China* Later Jīn Dynasty, or...
in North China. He is also MA (Asian Studies) from he Australian National University (1976).
Parallel to his academic career, Dr. Kane has also had a career in diplomacy. He joined the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in 1976 and was posted to Beijing during the early part of the reform period and particularly the period of the Democracy Wall. He was also Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Beijing during the 90s.
Academically he was lecturer in Chinese at the University of Melbourne in 1981 and visiting scholar at the Department of Chinese at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
in 1988 and 1993. Since 1997 he has been Professor of Chinese at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
He was widowed in 2010 when his wife, the brilliant Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
scholar of Chinese modernization, Yè Xiǎoqīng (葉曉青), died of cancer, after risking her initial recovery from an early diagnosis of cancer to bear their son Ian (易安 (Yìān).
External links
Scholarly
- Daniel Kane 1989. The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. (Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 153). Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. Bloomington, Indiana. ISBN 0-933070-23-3.
- Daniel Kane 2009. The Kitan Language and Script (Handbook of Oriental Studies series, Section 8: Uralic & Central Asian Studies). ISBN 978-90-04-16829-9.
Popular
- Daniel Kane 2006. The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0804838534, 9780804838535.