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Yiyu – An Indexed Critical Edition of a Sixteenth Century Sino-Mongolian Glossary (Languages of Asia): 5
Author(s): Akos B. Apatoczky (Author)
- Publisher: Global Oriental Ltd
- Publication Date: 15 Oct. 2009
- Language: English
- Print length: 258 pages
- ISBN-10: 1905246021
- ISBN-13: 9781905246021
Book Description
The Yiyu (Beilu yiyu) – a Chinese-Middle Mongol glossary included in the Dengtan Bijiu (a military handbook for generals compiled during the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty) – is an important source regarding the history of the Mongolian language. The manuscript version of Yiyu is a copy made for Louis Ligeti on his first expedition to China (1928-31) and is now conserved by the Oriental Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In his edition the author reconstructs the often chaotic material of the Yiyu with the help of other available Yiyu texts. Next to its contribution in transcription and reconstruction, this work is indispensable in terms of linguistic analysis, dealing with much investigated issues of Middle Mongol (e.g. suffixes, unstable -n nouns, representation of the initial h-, loanwords in the lexicon, lack or presence of intervocalic velar fricatives, etc.). A full word index, a classical Mongolian reference wordlist and four other indexes are included in this edition as well as the facsimile photocopies of both the manuscript and a block print version of the glossary.
Editorial Reviews
Review
The publication of this valuable work is a welcome event in Mongolian Studies. This volume will be a useful tool for all those dealing wiht the Middle Mongolian language. Ákos Apatóczky deserves praise for his thorough work. As a student of Sino-Mongolian Studies he is a worthy follower of the path of his outstanding masters, Louis Ligeti and György Kara. – Alice Sárközi
About the Author
After obtaining his first MA degree from the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences in Mongol Linguistics, Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky was offered an academic fellowship for young researchers at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences where he started his work with Middle Mongolian sources in Chinese script. Having spent some semesters at Chinese and Taiwanese Universities he finished his MA studies in Chinese as well and kept teaching his classes at his Alma Mater where he received his Ph.D. degree in 2006. He became a freelance lecturer the same year.
