History of the Chinese language, history of dialects; non-Chinese languages of China; methodology of historical linguistics; semantic theory; distant language relationships.
wbaxter@umich.edu
Office Information:
Asian Languages and Cultures
6111 South Thayer Building
phone: 734.763.3704
Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Education/Degree:
Ph.D., Cornell University, 1977
About
Professor Baxter specializes in historical linguistics; his book A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology (Mouton DeGruyter, 1992) presents a reconstruction of the pronunciation of Old Chinese-the language of the earliest Chinese literary texts. His recent publications deal with the history of Chinese and its dialects, linguistic approaches to early Chinese literature, and the methodology of historical linguistics. He holds a join appointment with the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.
Affiliation(s)
- Asian Languages & Cultures
- Center for Chinese Studies
Field(s) of Study
- Historical linguistics, Chinese linguistics, history of linguistics
