Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz (16 March 1840 – 11 December 1893) was a German general linguist and sinologist. His Chinesische Grammatik (1881), according to a critic, "remains until today recognized as probably the finest overall grammatical survey of the Classical Chinese language to date." (Harbsmeier 1995:333)
From 1860 to 1864, following his father's steps, he studied law, administration, and linguistics at Jena. In 1864 he entered the civil service of SaxonyatDresden. He continued his study of oriental languages at Leipzig. He married Alexandra von Rothkirch in 1872. His father Hans died at the family castle of Lemnitz in 1874.
In 1889, he divorced, and switched to the University of Berlin. In 1891, he remarried, and published Die Sprachwissenschaft ("Linguistics"). His Handbuch zur Aufnahme fremder Sprachen followed one year later.
Gabelentz criticized the Beijing dialect which dominated the linguistic scene in China. A more suitable Chinese dialect in Gabelentz's view for science was the Nanjing dialect rather than Beijing.[1]
Only in recent times has the northern dialect, pek-kuān-hoá, in the form [spoken] in the capital, kīng-hoá, begun to strive for general acceptance, and the struggle seems to be decided in its favor. It is preferred by the officials and studied by the European diplomats. Scholarship must not follow this practise. The Peking dialect is phonetically the poorest of all dialects and therefore has the most homophones. This is why it is most unsuitable for scientific purposes.[2]
^Elisabeth Kaske (2008). The politics of language in Chinese education, 1895–1919. Sinica Leidensia. Vol. 82 (illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 70. ISBN978-90-04-16367-6. Retrieved 10 February 2012 – via Google Books. By contrast, many Western sinologists and missionaries remained skeptical of the choice of the Beijing dialect. Henri Cordier (1848–1925) wrote in his obituary to Thomas Wade that he opposed this step.259 Georg von Der Gabelentz, professor of East Asian languages in Leipzig, whose Chinesische Grammatik published in 1881 excluded the modern spoken language, wrote that the Nanjing dialect should be adopted for scientific purposes:
Elffers, Els (2008). "Georg von der Gabelentz and the rise of General Linguistics", in Ontheven aan de tijd. Linguïstisch-historische studies voor Jan Noordegraaf bij zijn zestigste verjaardag. Ed. by Lo van Driel & Theo Janssen. Stichting Neerlandistiek VU, Amsterdam & Nodus Publikationen, Münster, pp. 191–200.
Harbsmeier, Christoph (1995). "John Webb and the Early History of the Study of the Classical Chinese Language in the West", in Ming Wilson & John Cayley (ed.s), Europe Studies China: Papers from an International Conference on the History of European Sinology, London: Han-Shan Tang Books, pp. 297–338.
Honey, David B. (2001). Incense at the Altar: Pioneering Sinologists and the Development of Classical Chinese Philology. New Haven: American Oriental Society.
