Wolfgang Behr#
| Membership Number: | 5333 |
| Membership type: | ORDINARY |
| Section: | LINGUISTIC STUDIES |
| Elected: | 2020 |
| Main Country of Residence: | SWITZERLAND |
| Homepage(s): | https://www.aoi.uzh.ch/en/sinologie/persons/professoren/behr.html |
| ORCID: | 0000-0001-6876-5163 |
| Twitter: | @behrwolf |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2018 - date Dean of Research, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- 9. - 11.2017 Visiting Professor & Distinguished Scholar in Residence, The Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Hong Kong
- 2015 - date Full Professor & Traditional China Chair, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- 2008 - 2015 “Extraordinarius” (Associate Professor) & Traditional China Chair, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- 3.2005 - 6.2005 Research Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- 1998 - 2008, “Akademischer Rat” (Reader), Chinese Philosophy and History Section, Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
- 1.1998 - 11.1998 Research Fellow, International Institute for Asian Studies, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
- 1991 - 1997 Institute of Sinology, Assistant Lecturer, J.W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
Fields of Scholarship
- Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics
- Premodern Chinese dialectology and sociolinguistics
- Comparative theory of complex non-alphabetic writing systems, notational iconicity
- Historical semantics and conceptual history beyond “Standard Average European”
- History and epistemological foundations of Chinese philology
- External contacts of Old and Middle Chinese
- Old Chinese phonology, morphology, paleography
- Formal properties of Chinese poetic language and artificial prose
- Relationships between Chinese etymology, material culture and archaeology
- Sanskrit-Chinese translation & lexicography
Honours and Awards
- 2020 Advisory Board, Old world. Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia (Beijing & Hong Kong)
- 2017 Visiting Professor & Distinguished Scholar in Residence, The Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Hong Kong (Sep.-Nov.)
- 2016 Advisory Board, Journal of Asian History (Wiesbaden)
- 2015 President, Swiss Asia Society
- 2014 Wilson T.S. Wang New Method College Guest Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (April)
- 2014 Visiting Research Fellow, Max-Plank-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany (May-June)
- 2013 Advisory Board, Jao Tsung-i Bulletin (Hong Kong)
- 2013 Advisory Board, Asian and African Studies (Bratislava)
- 2010 Editorial Board, Worlds of East Asia (Berlin)
- 2010 - 2016 Executive Board, European Association for Chinese Studies (also: Linguistics panel convenor 2004 - 2010)
- 2009 Board of Directors, Li Fang-kuei Society for Chinese Linguistics
- 2009 Advisory Board, T’oung Pao (Leiden)
- 2005 Advisory Board, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiqtuities (Stockholm)
- 2005 Advisory and Editorial Board, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie-Orientale (Paris)
- 2005 Research Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden (March - June)
- 2005 Editorial Board, Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics (Leiden & Hong Kong)
- 2005 - 2017 Advisory Board, Languages of Asia (London)
- 2004 Founding Member: European Association for the Study of Chinese Manuscripts
- 2003 - 2007 President: European Association of Chinese Linguistics (also, Secretary 2001 - 2003)
- 1997 - 1999 Executive Board: International Association of Chinese Linguistics
