The ‘French Connection’ – Chinese Linguists in Paris

Five linguists (Liu Bannong, Chao Yuen Ren, Wang Li, Chen Dingmin and Gao Mingkai) studied at Paris University during the 1920s and 1930s and shaped Chinese linguistics decisively. This paper frames them as “go-betweens” (Raj 2017) who were able to travel between the two spaces of circulation, Paris and Chinese academia. Specifically, this paper examines how their roles changed from student to expert, as reflected in their respective relationships with the French professors, how their studies in Paris contributed to their shaping of Chinese linguistics, especially phonetics and grammar, and why this ‘French Connection’ may have been overlooked up to now.