Sergei Yakhontov


Sergey E. Yakhontov was a Russian linguist, an expert in Chinese, comparative, and general linguistics. He was the son of astronomer Nataliya Sergeevna Samoilova-Yakhontova. In 1950 he was graduated from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad State University. In 1962–1963 he underwent training in Beijing and visited Nanyang University from 1971 to 1972. He taught at the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University.
Yakhontov studied under Alexander Dragunov and developed on many ideas of his teacher, creating the Leningrad school of Sino-Tibetan linguistics. He published dozens of articles, many translated into English, Chinese, and Japanese. In particular, he made major contributions to Old Chinese phonology, proposing the *l medial and a rounded vowel *o, which led to the six vowel system that is now accepted by most researchers.

Works