Young Kyun Oh graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a doctorate in Chinese linguistics (historical phonology) after his master's degree in philosophy at Sogang University, Seoul, Korea. He works on the cultural connection among East Asian societies, with particular foci on the language and the book. His ultimate interest lies in how cultures interact to influence each other, how language, books, and other kind of media function as vehicles of cultural transmission and exchange, and how different geographical regions come to be seen as forming a continuous cultural space.
He published a book, "Engraving Virtue: the Print History of a Premodern Moral Primer" (Brill, 2013), which explores the print history of the "Samgang Haengsil-to" [Illustrated Guide to the Three Relations], one of the most frequently printed, reprinted, reedited, and distributed texts in Choson Korean (1398-1910). In this, he examined how the canonical Sinitic-Confucian ethics of filial piety, loyalty, and uxorial devotion planted their roots in the Korean society through books and literacy. His next projects include the cultural history of books in Korea, and the development and spread of encyclopedic knowledge in East Asia from the 14th to 19th century.
Education
Ph.D. Chinese linguistics (historical phonology), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sino-Korean cultural connection, history of books and print culture in Korea and East Asia, Chinese linguistics, history of Chinese, and history of Korean.
Publications
Young Kyun Oh. Engraving Virtue: The Printing History of a Premodern Korean Moral Primer. (2013).
Young Kyun Oh. "Printing the Samgang Haengsil-to [Illustrated Guide to the Three Relationships], a Premodern Korean Moral Primer.". Journal of East Asian Publishing and Society (2011).
Yong-gyun Oh [Oh, Young Kyun]. Ryuso ui songnip kwa Unbu kunok" [The Yunfu qunyu and the formation of leishu (Categorized Documents)]. Ch’aek ui munhwasa-Unbu gunok kwa Taedong Unbu gunok [A cultural history of books-the Yunfu qunyu and the Taedong unbu gunok] (In Korean) (2010).
Young Kyun Oh. An Etymological Puzzle in Linguistic Fossils: Bat-Rats or Flying Rats?. Duoshijiao xia de Zhongguo yuyan yu wenhua tantao [Inquiries into Chinese Language and Culture from Diverse Perspectives] (2010).
Oh Yông-gyun [Young Kyun Oh]. "Sa wa t’ô, kûrigo shinhwa ûi kûrût" [Shè and t’ô, and the vessel of myths]. Tong-Ashia munhwa wa yesul [Art in East Asia] (2008).
Young Oh. "Two Shilla Intellectuals in Tang: Cases of Early Sino-Korean Cultural Connection". T'ang Studies (2008).
Young Kyun Oh. Dialectal variation from China or Internal sound change in Korea?. Zhongguo beifang fangyan yu wenhua [Dialects and culture of northern China] (2008).
Oh, Young Kyun (Author) . The Translation of Chinese philosophical texts in Korea: the next generation. One into many: Translation and the dissemination of Classical Chinese Literature (2003).
