Bernhard Karlgren (1889 - 1978) was a Swedish sinologist. Karlgren was first to use European-style principles of historical linguistics to study the Chinese language, and reconstructed the phonetics of Middle Chinese. He also suggested that at the very earliest stage recoverable, the personal pronouns were inflected for case.

His most influential works include:

  • Études sur la phonologie chinoise. 1915-1926.
  • Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese 1923.
  • Grammata Serica Recensa. 1957