David Abercrombie (19 December 1909 – 4 July 1992) was a British

phonetician Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

who established the Department of Phonetics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He was a student of

J. R. Firth John Rupert Firth (June 17, 1890 in Keighley, Yorkshire – December 14, 1960 in Lindfield, West Sussex), commonly known as J. R. Firth, was an English linguist and a leading figure in British linguistics during the 1950s. Education and career F ...

and Daniel Jones. He retired as Professor of Phonetics in 1980 and died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

at the age of 82.

Biography

Abercrombie was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

on 19 December 1909. His father,

Lascelles Abercrombie Lascelles Abercrombie, (9 January 1881 – 27 October 1938) was a British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets". After the First World War he worked as a professor of English literature in a number of English universities, w ...

was a poet and his mother was Catherine, née Gwatkin, one of his three younger siblings was

Michael Abercrombie Michael Abercrombie FRS (14 August 1912 – 28 May 1979) was a British cell biologist and embryologist. He was one of four children of the poet Lascelles Abercrombie. Early life Michael was born at Ryton near Dymock in Gloucestershire on 14 A ...

, biologist. He grew up in Ryton, Gloucestershire, before returning to Cheshire on the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and moving to Leeds in 1922, when his father became the chair of English Literature at

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. He attended Leeds Grammar School as a child before studying at English at Leeds University. He went on to complete his post graduate education in phonetics at University College London under Daniel Jones. In 1948, he gained a position at the University of Edinburgh teaching Phonetics by 1964 he was appointed a professor.

References

Bibliography

*Abercrombie, David (1964). ''English phonetic texts''. London: Faber and Faber. *Abercrombie, David (1965). ''Studies in phonetics and linguistics''. London: Oxford University Press. *Abercrombie, David (1967). ''Elements of general phonetics''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. *Abercrombie, David (1991). ''Fifty years in phonetics''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. *

External links

* * Phoneticians Linguists from the United Kingdom Academics of the University of Edinburgh 1909 births 1992 deaths 20th-century linguists {{UK-linguist-stub