Keith Allan, FAHA (born 27 March 1943) is an Australian

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and Emeritus Professor at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

. Allan sees language as a form of social interactive behaviour and believes this to be an important consideration in any thorough account of meaning in

natural language A natural language or ordinary language is a language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages ...

. While he is interested in all aspects of meaning in language, his main interests are

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

, linguistic meta-theory and the history and philosophy of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Biography

Early life

After schooling in London, Allan went to do drama at

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, but once there, took up linguistics instead, receiving a BA (Hons) in 1964. From Leeds, he went to

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and then to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

as a research associate where he completed an MLitt in 1970 and a Ph.D. presenting the thesis "Singularity and plurality in English noun phrases: a study in grammar and pragmatics". After three years as a lecturer in the English language at

Ahmadu Bello University The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is a public research university located in Zaria, Nigeria, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was opened in 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria. The university has four colleges, three schools, 18 faculties, ...

in Nigeria, he returned to the UK as a lecturer in linguistics at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. Then after three more years at the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

in Kenya, he signed up for a doctorate at Edinburgh on NP countability, receiving his PhD in 1978. He arrived at

in 1978, where – but for a year in Tucson at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

and a few odd months elsewhere – he has stayed until his retirement in 2011.

Career

Currently the co-editor of '' Australian Journal of Linguistics'' with Jean Mulder, Allan has published articles in refereed journals, books and conference proceedings. He was semantics editor for both editions of the ''International Encyclopedia of Linguistics'', as well as section editor for "Logical and Lexical Semantics" in the ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics''. He also edited the 2001 and 2006 conference proceedings for the Australian Linguistic Society. In 2003, Allan received the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

"For service to Australian society and the humanities in linguistics and philology". In the early years of Open Learning Australia, Allan helped develop some

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

modules at both undergraduate and MA level. At this time too, he made significant contributions to the distance education modules for the MA in

Applied Linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

at Monash University, revising several modules in later years for online delivery.

Selected publications

Journal articles

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Books

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References

External links

Monash University Staff Page
http://users.monash.edu.au/~kallan/homepage.html ersonal page {{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Keith Linguists from Australia 21st-century linguists Semanticists Linguistics journal editors 1943 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Leeds Academic staff of Ahmadu Bello University Academic staff of the University of Nairobi Academic staff of Monash University University of Arizona faculty