A. C. Gimson

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A. C. Gimson
Born(1917-06-07)7 June 1917
Died22 April 1985(1985-04-22) (aged 67)
NationalityBritish
Academic background
Alma materUniversity College London
InfluencesDaniel Jones
Academic work
DisciplinePhonetician
InstitutionsUniversity College London
InfluencedJohn C. Wells

Alfred Charles "Gim" Gimson (/ˈɡɪmsən/;[1] 7 June 1917 – 22 April 1985[2]) was an English phonetician.

Life[edit]

Gimson was educated at Emanuel School London, and University College London, where later in 1966 he became Professor of Phonetics, and in 1971 head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics.

He was a pupil and colleague of Daniel Jones, and is known for having updated and extended Jones's description of standard British English pronunciation (Received Pronunciation, or RP). Through his Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, first published in 1962, Gimson became an authority on Received Pronunciation. He succeeded Jones as editor of the English Pronouncing Dictionary, making significant changes to its content and presentation. He was known to generations of students and colleagues simply as 'Gim'.

Books[edit]

  • Arnold, G.F. and Gimson, A.C (1965). English Pronunciation Practice. London: University of London Press
  • Gimson, A.C (1962). Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Arnold. Fourth edition (1989) revised by Ramsaran, S.; sixth edition (2001) revised by Cruttenden, A.
  • Gimson, A.C (1975). A Practical Course of English Pronunciation: A Perceptual Approach. London: Arnold[3]
  • Gimson, A.C (ed.) (1977). English Pronouncing Dictionary. London: Dent

References[edit]

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180
  2. ^ Wells, J. C. (1985). "Professor A. C. Gimson 1917–1985". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 15 (1): 2–4. doi:10.1017/S0025100300002875.
  3. ^ Lewis, J. Windsor (June 1976). "A. C. Gimson, A Practical Course of English Pronunciation. (Pp. viii + 80. Edward Arnold: London, 1975.)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 6 (1): 35–39. doi:10.1017/S0025100300001481. ISSN 1475-3502.

Further reading[edit]

  • MacMahon, M. K. C. (23 September 2004). "Gimson, Alfred Charles [Gim]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46942.
  • Wells, J. C. (1985). "Obituary: Professor A. C. Gimson". International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. 20 (2): 117–118. doi:10.3109/13682828509012253.
  • Ramsaran, Susan, ed. (2015) [1990]. Studies in the Pronunciation of English: A Commemorative Volume in Honour of A.C. Gimson. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315688367. ISBN 978-1-138-91845-0.
  • "Obituary: Professor A. C. Gimson: Authority on Pronunciation of English". The Times. 27 April 1985. p. 10.

External links[edit]