John Samuel Kenyon (July 26, 1874 – September 6, 1959) was an American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. Born in

Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Clevelan ...

, he graduated from

Hiram College Hiram College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute by Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The college is nonsectarian and coe ...

in 1898 and taught there as a professor of English from 1916 to 1944, when he retired and became an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor until his death. Together with

Thomas A. Knott Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March ...

, he wrote ''

A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English ''A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English'', also referred to as Kenyon and Knott, was first published by the G. & C. Merriam Company in 1944, and written by John Samuel Kenyon and Thomas A. Knott. It provides a phonemic transcription of Gen ...

'' (1944). Kenyon had also earlier published ''American Pronunciation'' (1924) and served as the consulting editor of

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...

to the second edition of ''

Webster's New International Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

'' in his career as a pioneering expert on the study of American English, which earned him the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

"the dean of American phoneticians".

Works

*''American Pronunciation'' (1924/1950), Tenth Edition, Ann Arbor: George Wahr. *''A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English'', with Thomas A. Knott (1944/1953) " KK", Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

Articles

* 'Ye and You in the King James Version.' Modern Language Association, PMLA , 1914, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1914), pp. 453-471.

External links

Brief profile from the Hiram College archives
1874 births 1959 deaths Linguists from the United States Phoneticians Hiram College alumni {{US-linguist-stub