Alfred Charles "Gim" Gimson (; 7 June 1917 – 22 April 1985) was an
English phonetician.
Life
Gimson was educated at
Emanuel School
Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...
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
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...
, 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
*
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
* Gimson, A.C (ed.) (1977). ''
English Pronouncing Dictionary''. London: Dent
References
Further reading
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External links
A biography, by John Ch. Wells, Gimson’s successor at University College, London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gimson, A. C.
1917 births
1985 deaths
Linguists from the United Kingdom
Phoneticians
People educated at Emanuel School
Academics of University College London
20th-century linguists