Alfred C. Gimson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred Charles Gimson (7 June 1917 - 22 April 1985) was an English phonetician. His surname is pronounced ['gɪmsn] (with a hard, or velar, g, as in Google ['gu:gl]). He was known to generations of students and colleagues simply as 'Gim'.

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 is still regarded as the recognised authority on Received Pronunciation. He succeeded Jones as editor of the English Pronouncing Dictionary, making significant changes to its content and presentation.