Stanley Ellis
Encyclopedia
Stanley Ellis was an English linguistics
scholar and broadcaster, and an authority on English regional dialects.
Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, he attended Grange Grammar School and obtained a scholarship to study at Corpus Christi College
, Cambridge. His studies were interrupted by World War II
, during which he was a navigator in the RAF. After national service, part of which was spent in India, he read English at Leeds University, with a master's thesis on the Lincolnshire dialect.
He worked as principal researcher under Harold Orton
on the four volume Survey of English Dialects
. Ellis performed much of the field work this entailed, and many of his recordings and interviews are housed in the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture. He went on to be a lecturer and senior lecturer in the School of English at Leeds.
He was the first person to provide expert evidence for speaker identification in an English court, and in June 1979, he correctly identified that a tape released by police that purported to be from the Yorkshire Ripper was by a hoaxer (nicknamed Wearside Jack
by the press), as the accent was that of someone from an area a significant distance from the crime scene. However, the police disregarded his warning. The hoaxer was finally identified in 2006, and shown to have lived his life in the region Ellis had identified.
After taking early retirement from his university post, Ellis continued to provided linguistic expertise as an expert witness in court cases.
From the 1980s, he presented a series of programmes on dialect for BBC Radio 4
, entitled "Take a Place Like ..." and "Talk of the Town, Talk of the Country", and later was a host of radio phone-ins, discussing dialect and origins of names and placenames with callers, as well as contributing to programmes such as The Routes of English.
He was awarded honorary life membership of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics in 2004.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
scholar and broadcaster, and an authority on English regional dialects.
Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, he attended Grange Grammar School and obtained a scholarship to study at Corpus Christi College
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
, Cambridge. His studies were interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, during which he was a navigator in the RAF. After national service, part of which was spent in India, he read English at Leeds University, with a master's thesis on the Lincolnshire dialect.
He worked as principal researcher under Harold Orton
Harold Orton
Harold Orton was an English university lecturer and dialectologist, best remembered as co-founder of the Survey of English Dialects . Orton developed the questionnaire for the survey together with Eugen Dieth...
on the four volume Survey of English Dialects
Survey of English Dialects
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...
. Ellis performed much of the field work this entailed, and many of his recordings and interviews are housed in the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture. He went on to be a lecturer and senior lecturer in the School of English at Leeds.
He was the first person to provide expert evidence for speaker identification in an English court, and in June 1979, he correctly identified that a tape released by police that purported to be from the Yorkshire Ripper was by a hoaxer (nicknamed Wearside Jack
Wearside Jack
Wearside Jack is the nickname given to John Samuel Humble , a hoaxer who pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s. In 2006 he was convicted for perverting the course of justice.-Taunting letters:...
by the press), as the accent was that of someone from an area a significant distance from the crime scene. However, the police disregarded his warning. The hoaxer was finally identified in 2006, and shown to have lived his life in the region Ellis had identified.
After taking early retirement from his university post, Ellis continued to provided linguistic expertise as an expert witness in court cases.
From the 1980s, he presented a series of programmes on dialect for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, entitled "Take a Place Like ..." and "Talk of the Town, Talk of the Country", and later was a host of radio phone-ins, discussing dialect and origins of names and placenames with callers, as well as contributing to programmes such as The Routes of English.
He was awarded honorary life membership of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics in 2004.
External links
- Stanley Ellis - Daily Telegraph obituary