John Okell
John Okell | |
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| Born | 1934 Brighton, England |
| Died | (aged 86) |
| Nationality | British |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (B.A., M.A.) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Linguist |
| Institutions | SOAS (1959–1999) |
| Main interests | Burma studies |
John William Alan Okell OBE (/oʊˈkɛl/; 1934 – 3 August 2020) was a British linguist notable for his expertise in the field of Burma studies.
Life
[edit]Okell was born in Brighton and was educated at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, where he read Literae Humaniores ("Greats").[1][2]
In 1959, an inquiry about language courses through the British Foreign Office led to his joining the School of Oriental and African Studies as a trainee lecturer in Burmese: "They were looking for someone to be taught Burmese. I applied to the program as I was interested in languages and they chose me and trained me."[3][2]
At SOAS, he studied Burmese with Hla Pe and Anna J. Allott, phonetics with R. K. Sprigg and N. C. Scott, and general linguistics with R. H. Robins and Eugénie Henderson.[2] After eighteen months of study, he travelled to Burma, where he spent a year (1960–1961) immersing himself in the country's language and culture.[3][4] He returned for another year-long visit in 1969.[4]
He retired from SOAS in 1999, although he remained a research associate in the Department of South East Asia.[5] Following his retirement, he continued his teaching of Burmese through short courses convened in a variety of places, most notably Chiang Mai and Yangon.[3][2]
In 2014, in the Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to UK/Burma relations.[6][2]
In 2016, SOAS awarded him an honorary doctorate.[7]
He was the creator of the Avalaser Burmese computer font and the Chairman of the Britain-Burma Society.[4]
He died on 3 August 2020 at the age of eighty-six.[8][9][10]
Notable works
[edit]Books
[edit]- Okell, John (1969). A Reference Grammar of Colloquial Burmese. London: Oxford University Press.
- Okell, John (1971). A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese. London: Luzac.
- Okell, John (1989). First Steps in Burmese. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
- Okell, John (1994). Burmese: An Introduction to the Spoken Language: Book 1. De Kalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
- Okell, John (1994). Burmese: An Introduction to the Spoken Language: Book 2. De Kalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
- Okell, John (1994). Burmese: An Introduction to the Script. De Kalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
- Okell, John (1994). Burmese: An Introduction to the Literary Style. De Kalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
- Okell, John, and Anna Allott (2001). Burmese/Myanmar Dictionary of Grammatical Forms. Richmond: Curzon Press.
- Okell, John (2002). Burmese By Ear/Essential Myanmar. London: Audio-Forum, Sussex Publications.[a]
Papers
[edit]- Hla Pe, Anna J. Allott, and John Okell (1963). Three 'Immortal' Burmese Songs. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 559–571.
- Okell, John (1964). Learning Music from a Burmese Master. Man, Vol. 64, p. 183.
- Okell, John (1965). Nissaya Burmese: A Case of Systematic Adaptation to a Foreign Grammar and Syntax. Lingua, Vol. 15, pp. 186–227.
- Okell, John (1967). "Translation" and "Embellishment" in an Early Burmese "Jātaka" Poem. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Nos. 3&4, pp. 133–148.
- Okell, John (1971). The Burmese Double-Reed "Nhai". Asian Music, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 25–31.
- Okell, John (1979). "Still" and "Anymore" in Burmese: Another Look at /theì/, /oùn/ and /tó/. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 69–82.
- Okell, John (1988). Notes on Tone Alternation in Maru Verbs. In David Bradley, Eugénie J. A. Henderson, and Martine Mazaudon (eds.), Prosodic Analysis and Asian Linguistics: To Honour R. K. Sprigg, pp. 109–114. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Okell, John (1989). The Yaw Dialect of Burmese. In J. H. C. S. Davidson (ed.), South-East Asian Linguistics: Essays in Honour of Eugénie J. A. Henderson, pp. 199–217. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
- Okell, John (1995). Three Burmese Dialects. In David Bradley (ed.), Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 13: Studies in Burmese Languages, pp. 1–138. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Okell, John (2007). Obituary: Dr. U Hla Pe (1913–2007). Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 5, Nos. 1&2, pp. 1–4.
Notes
[edit]- ^ The publishers of Burmese By Ear/Essential Myanmar relinquished publication rights in 2006. Since 2009, it has been available for downloading free of charge from the website of the School of Oriental and African Studies.
References
[edit]- ^ About SOAS: John Okell OBE. Archived copy.
- ^ a b c d e "SOAS scholar awarded OBE for services to UK-Burma relations" (3 July 2014). Archived copy.
- ^ a b c "Love of the Lingo" (The Irrawaddy, 29 June 2015). Archived copy.
- ^ a b c Britain–Burma Society: Members of the Council. Archived copy.
- ^ Department Staff: Mr John Okell. Archived copy.
- ^ "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b27.
- ^ "Queen’s Gold medal winner, education activist, leading curator and three distinguished scholars honoured at SOAS Graduation Ceremonies" (30 June 2016). Archived copy.
- ^ "From the Archive: Love of the Lingo" (The Irrawaddy, 5 August 2020). Archived copy.
- ^ "John Okell: Remembering a ‘gentle giant’ of Burmese teaching" (Frontier Myanmar, 7 August 2020).
- ^ "RIP Saya John" (Marc Miyake, 10 August 2020).
External links
[edit]- Digital collection of Okell's 1969 fieldwork notes on Maru.
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