Alan S C Ross

::See also Alan John Ross

Alan Strode Campbell Ross (1 February 1907-23 September 1980) was a British academic specialising in linguistics. He is best remembered as the ultimate source and inspiration for Nancy Mitford's 'U and non-U' forms of behaviour and language usage

He was the elder son of Archibald Campbell Carne Ross, Penzance and Brecon, and Millicent Strode Cobham. Educated at Lindisfarne, Blackheath; Naish House, Burnham-on-Sea; Malvern College and Christ College, Brecon. At Oxford University he won a Henry Skynner Scholarship in Astronomy at Balliol College, Oxford in 1925, but graduated from the School of English Language and Literature with First Class Honours in 1929. He also possessed a Masters degree from Birmingham University.

He was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in English Language at Leeds University in 1929, becoming a full lecturer in 1936. During the Second World War from 1940 he worked for the Foreign Office, before returning to academic life in 1946 as a Lecturer in English Language at Birmingham University, becoming Reader the following year. He was Professor of English Language there from 1948 to 1951 and Professor of Linguistics 1951-74.

In 1933 Ross married Elizabeth Stefanyja; they had one son; the marriage ended with her death in 1973.

Bibliography

*"The Dream of the Rood" (with B. Dickins), 1934;
*" [Studies in the Accidence of the Lindisfarne Gospels", 1937;
*"The Numeral-Signs of the Mohenjo-daro Script", 1938;
*"The Terfinnas and Beormas of Ohthere", 1940; Ginger, 1952;
*Urs Graf edn of the Lindisfarne Gospels (with others), 1956-1960;
*"Etymology", 1958;
*"Essentials of German Grammar", 1963;
*(with F. G. Healey) "Patience Napoléon", 1963;
*(with A. W. Moverley) "The Pitcairnese Language", 1964;
*"Essentials of English Grammar", 1964;
*(with N. F. C. Owen) I. I. Revizin, "Models of Language" (translated from Russian), 1966;
*"Arts v. Science" (ed), 1967;
*(ed) "What are U", 1969;
*(ed jtly) "The Durham Ritual", 1969;
*"How to Pronounce It", 1970;
*"Don't Say It", 1973;
*articles in "Acta Philologica Scandinavica", "Archivum Linguisticum", "Biometrika", "Englische Studien", "Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen", "Indogermanische Forschungen", "Geographical Journal", "Journal English and Germanic Philology", "Journal Roy". Statistical Soc., "Mathematical Gazette", "Moderna Sprak", "Mod. Language Notes", "Modern Language Review", "Nature", "Neuphilologische Mitteilungen", "Studia germanica", "Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung", "Saga-Book of Viking Society", "Trans of Philological Soc.", etc; contrib: "Noblesse Oblige" (ed N. Mitford); "U and non-U Revisited" (ed R. Buckle);
*part-editor, "Leeds Studies in English" (I-VI);
*Editor, "English Philological Studies" VIII-XIV.

ee also

*U and non-U English