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Arthur Lloyd James

March 23, 2024

Arthur Lloyd James (21 June 1884 – 24 March 1943) was a Welsh phonetician who was a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the linguistic adviser to the British Broadcasting Corporation. His research was mainly on the phonetics of English and French, but he also worked on the phonetics of Hausa and Yoruba. He killed himself while a patient at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he was committed after killing his wife, the violinist Elsie Winifred Owen, in 1941.

Photograph of Arthur Lloyd James, printed in a 1941 issue of the Derby Evening Telegraph

Early life edit

Arthur Lloyd James was born on 21 June 1884, in Pentre, Glamorgan, Wales. His parents were William James, manager of a coal mine and a mining engineer, and Rachel James, née Clark. He went to school in Llanelli and then Pontypridd. Lloyd James graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1905, obtaining third-class honours in French. He taught for a few years and then went to Trinity College, Cambridge; his research centred on Old French and Provençal, and he graduated in 1910 with a degree in medieval and modern languages. He taught French and phonetics at Training College, and during World War I served with the Royal Engineers.[1] The surname of his parents is James, but his second given name, Lloyd, a common surname, is often interpreted as part of his own surname, and his publications are frequently cited under Lloyd James. This usage is followed in the present article. However, in the biographical note by his mentor, Daniel Jones (phonetician), the surname is cited as James.[1]

Academic employment edit

Lloyd James became a lecturer in phonetics at University College, London in 1920. He became the first head of the School of Oriental Studies department of phonetics in 1927. He became a reader in 1930 and a professor in 1933. From 1924 to 1933, Lloyd James lectured at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[1]

Research edit

Lloyd James wrote papers on the phonetics of various languages, including Yoruba,[2] Hausa (with George Percival Bargery),[3] Marathi (with S. G. Kanhere),[4] and Pashto (with Georg Morgenstierne).[5]

In his later career Lloyd James worked primarily in applied phonetics, in the 1920s developing standards for the English pronunciation style to be used by announcers on broadcast radio, and in the early 1940s in military telephony. His theoretical phonetic perspective was that language is a system of signals, and in this context he introduced a distinction between "articulation", for consonants, and "modulation", for vowels. In his primer for RAF officers on the importance of clarity of enunciation under service conditions, he pointed out:[6]

In some languages the acoustic difference between Accented Syllables and others is not very considerable. In others it is very considerable indeed; there is a pronounced "punch."

He takes French and Telugu as examples of the former, and English, Arabic and Persian for the latter, using the wartime metaphors of machine gun and Morse code rhythm, respectively, for the benefit of his officer students. An informal formulation shows his didactic approach: "Good rhythm means punching out the accented syllables, keeping them at equal intervals of time apart, and not smothering up the unstressed syllables. It is exactly like good rhythm in a dance band."[7]

Work with the BBC edit

From 1926 to 1940, Lloyd James was the honorary secretary of the BBC's advisory committee on spoken English and was instrumental in establishing a standard broadcasting pronunciation for British English, familiarly referred to as "BBC English". In 1938, he was given the title of "Linguistic Adviser to the BBC".[1]

Personal life edit

Arthur Lloyd James's wife was Elsie Winifred (1888/1889–1941). She was the daughter of the musician Luther Owen, and herself was a well known violinist and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. They had one child, David Owen Lloyd James.[1]

Murder and trial edit

In 1941 the stress of World War II led Arthur Lloyd James to kill his wife, fearing the war would otherwise cause her hardship.[1] The murder weapons were a fork and poker.[8]

He was tried at the Central Criminal Court, with Mr. Justice Wrottesley presiding. The prosecutor was Mr. G. B. McClure, and Mr. Richard O'Sullivan, K.C. was the defence. Brixton Prison senior medical officer Dr. H. A. Grierson argued that Lloyd James had manic depressive insanity with a predominant depressive stage. Lloyd James pleaded not guilty; the jury found him guilty but insane.[9]

Death edit

Arthur Lloyd James killed himself on 24 March 1943, at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Crowthorne, Berkshire.[1] He hanged himself with a necktie and scarf from a bar in his cell.[10]

Selected works edit

  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1928). "The Practical Orthography of African Languages". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 1 (1): 125–129. doi:10.2307/1155869. JSTOR 1155869.
  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1929). "Pronunciation". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (14th ed.). London: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. pp. 578–580.
  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1929). Historical Introduction to French Phonetics. London: University of London Press.
  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1935). The Broadcast Word. London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner.
  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1928–1939). Broadcast English: Recommendations to Announcers. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.
  • Lloyd James, Arthur (1940). Speech Signals in Telephony. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.

Edited collections edit

  • Collins, Beverly S.; Mees, Inger; Carley, Paul, eds. (2012). English Phonetics: Twentieth-Century Developments. Vol. II: Lloyd James: Broadcasting and Spoken English. Routledge. ISBN 9780415590563.
  • Collins, Beverly S.; Mees, Inger; Carley, Paul, eds. (2012). English Phonetics: Twentieth-Century Developments. Vol. III: Lloyd James's Broadcast English. Routledge. ISBN 9780415590570.

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Jones, Daniel (2004) [1959]. "James, Arthur Lloyd (1884–1943)". In Cannadine, David (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Rev. by John D. Haigh. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34148.
  2. ^ Lloyd James, Arthur (1923). "The Tones of Yoruba". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 3 (1): 119–128. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00000082. JSTOR 607168.
  3. ^ Lloyd James, Arthur; Bargery, George Percival (1925). "A Note on the Pronunciation of Hausa". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 3 (4): 721–728. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00000446. JSTOR 607084.
  4. ^ Lloyd James, Arthur; Kanhere, S. G. (1928). "The Pronunciation of Marathi". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 4 (4): 791–801. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00123717. JSTOR 607259.
  5. ^ Morgenstierne, Georg; Lloyd James, Arthur (1928). "Notes on the Pronunciation of Pashto (Dialect of the Hazara District)". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 5 (1): 53–62. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00130599. JSTOR 607782.
  6. ^ Lloyd James, Arthur (1940). Speech Signals in Telephony. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. pp. 24–26.
  7. ^ Lloyd James, Arthur (1940). Speech Signals in Telephony. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. pp. 25–26.
  8. ^ Bell, Amy Helen (2015). "Violent crime and the family in wartime London, 1939–45". Murder Capital: Suspicious Deaths in London, 1933–53. Manchester University Press. p. 67. doi:10.7228/manchester/9780719091971.003.0003. ISBN 9780719091971.
  9. ^ "Trial of Professor Lloyd James: Guilty But Insane". Law. The Times. No. 48847. London. 11 February 1941. col E, p. 2.
  10. ^ "British Wife-Slayer: A Suicide in Asylum. Professor Lloyd James, Expert on Phonetics, Hangs Himself". New York Times. Vol. 92, no. 31, 114. 2 April 1943. p. 14.

Further reading edit

  • "Professor A. Lloyd James: An Authority on Phonetics". Obituaries. The Times. No. 49510. London. 2 April 1943. col E, p. 7.
  • Carley, Paul. "Arthur Lloyd James and English pronunciation for foreign learners" (PDF). In Przedlacka, Joanna; Maidment, John; Ashby, Michael (eds.). Proceedings of the Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference: UCL, London, 8–10 August 2013. London: Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-0-9926394-0-2.
  • Collins, Beverly; Mees, Inger M. (1999). The Real Professor Higgins: The Life and Career of Daniel Jones. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 275, 353–354, et passim. doi:10.1515/9783110812367. ISBN 978-3-11-081236-7.

Work with the BBC edit

  • Mugglestone, Lynda (2008). "Spoken English and the BBC: In the Beginning". Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 33 (2): 197–215.
  • Pointon, Graham (1988). "The BBC and English pronunciation". English Today. 4 (3): 8–12. doi:10.1017/S0266078400003448.
  • Schwyter, Jürg Rainer (2008). "Setting a Standard: Early BBC Language Policy and the Advisory Committee on Spoken English". Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 33 (2): 217–250.
  • Schwyter, Jürg Rainer (2016). Dictating to the Mob: The History of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736738.001.0001.
  • "Lloyd James, Arthur". A Companion to Who's Who Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Decade 1941–1950. Who Was Who. Vol. 4. London: Adam & Charles Black. 1952. pp. 693–694.

News articles on murder, trial, and suicide edit

  • "British Professor Accused of Slaying Wife; Lloyd James an Expert on Pronunciation". New York Times. Vol. 90, no. 30, 307. 15 January 1941. p. 25.
  • "Famous Authority on Speech Charged With Wife's Murder". The Globe and Mail. Vol. 98, no. 28, 418. 15 January 1941. pp. 1–2.
  • "Professor Lloyd James Charged with Wife Murder". Courier and Advertiser. No. 27337. Dundee, Scotland. 15 January 1941. p. 3.
  • "Professor Remanded on Wife Murder Charge". The Nottingham Evening Post. No. 19503. 15 January 1941. p. 5.
  • "Murder Charge: B.B.C. Professor in Court". Derby Evening Telegraph. No. 18545. 15 January 1941. p. 1.
  • "BBC Professor Charged with Wife's Murder". Daily Mail. No. 13954. 15 January 1941. p. 1.
  • "'War Nerves' Seen in London Slaying: Prof. Lloyd James Is Quoted by Police as Saying He Killed Wife While She Was Happy. Shaken in a Recent Raid: Phonetics Expert Had Suffered Nervous Breakdown—Word 'Haw Haw' Credited to Him". New York Times. Vol. 90, no. 30, 308. 16 January 1941. p. 44.
  • "B.B.C. Professor on Murder Charge: Wished His Wife to Die While Happy". News. The Times. No. 48825. London. 16 January 1941. col E, p. 2.
  • "B.B.C.'s Tutor in Dock". Daily Mail. No. 13955. 16 January 1941. p. 5.
  • "Cause of Mrs. James's Death: Inquest Evidence of Blow on the Head". News. The Times. No. 48826. London. 17 January 1941. col E, p. 9.
  • "Died of Skull Fracture: English Language Expert's Wife Beaten, Inquest Reveals". New York Times. Vol. 90, no. 30, 309. 17 January 1941. p. 18.
  • "BBC Man Sent for Trial". Daily Mail. No. 13963. 25 January 1941. p. 5.
  • "The Phonetic Murder". Foreign News. Time. Vol. 34, no. 24. 27 January 1941. p. 22.
  • "Wife-Slayer is Insane: Verdict Is Returned in Case of British Language Expert". New York Times. Vol. 90, no. 30, 334. 11 February 1941. p. 13.
  • "Too Hard a Worker: The Tragedy of Lloyd James". Daily Mail. No. 13977. 11 February 1941. p. 5.
  • "Professor Guilty But Insane". Press and Journal. No. 26869. Aberdeen. 11 February 1941. p. 5.
  • "Professor Dies in Broadmoor". Daily Mail. No. 17909. Hull. 1 April 1943. p. 4.
  • "Died. Professor Arthur Lloyd James". Milestones. Time. Vol. 41, no. 15. 12 April 1943. p. 42.

External links edit

  • Wells, John (3 September 2009). "A Period Piece". John Well's phonetic blog. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

March 23, 2024
arthur, lloyd, james, june, 1884, march, 1943, welsh, phonetician, professor, school, oriental, african, studies, linguistic, adviser, british, broadcasting, corporation, research, mainly, phonetics, english, french, also, worked, phonetics, hausa, yoruba, kil. Arthur Lloyd James 21 June 1884 24 March 1943 was a Welsh phonetician who was a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the linguistic adviser to the British Broadcasting Corporation His research was mainly on the phonetics of English and French but he also worked on the phonetics of Hausa and Yoruba He killed himself while a patient at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum where he was committed after killing his wife the violinist Elsie Winifred Owen in 1941 Photograph of Arthur Lloyd James printed in a 1941 issue of the Derby Evening Telegraph Contents 1 Early life 2 Academic employment 3 Research 4 Work with the BBC 5 Personal life 6 Murder and trial 7 Death 8 Selected works 8 1 Edited collections 9 Citations 10 Further reading 10 1 Work with the BBC 10 2 News articles on murder trial and suicide 11 External linksEarly life editArthur Lloyd James was born on 21 June 1884 in Pentre Glamorgan Wales His parents were William James manager of a coal mine and a mining engineer and Rachel James nee Clark He went to school in Llanelli and then Pontypridd Lloyd James graduated from University College Cardiff in 1905 obtaining third class honours in French He taught for a few years and then went to Trinity College Cambridge his research centred on Old French and Provencal and he graduated in 1910 with a degree in medieval and modern languages He taught French and phonetics at Training College and during World War I served with the Royal Engineers 1 The surname of his parents is James but his second given name Lloyd a common surname is often interpreted as part of his own surname and his publications are frequently cited under Lloyd James This usage is followed in the present article However in the biographical note by his mentor Daniel Jones phonetician the surname is cited as James 1 Academic employment editLloyd James became a lecturer in phonetics at University College London in 1920 He became the first head of the School of Oriental Studies department of phonetics in 1927 He became a reader in 1930 and a professor in 1933 From 1924 to 1933 Lloyd James lectured at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 1 Research editLloyd James wrote papers on the phonetics of various languages including Yoruba 2 Hausa with George Percival Bargery 3 Marathi with S G Kanhere 4 and Pashto with Georg Morgenstierne 5 In his later career Lloyd James worked primarily in applied phonetics in the 1920s developing standards for the English pronunciation style to be used by announcers on broadcast radio and in the early 1940s in military telephony His theoretical phonetic perspective was that language is a system of signals and in this context he introduced a distinction between articulation for consonants and modulation for vowels In his primer for RAF officers on the importance of clarity of enunciation under service conditions he pointed out 6 In some languages the acoustic difference between Accented Syllables and others is not very considerable In others it is very considerable indeed there is a pronounced punch He takes French and Telugu as examples of the former and English Arabic and Persian for the latter using the wartime metaphors of machine gun and Morse code rhythm respectively for the benefit of his officer students An informal formulation shows his didactic approach Good rhythm means punching out the accented syllables keeping them at equal intervals of time apart and not smothering up the unstressed syllables It is exactly like good rhythm in a dance band 7 Work with the BBC editFrom 1926 to 1940 Lloyd James was the honorary secretary of the BBC s advisory committee on spoken English and was instrumental in establishing a standard broadcasting pronunciation for British English familiarly referred to as BBC English In 1938 he was given the title of Linguistic Adviser to the BBC 1 Personal life editArthur Lloyd James s wife was Elsie Winifred 1888 1889 1941 She was the daughter of the musician Luther Owen and herself was a well known violinist and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music They had one child David Owen Lloyd James 1 Murder and trial editIn 1941 the stress of World War II led Arthur Lloyd James to kill his wife fearing the war would otherwise cause her hardship 1 The murder weapons were a fork and poker 8 He was tried at the Central Criminal Court with Mr Justice Wrottesley presiding The prosecutor was Mr G B McClure and Mr Richard O Sullivan K C was the defence Brixton Prison senior medical officer Dr H A Grierson argued that Lloyd James had manic depressive insanity with a predominant depressive stage Lloyd James pleaded not guilty the jury found him guilty but insane 9 Death editArthur Lloyd James killed himself on 24 March 1943 at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Crowthorne Berkshire 1 He hanged himself with a necktie and scarf from a bar in his cell 10 Selected works editLloyd James Arthur 1928 The Practical Orthography of African Languages Africa Journal of the International African Institute 1 1 125 129 doi 10 2307 1155869 JSTOR 1155869 Lloyd James Arthur 1929 Pronunciation Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 18 14th ed London The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company pp 578 580 Lloyd James Arthur 1929 Historical Introduction to French Phonetics London University of London Press Lloyd James Arthur 1935 The Broadcast Word London Kegan Paul Trench and Trubner Lloyd James Arthur 1928 1939 Broadcast English Recommendations to Announcers London British Broadcasting Corporation Lloyd James Arthur 1940 Speech Signals in Telephony London Sir Isaac Pitman amp Sons Ltd Edited collections edit Collins Beverly S Mees Inger Carley Paul eds 2012 English Phonetics Twentieth Century Developments Vol II Lloyd James Broadcasting and Spoken English Routledge ISBN 9780415590563 Collins Beverly S Mees Inger Carley Paul eds 2012 English Phonetics Twentieth Century Developments Vol III Lloyd James s Broadcast English Routledge ISBN 9780415590570 Citations edit a b c d e f g Jones Daniel 2004 1959 James Arthur Lloyd 1884 1943 In Cannadine David ed Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Rev by John D Haigh Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 34148 Lloyd James Arthur 1923 The Tones of Yoruba Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London 3 1 119 128 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00000082 JSTOR 607168 Lloyd James Arthur Bargery George Percival 1925 A Note on the Pronunciation of Hausa Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London 3 4 721 728 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00000446 JSTOR 607084 Lloyd James Arthur Kanhere S G 1928 The Pronunciation of Marathi Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London 4 4 791 801 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00123717 JSTOR 607259 Morgenstierne Georg Lloyd James Arthur 1928 Notes on the Pronunciation of Pashto Dialect of the Hazara District Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies University of London 5 1 53 62 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00130599 JSTOR 607782 Lloyd James Arthur 1940 Speech Signals in Telephony Sir Isaac Pitman amp Sons Ltd pp 24 26 Lloyd James Arthur 1940 Speech Signals in Telephony Sir Isaac Pitman amp Sons Ltd pp 25 26 Bell Amy Helen 2015 Violent crime and the family in wartime London 1939 45 Murder Capital Suspicious Deaths in London 1933 53 Manchester University Press p 67 doi 10 7228 manchester 9780719091971 003 0003 ISBN 9780719091971 Trial of Professor Lloyd James Guilty But Insane Law The Times No 48847 London 11 February 1941 col E p 2 British Wife Slayer A Suicide in Asylum Professor Lloyd James Expert on Phonetics Hangs Himself New York Times Vol 92 no 31 114 2 April 1943 p 14 Further reading edit Professor A Lloyd James An Authority on Phonetics Obituaries The Times No 49510 London 2 April 1943 col E p 7 Carley Paul Arthur Lloyd James and English pronunciation for foreign learners PDF In Przedlacka Joanna Maidment John Ashby Michael eds Proceedings of the Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference UCL London 8 10 August 2013 London Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference pp 27 30 ISBN 978 0 9926394 0 2 Collins Beverly Mees Inger M 1999 The Real Professor Higgins The Life and Career of Daniel Jones Berlin Mouton de Gruyter pp 275 353 354 et passim doi 10 1515 9783110812367 ISBN 978 3 11 081236 7 Work with the BBC edit Mugglestone Lynda 2008 Spoken English and the BBC In the Beginning Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 33 2 197 215 Pointon Graham 1988 The BBC and English pronunciation English Today 4 3 8 12 doi 10 1017 S0266078400003448 Schwyter Jurg Rainer 2008 Setting a Standard Early BBC Language Policy and the Advisory Committee on Spoken English Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 33 2 217 250 Schwyter Jurg Rainer 2016 Dictating to the Mob The History of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 acprof oso 9780198736738 001 0001 Lloyd James Arthur A Companion to Who s Who Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Decade 1941 1950 Who Was Who Vol 4 London Adam amp Charles Black 1952 pp 693 694 News articles on murder trial and suicide edit British Professor Accused of Slaying Wife Lloyd James an Expert on Pronunciation New York Times Vol 90 no 30 307 15 January 1941 p 25 Famous Authority on Speech Charged With Wife s Murder The Globe and Mail Vol 98 no 28 418 15 January 1941 pp 1 2 Professor Lloyd James Charged with Wife Murder Courier and Advertiser No 27337 Dundee Scotland 15 January 1941 p 3 Professor Remanded on Wife Murder Charge The Nottingham Evening Post No 19503 15 January 1941 p 5 Murder Charge B B C Professor in Court Derby Evening Telegraph No 18545 15 January 1941 p 1 BBC Professor Charged with Wife s Murder Daily Mail No 13954 15 January 1941 p 1 War Nerves Seen in London Slaying Prof Lloyd James Is Quoted by Police as Saying He Killed Wife While She Was Happy Shaken in a Recent Raid Phonetics Expert Had Suffered Nervous Breakdown Word Haw Haw Credited to Him New York Times Vol 90 no 30 308 16 January 1941 p 44 B B C Professor on Murder Charge Wished His Wife to Die While Happy News The Times No 48825 London 16 January 1941 col E p 2 B B C s Tutor in Dock Daily Mail No 13955 16 January 1941 p 5 Cause of Mrs James s Death Inquest Evidence of Blow on the Head News The Times No 48826 London 17 January 1941 col E p 9 Died of Skull Fracture English Language Expert s Wife Beaten Inquest Reveals New York Times Vol 90 no 30 309 17 January 1941 p 18 BBC Man Sent for Trial Daily Mail No 13963 25 January 1941 p 5 The Phonetic Murder Foreign News Time Vol 34 no 24 27 January 1941 p 22 Wife Slayer is Insane Verdict Is Returned in Case of British Language Expert New York Times Vol 90 no 30 334 11 February 1941 p 13 Too Hard a Worker The Tragedy of Lloyd James Daily Mail No 13977 11 February 1941 p 5 Professor Guilty But Insane Press and Journal No 26869 Aberdeen 11 February 1941 p 5 Professor Dies in Broadmoor Daily Mail No 17909 Hull 1 April 1943 p 4 Died Professor Arthur Lloyd James Milestones Time Vol 41 no 15 12 April 1943 p 42 External links editWells John 3 September 2009 A Period Piece John Well s phonetic blog Retrieved 5 June 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Arthur Lloyd James amp oldid 1161927879, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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