Abraham, Roy Clive

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 MS 193280
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Abraham, Roy Clive
Date(s)	: Created 1921-1959
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 5 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Abraham | Roy Clive | 1890-1963 | linguist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Roy Clive Abraham was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1890, but was educated in England and Germany. His first degree was in oriental languages (Arabic and Persian) though he also studied Ethiopic at that time. During World War I, he served in the British Army in Arabia, where he learned Hindustani, and then became a member of the Nigerian Administrative Service from 1924-1944, the last six years of which he spent in language research. His first independent research was on Bolenci, and later he assisted George Bargery on the publication of a Hausa dictionary. He was a lecturer in Amharic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1948-1951.

His published works include The Grammar of Tiv, The Principles of Hausa, The Principles of Idoma, The Principles of Somali and a Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. He also worked on Igbo, but his death in 1963 precluded the publication of his grammar and dictionary in that language.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1921-1959, of Roy Clive Abraham, comprising personal manuscript notebooks of grammar and vocabulary notes on the various African, Middle Eastern and European languages studied by him.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
African languages including Amharic, Berber (Tuareg), Bolenci, Fulani, Galla, Igbo, Kabyle, Tiv and Yoruba; Middle Eastern languages including Arabic and Hebrew; European languages including Dutch, French, German and Russian.

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged in four sections: African languages; Middle Eastern languages; European languages; and miscellaneous items. Languages within the first three sections are classified alphabetically.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Purchased in 1966.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds other papers on African languages, including those of George Percival Bargery (Ref: MS 380516) and Frederick William Parsons (Ref: PP MS 50).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000