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School of Oriental and African Studies

Abraham, Roy Clive


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0102 MS 193280

Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies

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 AND 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.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Purchased in 1966.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

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).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: 15 May 2000


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Academic teaching personnel | Teachers | Educational personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Amharic | Semitic languages
Arabic | Semitic languages
Berber | Hamitic languages | African languages
Dutch | Germanic languages | Indo-european languages
French | Romance languages | Indo-european languages
German | Germanic languages | Indo-european languages
Grammar | Linguistics
Hebrew | Semitic languages
Phonetics | Linguistics
Russian | Slavic languages | Indo-european languages
Somali | Hamitic languages | African languages
Vocabularies | Lexicography
Yoruba | African languages
Languages

Personal names
Abraham | Roy Clive | 1890-1963 | linguist

Corporate names

Places
Africa
Europe
Middle East