 | This article includes a list of general references but lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2025) |
John Cunnison "Ian" Catford (26 March 1917 – 6 October 2009) was a Scottish linguist and phonetician.
| This article includes a list of general references but lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2025) |
John Cunnison "Ian" Catford (26 March 1917 – 6 October 2009) was a Scottish linguist and phonetician.
Catford was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 26, 1917. After his secondary and university studies, he studied phonetics. He taught English abroad (in Greece, in Palestine and in Egypt), including during World War II.
Catford met his wife, Lotte, while he was living in Jerusalem. Lotte was from Vienna and spoke German. However, she had moved to Palestine and while she was young she learned other languages, such as Hebrew, English and Arabic.
Catford founded the School of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, as well as another department in the same university that undertook the mapping of different English dialects throughout Scotland.
In 1964, Catford's was hired as Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. He acted as director of the English Language Institute and the Laboratory of Communicative Sciences (later renamed the Phonetics Laboratory). He also served two terms as the chair of the Department of Lingustics.
He formally retired in 1986 but continued his work as Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Many of his original works are kept at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library.
Catford had two children from his marriage with Lotte named Lorna and Julian. He died of complications from pneumonia on October 6, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.
