ECEP Database :: Authors

Eighteenth-Century English Phonology Database

Search Authors

Previous Record

About the Author

Name Life Dates Gender Class
Walker, John 1732-1807 male unknown
Place of Birth Occupation Occupation Description
unknown_E, Middlesex, England Education, Writing lexicographer, elocutionist, writer of education, actor

Biography

"Elocutionist, orthoepist, and lexicographer, was born on 18 March 1732 at Colney Heath, a hamlet in the parish of Friern Barnet, Middlesex, on the eastern side of Finchley Common. Nothing is known about his father, except that he died when John was a child. His mother came from Nottingham and was the sister of the Revd James Morley, a dissenting minister in Painswick, Gloucestershire. Walker attended grammar school, but left early to learn a trade, of which he tried several, but none suited him. On his mother's death, when he was about seventeen, he decided to pursue a career on the stage and joined a succession of provincial theatre companies, the last of which was in Gloucester. In 1757 he joined Garrick's company at Drury Lane, where he at first played minor characters, such as Angus in Macbeth, but was soon promoted to play the second parts in tragedy, and those of a grave and sententious nature in comedy."
 
(Source: ODNB)

Author Works

Title Year Published Edition  
A critical pronouncing dictionary and expositor of the English language. In which Not only the Meaning of every Word is clearly explained, and the Sound of every Syllable distinctly shown, but where Words are subject to different Pronunciations, the Reasons for each are at large displayed, and the preferable Pronunciation is pointed out. To which are prefixed, principles of English pronunciation; in which The Sounds of Letters, Syllables, and Words, are critically investigated, and systematically arranged; the Rules for Pronouncing are so regulated and disposed as to be applicable, on Inspection, to the Words; and the Analogies of the Language are so fully shown as to lay the Foundation of a consistent and rational Pronunciation. Likewise rules to be observed by the natives of Scotland, Ireland, and London, for avoiding their respective Peculiarities; and directions to foreigners for acquiring a Knowledge of the Use of this Dictionary. the whole interspersed with observations, philological, critical, and grammatical. By John Walker, Author of elements of elocution, rhyming dictionary, melody of speaking delineated, &c. &c. London: sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, M.DCC.XCI. [1791].
 1791 1 Walker, John (1791)
Citation
Eighteenth-Century English Phonology Database (ECEP), 2015. Compiled by Joan C. Beal, Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, Ranjan Sen, and Christine Wallis. The University of Sheffield and Universidade de Vigo. Published by: The Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield. Available at: <http://www.dhi.ac.uk/ecep>.
Top