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Anthony Traill | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-02-27)27 February 1939[1] |
| Died | 27 April 2007(2007-04-27) (aged 68) |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand University of Edinburgh[2] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Linguistics |
| Institutions | University of the Witwatersrand |
Anthony Traill (27 February 1939 – 27 April 2007) was a South Africanlinguist,phonetician, andprofessor. He was the world's foremost authority on!Xóõ, aTuu language within the largerKhoisan category. He published widely on the language, including a dictionary.
Traill's publications focused on the phonetics of!Xóõ in relation to otherKhoisan languages. He also contributed importantly to the Khoisan andBantu phonetic literature ontone with respect tovoice andbreathy voice.
Traill was Professorial Research Fellow atWits University for nearly the decade since he was Professor and Chair of Linguistics (until 1998), in the Department of Linguistics, at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg,South Africa. He spoke highly competent !Xóõ, having conducted research in the !Xóõ communities ofBotswana on nearly 100 field trips over more than 35 years. He also spokeZulu,Tsonga,Tswana andAfrikaans.
Traill developed a lump on hislarynx after speaking the language for a long time, which is typical of adult native !Xóõ speakers, but not children,[3] a testament to his time spent with the language.
After a long illness, Traill died on 27 April 2007, in Johannesburg,[1] survived by his wife, Jill, and children Stephen, Carol and Patrick.
