Richard Coates | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 April 1949 (1949-04-16) (age 75) |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Historical linguistics Philology of northern and western European languages Onomastics, especially place-names, theory of names and naming |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Linguistics |
| Institutions | University of the West of England, Bristol (previously atUniversity of Sussex) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Trim |
| Other academic advisors | Pieter A. M. Seuren,Erik C. Fudge,Roy A. Wisbey,Peter Rickard,Martin Harris |
Richard Coates (born 16 April 1949, inGrimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated atWintringham School) is an English linguist. He was Professor ofLinguistics (alternatively Professor ofOnomastics) at theUniversity of the West of England, Bristol, now emeritus. From 1977 to 2006 he taught at theUniversity of Sussex, where he served as Professor of Linguistics (1991–2006) and as Dean of the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences (1998–2003). From 1980 to 1989 he was assistant secretary and then secretary of theLinguistics Association of Great Britain. He was honorary director of theSurvey of English Place-Names from 2003 to 2019, having previously (1997–2002) served as president of theEnglish Place-Name Society which conducts the Survey, resuming this role from 2019 to 2024. From 2002 to 2008, he was secretary of theInternational Council of Onomastic Sciences, a body devoted to the promotion of the study of names, and elected as one of its two vice-presidents from 2011 to 2017. He was elected a fellow of theSociety of Antiquaries in 1992 and of theRoyal Society of Arts in 2001.
His main academic interests are proper names (both from the historical and the theoretical perspective),historical linguistics in general, thephilology of theGermanic,Romance andCeltic languages, regional variation in language, andlocal history. He is editor of the Survey of English Place-Names forHampshire and was principal investigator of theAHRC-funded project Family Names of the United Kingdom (FaNUK), running from 2010 to 2016, of whichPatrick Hanks was lead researcher.
He has written books on the names of theChannel Islands, the local place-names ofSt Kilda, Hampshire andSussex, the dialect of Sussex, and, withAndrew Breeze, on Celtic place-names in England, as well as over 500 academic articles, notes, and collections on related topics. His main contribution to linguistic theory is The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood, set out in a number of articles since 2000.[1][2][3][4]
He is also the author ofWord Structure, a student's introduction tolinguistic morphology (Routledge), and of online resources onShakespeare's character-names and on the place-names ofHayling Island.
1977 The status of rules in historical phonology. Doctoral dissertation 10301, University of Cambridge. [Unpublished.]
1987 (co-ed. with John Lyons, Margaret Deuchar and Gerald Gazdar)New horizons in linguistics 2. Harmondsworth: Pelican; pp. viii + 465 (ISBN 978-0-14-022612-6).
1988Toponymic topics: essays on the early toponymy of the British Isles. Brighton: Younsmere Press; pp. v + 124 (ISBN 0-9512309-1-3).
1989The place-names of Hampshire. London: Batsford; pp. vii + 193 (ISBN 0-7134-5625-6).
1990The place-names of St Kilda: nomina hirtensia.Lewiston, New York:Edwin Mellen Press (ISBN 9780199677764 Celtic Studies 1); pp. viii + 221 (ISBN 0-88946-077-9).
1991The ancient and modern names of the Channel Islands: a linguistic history. Stamford: Paul Watkins; pp. xiv + 144 (ISBN 1-871615-15-1).
1992 (ed.)De A.B.C. psalms by Jim Cladpole (James Richards). Brighton: Younsmere Press; pp. 46 (ISBN 0-9512309-6-4).
1993Hampshire place-names. Southampton: Ensign Publications. Paperback edition ofThe place-names of Hampshire; pp. 193 (ISBN 185455 090 X).
1996–2007 (ed.)Locus focus: forum of the Sussex place-names net (7 vols, 14 issues).
1999The place-names of West Thorney. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society (supplementary series 1); pp. v + 64 (ISBN 0904889 52 1).
1999Word structure. London and New York: Routledge (Routledge Language Workbooks); pp. ix + 101 (ISBN 0 415 20631 6). [Student guide to morphology. Also available as an e-book from 2005.]
2000 (withAndrew Breeze; including a contribution by David Horovitz)Celtic voices, English places: studies of the Celtic impact on place-names in England. Stamford: Shaun Tyas; pp. xiv + 433 (ISBN 1-900289-41-5).
2006 (guest ed.)Name theory. Special issue ofOnoma, vol. 41 (spine date 2006; appeared 2011); pp. 309 (ISSN 0078-463X, eISSN 1783-1644).
2007The place-names of Hayling Island, Hampshire. [MS. of 1991. Web-publication;http://www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/llas/staff_coates_r_hayling.doc; pp. 96.]
2010A place-name history of the parishes of Rottingdean and Ovingdean in Sussex (including Woodingdean and Saltdean). Nottingham: English Place-Name Society (Regional series 2); pp. xviii + 222,ISBN 978-0-904889-84-0. [Published with the aid of a grant from the British Academy.]
2010The traditional dialect of Sussex: a history, description, selected texts, bibliography and discography. Lewes: Pomegranate Press; pp. 349. (ISBN 978-1-907242-09-0.) [Published with the aid of a grant from the Marc Fitch Fund.]
2016 (co-ed. with Patrick Hanks and Peter McClure)The Oxford dictionary of family names in the United Kingdom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (ISBN 9780199677764; also ebook and online versions.)
2017Wilkins of Westbury and Redland: the life and writings of the Rev. Dr Henry John Wilkins (1865-1941). Bristol: Avon Local History Association pamphlet 24.
2017Your city's place-names: Brighton and Hove. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society. (ISBN 9780904889970.)
2017Your city's place-names: Bristol. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society. (ISBN 9780904889963.)
2018 (guest ed. with Katalin Reszegi)Onomastica Uralica 11. (ISSN 1586-3719,ISSN 2061-0661.)
2019Places, names and history in north-west Bristol: Shirehampton, Avonmouth and King’s Weston. Bristol: Bristol Centre for Linguistics, University of the West of England.
2019Your city's place-names: Cambridge. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society.
2020 (co-ed. with Luisa Caiazzo andMaoz Azaryahu)Naming, identity and tourism. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. (ISBN 1527542866,ISBN 9781527542860.)
2020 (guest co-ed. with Martyna Gibka)Explorations in literary onomastic theory. Special issue ofOnoma, vol. 53 (spine date 2018; to appear 2020).
