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| A DISTINGUISHED CARIBBEAN SCHOLAR -
PROFESSOR RICHARD ALLSOPP - PASSES ON |
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Professor Stanley
Reginald Richard
Allsopp retired
UWI Professor of
Caribbean
Lexicography at
the Cave Hill
Campus died
Wednesday June
3rd, after years
of failing health.
His death brings
to an end a long
period of unique
and brilliant service
to the intellectual
development of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. Principal
Sir Hilary Beckles
described the former Cave Hill academic as “the
quintessential Caribbean
man of words, a scholar steeped in the finest tradition
of regional research
who internationalised his discipline of lexicography
in the way no other has
done”.
He was not only a brilliant academic; he was a colleague
who gave his entire
energy to the building of the UWI at Cave Hill. “We
will remember him as an
unmatched advocate of the University’s mission
in Caribbean civilisation and
as a prophet of reason and tolerance in the forging
of cultured
consciousness” noted Sir Hilary. “In his passing
we will miss his voice but will
remain enriched by the enormous wealth of his legacy”
Sir Hilary added.
Former Cave Hill Principal Sir Keith Hunte who joined
the university a year
after Allsopp, said the region owes the late linguist
a great debt of gratitude
for his all-round contribution towards the building
of the academic community
and the promotion of scholarship, a debt “partially
acknowledged when he
was promoted to the rank of Reader and later Professor.”
Historians Professor Alvin Thompson, Professor Woodville
Marshall, Dr. Karl
Watson and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Pedro
Welch were
among many former colleagues who fondly recalled Professor
Allsopp and
paid tribute to his contribution to the academy.
Professor Allsopp joined the fledgling College of Arts
& Science in Barbados
of the University of the West Indies as its first lecturer
in English, in 1963;
serving soon after as a significant member of its development
and
management team in his capacities as vice-dean and chairman
of the
Division of Survey Courses and Social Sciences. He would
go on to serve the
university in a variety of capacities: as the campus’
first public orator, as a
member of Council and of the Senate, to name a few.
At the College’s
Harbour Site and later its permanent home on the Hill,
many would describe
Richard Allsopp – tall, handsome and elegant –
as bestriding the campus like
a colossus.
He designed and developed a first year course in The
Use of English as a
compulsory university-wide course, and with it developed
a reputation for
rigorous teaching and examining, and insistence on exacting
standards. His
pioneering role as a Caribbean linguist/creolist had
earlier resulted in his
membership of a group of 13 scholars who gathered for
the inaugural
International Conference on Creole languages held at
Mona, Jamaica, in
1959.
His dissertations at the masters and doctoral levels
were the first known
theses in any Caribbean creole. His seminal work in
Creole studies and in
particular on phonology, on structure and on the African
origins of Caribbean
creoles would later bring prestige to him and to the
university.
Not surprisingly then, Professor Allsopp together with
colleagues across the
University was instrumental in the early 1970s in the
introduction of linguistics
studies at the UWI and in the design and teaching of
a range of linguistics
courses.
His purpose, in his own words was “to use the discipline
of linguistics, never
as an end in itself…, but as an instrument for
the study and appreciation of
the usage and structure of the English Language as it
has developed in the
Caribbean; firstly as being basic to education in general
and secondly as
crucial to the proper acquisition of a foreign language
by any Caribbean
student.”
Over the years he served as lecturer, senior lecturer,
senior research fellow
and reader and ultimately as professor of the UWI at
Cave Hill, in this field,
reflecting a distinguished record of scholarly work.
In 1971, Professor Allsopp
launched the Caribbean Lexicography Project and became
its first director
and coordinator. The product of this project, his landmark
Dictionary of
Caribbean English Usage (1996) was the culmination of
over 20 years of
dedicated and singular effort with limited resources.
With this “stupendous work” (as described
by the The Economist) he sealed
his reputation not only as a lexicographical scholar,
but as a major
contributor to Caribbean education and cultural understanding.
His dictionary was followed in 2005 by his well received
work, A Book of Afric
Caribbean Proverbs. At the international level, Professor
Allsopp is the first
and only West Indian invited to serve on the editorial
board of the Oxford
English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary.
He also served as
the English language consultant to the Church of the
Province of the West
Indies for the Book of Common Prayer.
Stanley Reginald Richard Allsopp’s magnum opus
is, of course, the
Dictionary of Caribbean English. His greatest invention
was the Caribbean
Lexicography Project through which he laboured for a
quarter of a century,
learning Twi, Hindi and Portuguese; visiting 18 countries;
interviewing
thousands of persons and convening countless seminars
and workshops so
as to establish the dictionary on an empirical evidential
foundation.
In the final analysis, the dictionary became, possibly,
“the most important
book ever to come out of the Anglophone Caribbean”
and it was well worth
the twenty-five-year wait. Born in Guyana in 1923, Richard
Allsopp was the
eldest son of Stanley and Eloise Allsopp. He attended
the prestigious boys’
school, Queens College, and studied for his PhD at the
University of
London.
On his return to Guyana he taught at Queens College
and in 1962, became
the first Guyanese to be the School’s acting principal.
In 1958 he was
awarded the Crane Gold medal for the most outstanding
contribution to
education in British Guiana. In 2003 the University
honoured his work and his
signal contribution to Caribbean culture and scholarship
by conferring on him
the Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, an uncommon
distinction for a
member of its community.
In his citation, the University’s Public Orator
aptly described Professor
Allsopp as a “gentle giant of a scholar and gentleman,
[an] eloquent epitome
of Caribbean cultural expression…, [a]human computer
of the language,
passions and culture of Caribbean people.”
In 2004, the Barbados Government awarded him the country’s
second
highest national honour, The Companion of Honour - CHB,
for his
distinguished contribution to education. Professor Allsopp
leaves to mourn
his wife Jeannette, his younger brothers Philip and
Bertie Allsopp; children,
Disa Allsopp, Sophia Cambridge, John and Marie Allsopp,
along with five
grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. The University
deeply
regrets his passing and extends its deepest condolences
to his family |
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