ASHER, R. E.

ASHER, R. E. British, b. 1926. Genres: History, Language/Linguistics, Literary criticism and history, Reference, Translations. Career: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, England, assistant lecturer, 1953-56, lecturer in linguistics, 1956-67, lecturer in Tamil, 1957-65; University of Edinburgh, Scotland, senior lecturer, 1965-70, reader, 1970-77, professor of linguistics, 1977-93, head of department, 1976-80, 1983-86, Faculty of Arts, associate dean, 1985-86, dean, 1986-89, associate director of Centre for Speech Technology Research, 1984-93, director, 1994, member of University Court, 1989-92, vice-principal, 1990-93, curator of patronage, 1991-93, professor emeritus, 1993-. Visiting professor at colleges and universities worldwide. Publications: (with R. Radhakrishnan) A Tamil Prose Reader, 1971; Some Landmarks in the History of Tamil Prose, 1973; Tamil, 1982; Malayala Bhasa-Sahitya Pathanangal (title means: Linguistic and Literary Studies on Malayalam), 1989; National Myths in Renaissance France, 1993; (with T.C. Kumari) Malayalam, 1997; Basheer: Malayattinre sarga vismayam (critical studies), 1999; (with E. Annamalai) Colloquial Tamil, 2002. TRANSLATOR FROM MALAYALAM: T.S. Pillai, Scavenger's Son (novel), 1986, rev. trans., 1993; (with A. Coilparampil) V.M. Basheer, "Me Grandad 'ad an Elephant!" Three Stories of Muslim Life in South India, 1980; (with N. Gopalakrishnan) What the Sufi Said, 2002. EDITOR: (with E.J.A. Henderson) Towards a History of Phonetics, 1981; (with C. Moseley) Atlas to the World's Languages, 1994; (in-chief) The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 10 vols., 1994; (with E.F.K. Koerner) Concise History of the Language Sciences, 1995; Basheer svatantrya samara kathakal (title means: Basheer-Stories of the Freedom Struggle), 1998; (with R. Harris) Linguisticoliterary-A Festschrift for Professor D.S. Dwivedi, 2000. Address: Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Bldg, George Sq, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, Scotland.