Papers of Professor David Whitehorn Arnott

Papers, 1950s-1980s, of Professor David Arnott on West African languages, comprising papers, including notes and questionnaires, from his study leave (1955-1956) spent travelling from Nigeria through Niger, Dahomey (Benin), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), French Sudan (Mali), Senegal and Gambia to Guine...

Full description


Date(s) of creation: 1950s-1980s
Level: Collection
Format: Archive           

Reference number: PP MS 73
Summary: Papers, 1950s-1980s, of Professor David Arnott on West African languages, comprising papers, including notes and questionnaires, from his study leave (1955-1956) spent travelling from Nigeria through Niger, Dahomey (Benin), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), French Sudan (Mali), Senegal and Gambia to Guinea and Sierra Leone; copies (photocopied and photographic) of manuscripts; translations and transcriptions; transcriptions of language recordings; seminar and conference papers; teaching material; offprints of articles by Arnott; typescripts or corrected proofs of articles; and reviews of books by other authors. The papers relate largely to Nigeria but also to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal, relating mainly to Fulfulde, Fula and Fulani (language of the Fulani people of West Africa), and also to Tiv and to Hausa poetry and songs. The subjects include literature, including poetry (religious and non-religious), oral literature and folklore, proverbial lore, Islamic influences on African literary cultures, grammar, including morphology, verbal and nominal systems, nouns, vocabulary, and the distribution of dialects.
Main author: Arnott; David Whitehorn (fl 1955-2000); linguist
Previous numbers: MS 380362, MS 380416
Extent: 10 boxes
Admin history: David Whitehorn Arnott was Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Publications include: The nominal and verbal systems of Fula (1970); supplementary bibliography in Diedrich Hermann Westermann and Margaret Arminel Bryan's The languages of West Africa (1970).
Acquisition: Various deposits, presented by D. W. Arnott between 1982 and 1995.
Access status: Open
Language: English
French
Fulah
Tiv
Hausa
Arabic
Finding aids: Box lists, prepared by the depositor
Related material: The School of Oriental and African Studies also holds miscellaneous letters and notes of Arnott among the papers of Malcolm Guthrie (Ref: PP MS 27) and Frederick Wiliam Parsons (Ref: PP MS 50). The Africa Department of SOAS holds sound recordings on African languages deposited by Arnott.
Format: Archive           
Subjects:
Access Points - Person, Corporate & Family Names:
Name Code Person, Corporate or Family Name Type of Entity
GB/NNAF/D205442 Arnott; David Whitehorn (fl 1955-2000); linguist Person
GB/NNAF/C62038 University of London; School of Oriental and African Studies Corporate
Access Points - Places:
Place Code Place Name
7729886 Central Africa
7729885 Western Africa
2361809 Burkina Faso
2395170 Benin
2233387 Cameroon
2413451 Gambia
2453866 Mali
2328926 Nigeria
2245662 Senegal
2403846 Sierra Leone
366755 Sudan