Profile: Emeritus Professor Ayo Bamgbose, NNOM, FNAL

[Toyin Falola]

        Born on January 27, 1932, Professor Ayo Bamgbose was educated at St. Andrew's College, Oyo, 1948-1951, University College, Ibadan, 1957-1960, and University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 1960-1963. He graduated B.A. Honours (2.1) (London) in English in 1960 and obtained a Diploma in General Linguistics in 1961 followed by a Ph. D in Linguistics in 1963 both from the University of Edinburgh. The first Nigerian to obtain a degree in Linguistics, his thesis on Yoruba Grammar is the first to be based on a modern linguistic theory.

        Immediately after taking his Ph.D., he was appointed Lecturer at the University of Ibadan in October 1963 and rose quickly to become Senior Lecturer in 1966 and Professor in 1968, a post he held until he retired in 1990 (not counting a contract appointment that ended in 1992). Professor Bamgbose participated in practically all facets of University life. He was the pioneer Warden of the Postgraduate Hall, 1968-1969 and subsequently Hall Master, 1976-1978. He was Head of the Department of Linguistics and African Languages for a record period of ten years, 1969-1975 and 1977-1981. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts, 1971-1973 in which capacity he chaired the Jos Campus Committee that supervised the establishment of this Campus of the University that was later to become the University of Jos. Other notable assignments were the Chairmanship of the Senate Committee on the General Studies Programme, 1986-1987 & 1988-1990 and that of the Senate Publications Committee, 1988-1990.

        Professor Bamgbose's scholarly expertise was always in demand. He has been guest lecturer at over 30 universities spread across Africa, Europe and the United States of America. In particular, he has been Visiting Professor, University of Hamburg (Germany), 1979-1980, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, (USA), 1993-1995, University of Leipzig (Germany) 1997-1999 and Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge (U.K.), 1987-1988.
   In the course of his long academic career, Professor Bamgbose has been a recipient of several honours, including Honorary Membership, Linguistic Society of America (LSA), 1984,
Life Membership, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, 1990, Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), 1990, Professor Emeritus, University of Ibadan, 1994,      Fellow of St. Andrew's College, Oyo (FSAC), 1996, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (FNAL), 1998, Distinguished Service Award, African Language Teachers Association, U.S.A., 2001 and Distinguished Alumnus Merit Award, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, 2001.

        A member of several professional associations, Professor Bamgbose has been elected to leadership positions by his peers in several learned societies. The positions he has held include: Secretary-Treasurer, West African Linguistic Society, 1965-1972; President, West African Linguistic Society, 1976-1982; Member of the Executive, Permanent International Committee of Linguists, (CIPL), 1977-date;  2nd Vice-President,  CIPL, 2003 to date; President, Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria (YSAN), 1981-1986; Foundation President, Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), 1998-2000; and President, International Association of World Englishes (IAWE), 2000-2002.

        Professor Bamgbose has undertaken several assignments outside the University of Ibadan. These include external examining, consultancies, committees, commissions and boards. Examples of such assignments include: Member, and later Chairman, National Language Centre Working Committee, 1968-1979; Member, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) representing the University of Ibadan, 1977-1979; 1980-1987; Chief Moderator, JAMB English Language Paper, 1978-1979; 1980-1987; External examining at several universities in Nigeria and other countries in Africa (including Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe);
Member, Presidential Committee on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Seminar on the National Question, 1987; Chairman, Scholarly Publishers Association of Nigeria (SPAN), 1988-1990; Chairman, Working Committee for the establishment of the National Institute of Nigerian Languages, Aba, 1991; Director, Languages in Contact and Conflict (LiCCA) International Project, 1991-1996; Chairman, Regency Insurance Company Limited, 1994-date;

and Member of Governing Council, Oyo State College of Education, Oyo (formerly
St. Andrew's College of Education, Oyo) 1999-2003.

        Professor Bamgbose's expertise has also been recognized through invitations to serve on the Editorial Boards of several journals, including : Journal of African Languages; ODU: A Journal of West African Studies; Indian Journal of Linguistics; African Languages; Journal of African Languages & Linguistics;  Education and Development (Editor-in-Chief, 1985-1987); Nsukka Journal of Linguistics & African Languages;  Linguistique Africaine;  Ife Studies in English Language;  Journal of English as a Second Language;  IDEAL - Issues and Developments in English Applied Linguistics;  Ilorin Journal of Language and Literature; World Englishes: Journal of English as an International and Intranational Language (Consulting Editor since 1993), and South African Journal of African Languages.

        Professor Bamgbose has been publishing since 1963 and his three latest papers
were published in 2003. He has to his credit numerous books and monographs, chapters in books, and articles in learned journals. The following are a sample of his books*:
… A Grammar of Yoruba.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.
… The Novels of D.O. Fagunwa. Benin: Ethiope Publishing Corporation, 1974.
… Mother Tongue Education: The West African Experience (ed.), London: Hodder and Stoughton, and Paris: UNESCO Press, 1976.
… A Guide to Terminology for African Language Education, Dakar: UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa, 1987.
… Language and the Nation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991
… New Englishes: A West African Perspective (edited jointly with Ayo Banjo and Andrew Thomas). Ibadan: Mosuro Publishers for the British Council, 1995.
… Language and Exclusion. Hamburg: LIT Verlag, 2000.
… Sociolinguistics in West Africa (ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2000.

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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222  (fax)
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa