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361:(DOST) and became editor of DOST on Craigie's retirement in 1956. When he took over editorial responsibility for DOST, Aitken instituted a new reading programme that approximately doubled the list of works excerpted for the dictionary, correcting the bias towards verse and literary prose. Aitken's editorship began with the letter J, and the impact of the new reading programme is seen from the third volume onwards.
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his courses on Scots language were for many years the only clear summaries of Scots vocabulary, phonology, orthography, grammar and stylistics, and they circulated widely amongst scholars. Over time he made much of this material available in print, and his writings largely form the foundation of the subject.
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For most of his career, up to 1979, Aitken combined his work on DOST with teaching, as a
Lecturer and latterly Reader in the Department of English Language, University of Edinburgh. He can be said to have created 'Scots language' as a university subject. The handouts that he produced in the 1950s for
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Aitken was one of the first to appreciate the potential of the computer for research in the Arts. Although computer methods arrived too late to be of central importance in the collection process for DOST, he set up, with Paul
Bratley and Neil Hamilton-Smith, the Older Scots Textual Archive, a
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393:. In 1983 he was awarded a DLitt by the University of Edinburgh, and was appointed honorary professor in 1984. In 1987, he was presented with a Festschrift: The Nuttis Schell, Essays on the Scots Language presented to A J Aitken.
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A. J. Aitken,'The
Scottish Vowel Length-Rule' in A. J. Aitken, M. Benskin and M. L. Samuels, eds., So meny people longages and tonges: Philological Essays in Scots and Mediaeval English presented to Angus McIntosh (Edinburgh,
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A. J. Aitken, ed. Caroline
Macafee, The Older Scots Vowels: A History of the Stressed Vowels of Older Scots from the Beginnings to the Eighteenth Century (Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 2002)
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landing at Port en Bessin D Day + 2, he drove to join 151 Brigade of the 50th
Division beyond Bayeuk. He fought at Tilly sur Seulles and Villers Bocage. He was commended for bravery by
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1971–1976; chairman of the Forum for
Research on the Languages of Scotland 1978–1981 and honorary president from 1994; vice-president of the
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from 1995; and honorary vice-president of the Robert
Henryson Society from 1996. In 1981 the British Academy awarded him the Biennial
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He graduated MA with First Class
Honours in English Language and Literature in 1947. In 1948 he was appointed Assistant to
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from 1985; Honorary Preses of the Scots
Language Society from 1994; honorary vice-president of the
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Caroline
Macafee, 'Obituary: A. J. Aitken (1921–1998)’, English World-Wide 19:2 (1998) 275–285
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J Derrick McClure 'Professor Jack Aitken. The word in Scotland', The Guardian (10 March 1998)
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vowels that enabled a better understanding and description of their historical development.
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computer-readable archive of over one million words of Older Scots literature.
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http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/professor-a-j-aitken-1.354441
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in 1944 during the campaign in France. He rose to the rank of Sergeant Major.
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Caroline Macafee, 'Professor A J Aitken', The Herald (14 February 1998)
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http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.19.2.09mac
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432:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
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426:Macafee, Caroline. "Aitken, (Adam) Jack".
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618:Academics of the University of Edinburgh
387:Scottish National Dictionary Association
463:Bawcutt, Priscilla (18 February 1998).
429:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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137:(1998-02-11)
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