# John Laver
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{{Short description|British phonetician (1938–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|name=John Laver
|honorific_suffix={{post-nominals|size=100|country=GBR|CBE|FBA|FRSE}}
|birth_name=John David Michael Henry Laver
|birth_date={{birth date|1938|1|20|df=y}}
|birth_place=[Nowshera](/source/Nowshera%2C_Punjab), [British India](/source/British_India)
|death_date={{death date and age|2020|5|6|1938|1|20|df=y}}
|death_place=[Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh), [Scotland](/source/Scotland)
|occupation=Phonetician
|notable_works={{Unbulleted list|''The Phonetic Description of Voice Quality'' (1980)|''Principles of Phonetics'' (1994)}}
|website=
}}
'''John David Michael Henry Laver''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|CBE|FBA|FRSE}} (20 January 1938 – 6 May 2020) was a British [phonetician](/source/phonetician). He was Deputy Principal & Deputy Vice Patron as well as Emeritus professor of speech sciences at [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh)’s [Queen Margaret University](/source/Queen_Margaret_University), and served as president of the [International Phonetic Association](/source/International_Phonetic_Association) from 1991 to 1995.[{{cite web|url=https://www.qmu.ac.uk/about-our-staff/professoriate/professor-john-laver/|title=Professor John Laver|publisher=Queen Margaret University|accessdate=25 March 2018}}]
==Life and career==
Laver was born in [Nowshera](/source/Nowshera%2C_Punjab), [British India](/source/British_India),[{{cite press release|url=http://rse.mtcserver6.com/130_RSEAwardsBicentenaryMedalsforDistinguishedService.html|title=RSE Awards Bicentenary Medals for Distinguished Service|publisher=[Royal Society of Edinburgh](/source/Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh)|date=2 July 2004}}] to a father who was in the [Indian](/source/British_Indian_Army) and later the [British Army](/source/British_Army). He was raised in India for six years and spoke [Hindustani](/source/Hindustani_language) and English and later lived in [Egypt](/source/Egypt), [Libya](/source/Libya), [Kenya](/source/Kenya) and [Cyprus](/source/Cyprus) until the age of ten.[{{cite book|last=Laver|first=John|year=2002|chapter=John Laver|editor1-last=Brown|editor1-first=Keith|editor1-link=Keith Brown (linguist)|editor2-last=Law|editor2-first=Vivien|editor2-link=Vivien Law|title=Linguistics in Britain: Personal Histories|publisher=Blackwell|pages=139–154|isbn=0-631-23476-4}}] After attending a boarding school in [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire), Laver entered the [Royal Air Force College Cranwell](/source/Royal_Air_Force_College_Cranwell) to pursue a career as a military pilot, which he eventually gave up.[{{Cite journal|last=Laver|first=J. D. M. H.|date=1987|title=Individual features in voice quality.|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/6732}}] supervised by Abercrombie.[{{cite thesis|last=Laver|first=John|year=1975|title=Individual features in voice quality|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/6732 |url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/6732}}] In 1985, he was appointed Professor of Phonetics at Edinburgh, where he later received a [Doctor of Letters](/source/Doctor_of_Letters).[{{cite book|last=Asher|first=R. E.|authorlink=R. E. Asher|year=2005|chapter=Foreword|editor1-last=Hardcastle|editor1-first=W. J.|editor2-last=Beck|editor2-first=J. Mackenzie|title=A Figure of Speech: A Festschrift for John Laver|location=Mahwah, New Jersey|publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates|pages=ix–xvi|isbn=0-8058-4528-3}}] He was president of the [International Phonetic Association](/source/International_Phonetic_Association) from 1991 to 1995.[{{London Gazette |issue= 55354 |date= 31 December 1998 |pages= 7-8 |supp= y }}]
In 2013, [Trinity College Dublin](/source/Trinity_College_Dublin) awarded him an honorary doctorate.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/registrar/honorary-degrees/2013-14/|title=Registrar : Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Ireland|website=www.tcd.ie|access-date=2020-01-27}}]
With [Ronald E. Asher](/source/Ronald_E._Asher), Laver served as general editor of ''The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Speech and Language'' for [Wiley-Blackwell](/source/Wiley-Blackwell), which involved nearly 40 contributors and was completed in 2013 after about 25 years of preparation. During a period of Laver's illness, however, Wiley-Blackwell withdrew from the contract and reverted copyright to the contributors.[{{cite book|last1=Laver|first1=John|last2=Mason|first2=Ian|year=2018|title=A Dictionary of Translation and Interpreting|url=https://www.academia.edu/37923697}}][{{cite web|url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Handbook+of+Phonetic+Sciences%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9781405145909|title=The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences, 2nd Edition|publisher=Wiley|date=February 2010|accessdate=12 May 2020}}]
He died in [Scotland](/source/Scotland) on 6 May 2020 after a long illness.[{{cite news|last1=Ashby|first1=Michael|last2=Docherty|first2=Gerard|date=12 May 2020|url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/news/202005/professor-john-laver-1938%E2%80%932020|title=Professor John Laver (1938–2020)|publisher=International Phonetic Association|accessdate=12 May 2020}}]
==Personal life==
Laver married his colleague Sandy Hutcheson in 1974.