Walter Spencer Avis


Walter Spencer Avis was one of the foremost Canadian linguists of his day. Throughout the 1950s to his death at age 60, Avis' mission has been described as "plant into the minds of his compatriots the notion of Canadian English as related but different from other "Englishes"."
Avis was the editor-in-chief of the first edition of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles. Born in Toronto in 1919, Avis belonged to the first generation of PhD-level trained linguists in Canada. He published as of 1950 in the areas of historical linguistics, dialectology, linguistic variation, Canadian English and the budding field of sociolinguistics.

Positions and Honours

From 1952 to his death in 1979, Avis was professor of English at Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario. He was a long-term secretary of the Canadian Linguistic Association, President from 1968–70, and was slated to become president-elect of the American Dialect Society in January 1980; however, he died suddenly in December 1979.

Death

Avis died in December 1979 from a heart attack.

Major works