John Wells
Country
Great Britain
Birth - Death
1939 -
Occupation
Academic
Description
Professor Emeritus of Phonetics at University College, London. Fellow of the British Academy. His interests centre on the phonetic and phonological description of languages but also extend to lexicography and language teaching. Until retirement he was the director of UCL's annual Summer Course in English Phonetics. He is a frequent contributor to BBC radio (R2, R4, R5, BBC English), and writes a daily phonetic blog. He has also published in and on Welsh and Esperanto (he is a former President of the World Esperanto Association and current President of the Esperanto Association of GB). Formerly Secretary of the International Phonetic Association and Editor of its Journal, in 2003 he was elected as its President. He is also the current president of the Simplified Spelling Society.
