Harold Orton

Harold Orton (23 October 1898 – 7 March 1975) was an English university lecturer and dialectologist, best remembered as co-founder of the Survey of English Dialects (SED). Orton developed the questionnaire for the survey together with Eugen Dieth. His pupil David Parry went on to apply the same principles used for the SED to Welsh English, founding the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects (SAWD) at Swansea University in 1968.

During World War I, Orton served as lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry, where he was wounded severely in 1918, never regaining full use of his right arm. He worked as lecturer at Uppsala (1924–28), as lecturer at Armstrong College, Newcastle (now the University of Newcastle) (1928–39) and as lecturer in charge of the department of English language, University of Sheffield (1939–46). In 1946 he was awarded with a chair at the University of Leeds, succeeding Bruce Dickins, where he taught until his retirement in 1964. He was visiting professor at Kansas (1965, 1967, 1968), Iowa (1966), Tennessee (1970, 1972, 1973) and Belmont College, Nashville (1971).

Bibliography (selection)

 * Orton, Harold (1930). The Phonology of a South Durham Dialect. London.
 * Orton, Harold (1971). Editorial Problems of an English Dialect Atlas. In: Burghardt, Lorraine H. (ed.): Dialectology: Problems and Perspectives. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee, 79-115.
 * Orton, Harold and Eugen Dieth (1952). A Questionnaire for a Linguistic Atlas of England. Leeds: Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society.
 * Orton, Harold and Nathalia Wright (1972). Questionnaire for the Investigation of American Regional English. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee.
 * Orton, Harold and Nathalia Wright (1975). A Word Geography of England. New York: Seminar Press.
 * Orton, Harold et al. (1962–71). Survey of English Dialects: Basic Materials. Introduction and 4 vols. (each in 3 parts). Leeds: E. J. Arnold & Son.