Comments on: Dell Hymes’ Passing

By: Vale Dell Hymes roundup and more from the Anthro world… « Erkan's Field Diary

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:36:39 +0000

[...] Dell Hymes’ Passing [...]

By: Motoko Hori

Motoko Hori — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:05:10 +0000

It is really a shock to me to find the news of the death of Dell Hymes. I only know him through his books, so I cannot offer any personal condolence to him. However, his name has been so familiar to me from the time I began studying sociolinguistics.
Since there were very few books on sociolinguistics in 1970s in Japan, his “Directions in Sociolinguistics” was like a textbook for me.
Although I have retired from the academic activities now, I vividly remember the days when his book inspired me into the field of language.
Thank you, Professor Dell Hymes, for your big contribution to the linguistic society in Japan. Your name will be remembered in our heart for ever.

By: Anthony Webster

Anthony Webster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:26:28 +0000

Jason,

Thanks for posting this. Let me just say, also, thank you to Dr. Hymes. I would not be a linguistic anthropologist had I not read In Vain I Tried to Tell You. He had been supportive of my early attempts in ethnopoetics and that inspired me to keep at it. I too received an ample letter with suggestions about my analysis.

What he did for linguistic anthropology, the ethnography of speaking and ethnopoetics, would have been enough, but the social responsibility and the deep and perduring humanism that animated all his work as well, that was an inspiration for me personally and a model too for anthropology more generally.

It is his book Ethnography, Linguistics, Narrative Inequality that I turn to most often these days.

By: AAA Mourns Passing of Dell Hymes, Past President « American Anthropological Association

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:51:47 +0000

[...] Society of America. Additional reflections on his life and work can be found on Savage Minds, Jason Baird Jackson’s blog, Daily Progress, Philly.com and Language Log. Readers are welcome to post additional links in [...]

By: Jan Blommaert

Jan Blommaert — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:31:10 +0000

A great loss indeed. I recall fondly how a letter I sent to Dell while I was a modest PhD student led to a reply of about 15 pages long, full of generous advice, detailed analyses and references. He did similar things to some of my PhD students later, and he had a tremendous impact on them by such gestures of generosity.

Earlier this year, I edited a special issue of TEXT & TALK called ‘On Hymes’ (Text & Talk 29/3, 2009). It was and is intended as a tribute to his work and his impact in our fields, and papers were written by the Late Ron and Suzie Scollon, Jim Collins, Sue Ervin-Tripp, Rob Moore, Ben Rampton and Nancy Hornberger. I had hoped to give Dell a copy of the volume during the AAA meetings in Philadelphia, but alas.

By: Richard Chaflen

Richard Chaflen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:10:32 +0000

Yes, this is sad news. I also had the delight of studying with Professor Hymes at Penn during the late 60s. His exchanges with Erving Goffman and Sol Worth are particularly memorable. As part of inviting students to venture beyond spoken modes of discourse toward an ethnography of communication, he was encouraging me to see what could be done with pictorial events, specifically vernacular photography. I have re-read his papers countless times and have always been grateful for his support and model of academic mentorship. A very good man.

Richard Chalfen

By: Marcia Farr

Marcia Farr — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:03:20 +0000

Like many others, I feel quite sad about this loss, but I also feel grateful for having known him and his work. Dell Hymes was such a key figure in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology that I found myself turning to his writings throughout my career. In fact, his work was the primary inspiration for my Ethnolinguistic Chicago books, and he kindly wrote a foreward for the first one. Although I never studied in his classes, I have learned so much–and continue to learn–from him. May you rest in peace, Dell.

By: Anthropology Club » Sad News About Dell Hymes

Anthropology Club » Sad News About Dell Hymes — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:33:38 +0000

[...] http://jasonbairdjackson.com/2009/11/16/dell-hymes-passing/ [...]

By: Eve Danziger

Eve Danziger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:54:21 +0000

Here is the official announcement, now going out.

It is with sadness that we announce the death of our distinguished colleague Dell Hathaway Hymes, Commonwealth Professor of Anthropology and English (Emeritus) at the University of Virginia. Professor Hymes died peacefully on Friday November 13, 2009 in Charlottesville, VA. A memorial service will be held on Saturday November 21 at 1:00 at Peace Lutheran church, 1510 Broad Crossing Rd, Charlottesville, VA. A memorial gathering has also been organized at the upcoming meetings of the American Anthropological Association in Philadelphia, PA. The gathering will take place on Saturday December 5, 2009 from 7:30-9:30 pm in Grand Ballroom III of the Courtyard Marriott hotel (downtown). Condolences may be addressed to Virginia Hymes care of the Department of Anthropology, PO Box 400120, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4120. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice (http://www.charlottesvillepeace.org/) or a charity of choice.

By: Virtual Issue: The Anthropology of Knowledges « Erkan's Field Diary

Virtual Issue: The Anthropology of Knowledges « Erkan's Field Diary — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:41:03 +0000

[...] hasn’t yet been reported in the newspapers, but Jason Baird Jackson has a post speaking to Hymes’ contribution in the fields of anthropology and [...]