 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2015) |
Clement Martyn Doke | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 May 1893 Bristol, England |
| Died | 24 February 1980 (aged 86) |
| Alma mater | Transvaal University College |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Linguistics |
| Institutions | University of the Witwatersrand |
Clement Martyn Doke (16 May 1893 in Bristol, United Kingdom – 24 February 1980 in East London, South Africa) was a South African linguist working mainly on African languages. Realizing that the grammatical structures of Bantu languages are quite different from those of European languages, he was one of the first African linguists of his time to abandon the Euro-centric approach to language description for a more locally grounded one. A most prolific writer, he published a string of grammars, several dictionaries, comparative work, and a history of Bantu linguistics.