The Barker Lectureship is named in honor of Dr. James L. Barker (1880–1958), an internationally renowned scholar in phonetics and former chairman of BYU’s Language Department (1907–1914). Dr. Barker, who also taught at Weber Academy, the University of Utah, and the University of Chicago, studied at the University of Neuchâtel, the Collège de France and the Sorbonne and later lectured on dozens of American and European university campuses. He was honored for his work in phonetics by a decoration from the French government – the Palmes d’Officier de l’Académie. Dr. Barker served twice as mission president for the LDS Church – from 1942–1944, as President of the Argentina Mission, and from 1946–1949 as President of the French Mission. In addition to authoring many scholarly articles and books, he translated The Book of Mormon into French in 1906 and wrote The Divine Church, a treatise on the Christian Church to the restoration. Dr. Barker spoke and taught German, French, Spanish, and Italian. In 1952 he returned to the BYU faculty and was teaching here at the time of his death, in 1958, in an automobile accident.
Former Recipients
1983 Josette Ashford 1984 Harold Madsen 1985 Royal Skousen 1986 Marvin Folson 1987 Randall Jones
1988 Robert Blair 1990 John S. Harris 1991 Dilworth Parkinson 1992 Cheryl Brown 1993 John Robertson
1994 Jerry Larson 1995 Alan Melby 1996 Chantal Thompson 1997 David Paxman 1998 William Eggington
1999 Daniel Peterson 2000 Lynn Henrichsen 2001 Wilfried Decoo 2002 Melvin Luthy 2003 Donald Jarvis
2004 Neil J. Anderson 2005 Kristine Hansen 2006 David Hart 2007 Mark Davies 2008 Ray Clifford
2009 David Eddington 2010 Robert Russell 2011 Deryle Lonsdale 2012 Donald W. Parry 2013 Janis Nuckolls
2014 Greg Clark 2016 Orlando Alba 2017 Dana Bourgerie 2018 Deborah Dean