Laura Soames
{{Short description|British phonetician (1840–1895)}}
Laura Soames (Brighton, 1840–1895) was a British phonetician, best known for her work applying phonetic principles to the teaching of the pronunciation of English and of foreign languages. An important contribution of her work was to popularize phonetics among language teachers.{{Cite journal |last=MacMahon |first=Michael K. C. |date=1994-01-01 |title=Laura Soames' contributions to phonetics |url=http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/hl.21.1-2.06mac |journal=Historiographia Linguistica |language=en |volume=21 |issue=1–2 |pages=103–121 |doi=10.1075/hl.21.1-2.06mac |issn=0302-5160}}
Career
Soames was a language teacher whose interest in phonetics was linked to her interest in spelling reform and the teaching of reading. She was an active member of the Phonetic Teachers' Association, which evolved into the International Phonetic Association (IPA).{{Cite journal |last=MacMahon |first=M. K. C. |date=1986 |title=The International Phonetic Association: The first 100 years |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=16 |pages=30–38 |doi=10.1017/S002510030000308X |jstor=}} In 1890 she was elected to the council of the IPA. She was highly regarded by its founder Passy and other phoneticians in Europe, including Wilhelm Viëtor (1850–1918), founder of the journal Phonetische Studien.{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm Viëtor biography |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/vietor/life/ |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=warwick.ac.uk}} Viëtor revised Soames' influential Introduction to Phonetics (English, French and German) (Soames 1891) and published it under the title, Introduction to English, French and German Phonetics (Soames, Viëtor 1899, still in print). Later he edited and added to a manuscript she was working on at the time of her death which combined revisions of the Introduction with aspects of The Child’s Key to Reading (Soames 1894), the book which had established her as a force in language education.{{Cite journal |last=Grandgent |first=C. H. |date=1894 |title=Reviewed Work: The Child's Key to Reading; Albany Phonetic Readers, Nos. 1, 2, 3 Laura Soames |journal=Le Maître Phonétique |volume=9 |issue=10 |pages=159–161 |jstor=}} This edited work was published as The Teacher’s Manual (Soames, n.d., Viëtor 1897).{{Cite book |last=Allan |first=Keith |title=The Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics |publisher=Equinox |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-84553-665-7 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=18, 202–203}}
Soames is also known for her 1889 proposal, which she credited to Curwen, that principal accents (stresses) are isochron
Legacy
Soames left a bequest to the University of London to fund the Laura Soames Prize, which was intended to promote the study of phonetics by awarding an annual prize in the Department of Phonetics at University College for the most distinguished piece of research work dealing with the phonetic structure of a living language.{{Cite web |title=Trusts and benefactions, etc {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-university-graduates/4-48#h2-s116 |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}
Selected publications
- Soames, L. 1889. On English stress. Le maître phonétique. mars 1889: 34–35.
- Soames, L. 1891. An introduction to phonetics. London: Swan Sonnenschein. {{ISBN|978-1331984221}}
- Soames, L. (n.d.). The Teacher's Manual: Pt. 1 The sounds of English. London: Swan Sonnenschein.
- Viëtor, Wilhelm, editor. 1897. The Teacher's Manual: Pt. 2. London: Swan Sonnenschein.