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Peter Ladefoged

{{Short description|British phonetician (1925–2006)}}

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Peter Ladefoged

| image = Peter Ladefoged cropped.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Ladefoged in 2004

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|9|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sutton, London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|1|24|1925|9|17|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| doctoral_students = John Ohala

| alma_mater = {{Unbulleted list|Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|University of Edinburgh}}

}}

Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|æ|d|ɪ|f|oʊ|ɡ|ɪ|d|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Peter Ladefoged.wav}} {{respell|LAD|if|oh|ghid}},{{cite book |year=2001 |title=Vowels and consonants: an introduction to the sounds of languages |page=74}} {{IPA|da|ˈpʰe̝ˀtɐ ˈne̝lsn̩ ˈlɛːðəˌfoːð̩|lang}};{{cite book|last1=Brink|first1=Lars|last2=Lund|first2=Jørn|last3=Heger|first3=Steffen|last4=Jørgensen|first4=J. Normann|year=1991|title=Den Store Danske Udtaleordbog|publisher=Munksgaard|location=Copenhagen|isbn=87-16-06649-9}} 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British linguist and phonetician.{{cite web|url=http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/|title=Peter Ladefoged's home page|website=Lnguistics.ucla.edu|access-date=19 November 2017}}

He was Professor of Phonetics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught from 1962 to 1991. His book A Course in Phonetics is a common introductory text in phonetics, and The Sounds of the World's Languages (co-authored with Ian Maddieson) is widely regarded as a standard phonetics reference. Ladefoged also wrote several books on the phonetics of African languages. Prior to UCLA, he was a lecturer at the universities of University of Edinburgh in Scotland (1953–59, 1960–61) and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria (1959–60).{{cite web |url=http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Obituary-Peter-Ladefoged-UCLA-6795.aspx?RelNum=6795|title=Obituary: Peter Ladefoged|publisher=UCLA Newsroom|access-date=17 July 2015}}

Early life

Peter Ladefoged was born on 17 September 1925, in Sutton (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), England. He attended Haileybury College from 1938 to 1943, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Cambridge University from 1943 to 1944. He received an MA (1951) and a PhD (1959) in Phonetics from the University of Edinburgh in 1959.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-28-me-ladefoged28-story.html|title=Peter Ladefoged, 80; Documented Endangered Languages|last=Nelson|first=Valerie J.|date=2006-01-28|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-03-05|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}{{Cite journal|last=Ladefoged|first=Peter|date=1959|title=The perception of vowel sounds|hdl=1842/28389|url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/28389|language=en}}

Career

Ladefoged was involved with the phonetics laboratory at UCLA, which he established in 1962. He also was interested in listening to and describing every sound used in spoken human language, which he estimated at 900 consonants and 200 vowels.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Nielsen-Ladefoged|title=Peter Nielsen Ladefoged {{!}} American linguist|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-03-05}} This research formed the basis of much of The Sounds of the World's Languages. In 1966 Ladefoged moved from the UCLA English Department to join the newly established Linguistics Department.

While at UCLA, Ladefoged was hired as a consultant on the movie My Fair Lady. He wrote the transcriptions that can be seen in Professor Higgins's notebook, and his voice was used in the scenes where Higgins describes vowel pronunciation.Peter Ladefoged, in Phonetic data analysis: An introduction to fieldwork and instrumental techniques (Wiley-Blackwell), 2003, p. 28

Ladefoged was also a member of the International Phonetic Association for a long time, and was President of the Association from 1986 to 1991. He was deeply involved in maintaining its International Phonetic Alphabet, and was the principal mover of the 1989 International Phonetic Association Kiel Convention. He was also editor of the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. Ladefoged served on the board of directors of the Endangered Language Fund since its inception.

In 1992, Ladefoged appeared on the Bill Bixby-hosted TV special The Elvis Conspiracy to give his professional opinion that 1980s recordings purported to be the voice of Elvis Presley were not authentic.

Ladefoged was a founding member of the Association for Laboratory Phonology.

Personal life

Ladefoged married Jenny MacDonald in 1953, a marriage which lasted over 50 years.{{Cite web|url=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/|title=Peter Ladefoged's home page|website=linguistics.ucla.edu|access-date=2019-03-05}} They had three children: Lise Friedman, a bookseller; Thegn Ladefoged, archaeologist and professor of anthropology at University of Auckland;{{cite web|url=http://artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz/staff/?UPI=tlad001|title=Professor Thegn Ladefoged – The University of Auckland|website=Artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234954/http://artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz/staff/?UPI=tlad001|url-status=dead}} and Katie Ladefoged, attorney and public defender, residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He also had five grandchildren Zelda Ladefoged, Ethan Friedman, Amy Friedman, Joseph Weiss, and Catherine Weiss.

On May 5, 1970, Ladefoged was arrested and sustained injuries from police while participating in an anti–Vietnam War protest at UCLA.{{cite book|last=Dundjerski|first=Marina|year=2011|title=UCLA: The First Century|publisher=Third Millennium|page=186|isbn=978-1-906507-37-4}}{{cite book|last=Mora|first=Carlos|year=2007|title=Latinos in the West: The Student Movement and Academic Labor in Los Angeles|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=54–5, 92|isbn=978-0-7425-4784-1}} He was initially charged with failure to disperse, but the charge was later changed to assault on a police officer. He was acquitted in the first trial.{{cite news|title=Teacher Asks $327,562 for UCLA Arrest|work=Los Angeles Times|date=25 July 1970|page=23|url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/clip/55529595/ucla-arrest/}}

Death

Ladefoged died on 24 January 2006 at the age of 80 in hospital in London, England after a research trip to India.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/arts/peter-ladefoged-80-linguist-who-was-immersed-in-speech-is-dead.html | title=Peter Ladefoged, 80, Linguist Who Was Immersed in Speech, Is Dead | date=8 February 2006 | first=Margalit | last=Fox | newspaper=The New York Times | access-date=26 August 2018 }} He was on his way home to Los Angeles, California from his research trip.{{Cite web|url=https://linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-353/|title=LINGUIST List 17.353: Obituary: Peter Ladefoged|date=2006-02-01|website=The LINGUIST List|language=en|access-date=2019-03-05}}

Academic timeline

  • 1953–55: Assistant Lecturer in Phonetics, University of Edinburgh
  • 1955–59: Lecturer in Phonetics, University of Edinburgh
  • 1959–60: Lecturer in Phonetics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 1960–61: Lecturer in Phonetics, University of Edinburgh
  • 1961–62: Field fellow, Linguistic Survey of West Africa, Nigeria
  • Summer 1960: University of Michigan
  • Summer 1961: Royal Institute of Technology, [Kungliga Tekniska högskolan or KTH], (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • 1962–63: Assistant Professor of Phonetics, Department of English, UCLA
  • 1962: Established, and directed until 1991, the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory
  • 1963–65: Associate Professor of Phonetics, Department of Linguistics], UCLA
  • 1965–91: Professor of Phonetics, Department of Linguistics, UCLA
  • 1977–80: Chair, Department of Linguistics, UCLA
  • 1991: "retired" to become UCLA Research Linguist, Distinguished Professor of Phonetics Emeritus
  • 2005: Leverhulme Professor, University of Edinburgh
  • 2005–06: Adjunct professor at the University of Southern California (USC)

Academic honours

Selected publications

  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1962 |title=The nature of vowel quality}}
    Monograph supplement to Revista do Laboratório de Fonética Experimental da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
    (Journal of Experimental Phonetics Laboratory of the Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra).
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1962 |title=Elements of acoustic phonetics |url=https://archive.org/details/elementsofacoust00lade |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-46764-3}} Paperback edition 1971. Translation into Japanese, Taishukan Publishing Company, 1976. Second edition, with added chapters on computational phonetics 1996.
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1964 |title=A phonetic study of west African languages |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University |isbn=0-521-06963-7}} Reprinted 1968.
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1967 |title=Three areas of experimental phonetics |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-437110-7}}
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged, Peter |author2=Ruth Glick |author3=Clive Criper |year=1969 |title=Language in Uganda |location=Nairobi |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-436101-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/languageinuganda0000lade }}
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1971 |title=Preliminaries to linguistic phonetics |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
  • {{anchor|ACIP}}{{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=1975 |title=A course in phonetics |location=Orlando |publisher=Harcourt Brace |isbn=0-15-507319-2}} 2nd ed 1982, 3rd ed. 1993, 4th ed. 2001, 5th ed. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth 2006, 6th ed. 2011 (co-author Keith Johnson) Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Japanese translation 2000.
  • {{SOWL}}
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=2001 |title=Vowels and consonants: An introduction to the sounds of languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwells |isbn=0-631-21412-7}} 2001, 2nd ed. 2004.
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=2003 |title=Phonetic data analysis: An introduction to instrumental phonetic fieldwork |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwells. |isbn=0-631-23270-2}}
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=2006 |title=Interactive CD-ROM for "A Course in Phonetics" |isbn=1-4130-1420-8}}
  • {{cite book |author=Ladefoged |year=2006 |title=Representing linguistic phonetic structure |url=http://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/phoneticstructure.pdf |publisher=UCLA | postscript=, draft, in progress before death.}}

Works involved in or about

  • George Cukor (director), Alan Jay Lerner (lyricist): My Fair Lady. Motion picture film. (1964).
  • {{cite book |last=Fromkin |first=Victoria A. |author2=editor |year=1985 |title=Phonetic linguistics: Essays in honor of Peter Ladefoged |location=Orlando |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=0-12-268990-9}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{wikiquote-inline}}
  • [http://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/ Peter Ladefoged's home page at UCLA]
  • [http://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/Remember/Index.htm Remembering Peter Ladefoged]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladefoged, Peter}}

Category:1925 births

Category:2006 deaths

Category:People from Sutton, London

Category:Linguists from England

Category:Phoneticians

Category:Speech perception researchers

Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College

Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh

Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty

Category:British expatriates in Nigeria

Category:Academic staff of the University of Ibadan

Category:Linguists of Eskaleut languages

Category:Linguists of Muskogean languages

Category:Linguistic Society of America presidents

Category:Corresponding fellows of the British Academy

Category:20th-century British linguists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh