Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ( , ; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...
and
phonetician.
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
The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families:
* Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Souther ...
. Prior to UCLA, he was a lecturer at the universities of
Edinburgh,
Scotland (1953–59, 1960–1) and
Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its ...
,
Nigeria (1959–60).
Early life
Peter Ladefoged was born on 17 September 1925, in
Sutton (then in
Surrey, now in
Greater London), England. He attended
Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to:
Australia
* Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
**Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia
China
* Haileybury International School, an international ...
from 1938 to 1943, and
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
from 1943 to 1944. He received an
MA (1951) and a PhD (1959) in Phonetics from the
University of Edinburgh in 1959.
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. 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
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
''. 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.
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
The Endangered Language Fund (ELF) is a small non-profit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut. ELF supports endangered language maintenance and documentation projects that aim to preserve the world’s languages while contributing rare ...
since its inception.
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.
They had three children: Lise Friedman, a bookseller; Thegn Ladefoged,
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and professor of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
University of Auckland; 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 suffered injuries from police while participating in an anti–Vietnam War protest at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. 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.
Death
Ladefoged died on 24 January 2006 at the age of 80 in hospital in London, England after a research trip to India.
He was on his way home to Los Angeles, California from his research trip.
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
The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
,
ungliga 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
* Fellow of the
Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary orga ...
* Fellow of the
American Speech and Hearing Association
* Distinguished Teaching Award, UCLA 1972
* President,
Linguistic Society of America, 1978
* President of the Permanent Council for the Organization of International Congresses of Phonetic Sciences, 1983–1991
* President,
International Phonetic Association, 1987–1991
* UCLA Research Lecturer 1989
* Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
1990
* UCLA College of Letters and Science Faculty Research Lecturer 1991
* Gold medal, XIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 1991
* Corresponding Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
1992
* Honorary D.Litt., University of Edinburgh, 1993
* Foreign Member,
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1993
* Silver medal,
Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary orga ...
1994
* Corresponding Fellow,
Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2001
* Honorary D.Sc.
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2002
Selected publications
*
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).
* Paperback edition 1971. Translation into Japanese, Taishukan Publishing Company, 1976. Second edition, with added chapters on computational phonetics 1996.
* Reprinted 1968.
*
*
*
* 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.
*
* 2001, 2nd ed. 2004.
*
*
*
Works involved in or about
*
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of ...
(director),
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre bot ...
(lyricist): ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
''. Motion picture film. (1964).
*
References
External links
*
Peter Ladefoged's home page at UCLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladefoged, Peter
1925 births
2006 deaths
People from Sutton, London
Linguists from England
Phoneticians
Speech perception researchers
People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
British expatriates in Nigeria
University of Ibadan faculty
Linguists of Eskaleut languages
Linguists of Muskogean languages
Linguistic Society of America presidents
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
20th-century linguists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh