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Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ( , ; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and phonetician. He was Professor of Phonetics at
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
(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 The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
(1953–59, 1960–61) and the University of Ibadan in
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
(1959–60).


Early life

Peter Ladefoged was born on 17 September 1925, in Sutton (then in
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, now in
Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
), England. He attended Haileybury College from 1938 to 1943, and
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...
,
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
from 1943 to 1944. He received an MA (1951) and a PhD (1959) in Phonetics from the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
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
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s and 200
vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
s. 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. 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 The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...
, 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 Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
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. They had three children: Lise Friedman, a bookseller; Thegn Ladefoged,
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and professor of
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
at University of Auckland; and Katie Ladefoged, attorney and public defender, residing in
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, 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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
. 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 The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
* Summer 1961: Royal Institute of Technology, ungliga Tekniska högskolan or KTH (
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
) * 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 The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(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 org ...
* 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 (The Academy) 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 other ...
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 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 org ...
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, producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO Pictures, RKO when David O. Selzn ...
(director), Alan Jay Lerner (lyricist): '' My Fair Lady''. 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 Academic staff of the University of Ibadan Linguists of Eskaleut languages Linguists of Muskogean languages Linguistic Society of America presidents Corresponding fellows of the British Academy 20th-century British linguists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh