Peter Ladefoged

Peter Ladefoged (1925–2006) was a British-born phonetician whose experimental research and fieldwork documented speech sounds and phonetic systems across the world’s languages.

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Ian Maddieson: Ian Maddieson is a linguist known for comparative research on the sound systems of the world’s languages. He collaborated with Ladefoged on documenting and comparing language sound inventories.
Experimental phonetics: Experimental phonetics uses instruments and controlled methods to investigate speech production, transmission, and perception. Ladefoged used measurement and recording to test claims about how speech sounds are made.
Phonetic fieldwork: Phonetic fieldwork records and analyzes speech in its linguistic and social setting, often with speakers of underdocumented languages. Ladefoged’s field recordings brought laboratory questions to languages rarely studied in laboratories.
Phonetic typology: Phonetic typology compares speech sounds and sound patterns across languages to identify their range and distribution. Ladefoged’s worldwide comparisons supplied detailed evidence for typological accounts of speech.
J. D. L. Deny: J. D. L. Deny was a French linguist and phonetician who studied Turkish and other languages. Deny supervised Ladefoged’s early study of phonetics at the University of Edinburgh.
Phonetic transcription: Phonetic transcription represents speech sounds with written symbols, often using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Transcription gave Ladefoged a consistent way to record unfamiliar sounds during fieldwork.
Vowel quality: Vowel quality is the perceptual and acoustic character of a vowel, shaped chiefly by tongue position and lip configuration. Ladefoged’s comparative studies showed how vowel spaces differ across languages.
Language documentation: Language documentation creates lasting records of a language’s use, including recordings, texts, and descriptions. His recordings and descriptions helped make phonetic evidence available for languages with limited documentation.
Kenneth L. Pike: Kenneth L. Pike was an American linguist and missionary who developed influential approaches to phonetics and linguistic analysis. Pike’s work on phonetic description helped shape the research tradition Ladefoged joined.
Voice onset time: Voice onset time is the interval between a stop consonant’s release and the start of vocal-fold vibration. Its measurement exemplifies the acoustic timing distinctions studied in Ladefoged’s experimental work.