Experimental phonetics

early years of this century. In contrast, experimental phonetics

is a young field. Convenient benchmark dates are the publication of Principes de phonétique expérimentale by Rousselot (often considered to be the father of the subject) in 1897-98 and, most importantly for the character of the subject today, the invention of the sound spectrograph in the 1940s.

Experimental phonetics has built on the foundations of impressionistic phonetics, and has taken over much as regards orientation and basic assumptions. At the same time, the basic classificatory framework of impressionistic phonetics has itself been an object of study for experimental phoneticians.

Some knowledge of impressionistic phonetics is therefore essential for the study of experimental phonetics, whereas the opposite is not true. It is possible to become a highly skilled impressionistic phonetician without ever setting foot in a phonetics laboratory

Impressionistic phonetics focusses on the positions and movements of the speech organs involved in the production of individual speech sounds. It is based on a number ofassumptions about the nature of speech. Important among these are: