Peter Ladefoged

Peter Nielsen Ladefoged (English pronunciation: /ˈlædɪfoʊɡɪd/;Danish: [pʰed̥ɐ nelsn̩ ˈlæːðfoːʊ̯ð]; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British linguist and phonetician who travelled the world to document the distinct sounds of endangered languages and pioneered ways to collect and study data. He was active at the universities of Edinburgh, Scotland and Ibadan, Nigeria 1953–61. At Edinburgh he studied phonetics with David Abercrombie, who himself had studied with Daniel Jones and was thus connected to Henry Sweet.

At the time of his death, he was Professor of Phonetics Emeritus 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.

Early life and education

Peter Ladefoged was born on 17 September 1925, in Sutton (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), England to Niels, an importer of Danish bacon and cheese, and his wife, Marie Frances. He attended Haileybury College from 1938–43, and Caius College, Cambridge University from 1943–44. His university education was then interrupted by service in the Royal Sussex Regiment during World War II from 1944–47. He resumed his education at the University of Edinburgh, intending to study English literature but soon became fascinated by the sounds of speech. He received an MA (1951) and a PhD (1959) in Phonetics.