Daniel Jones (phonetician)
Encyclopedia
Daniel Jones was a London
-born British
phonetician
. A pupil of Paul Passy
, professor of phonetics at the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne
(University of Paris
), Daniel Jones is considered by many to be the greatest phonetician of the early 20th century. He was head of the Department of Phonetics at University College, London.
where he was first introduced to phonetics. In 1903 he received his BA degree in mathematics at Cambridge
, converted by payment to MA in 1907. From 1905 to 1906, he studied at Paris under Paul Passy
, who was one of the founders of the International Phonetic Association
, and in 1911 married Passy's niece Cyrille Motte. He briefly took private lessons from the great British phonetician Henry Sweet. In 1907 he became a part-time lecturer at University College London
, and was afterwards appointed to a full-time position. In 1912 he became the head of the Department of Phonetics and was appointed to a chair in 1921, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. From 1906 onwards, Jones was an active member of the International Phonetic Association, and was Assistant Secretary from 1907–1927, Secretary from 1927 to 1949 and President from 1950 to 1967.
In 1909, Jones wrote the short Pronunciation of English, a book which he later radically revised. The Outline of English Phonetics which followed in 1918 is the first truly comprehensive description of British Received Pronunciation
, and indeed the first such description of the standard pronunciation of any language.
The year 1917 was a landmark in many ways. Jones became the first linguist in the western world to use the term phoneme
in its current sense, employing the word in his article The phonetic structure of the Sechuana Language. Jones had made an earlier notable attempt at a pronunciation dictionary but it was now that he produced the first edition of his famous English Pronouncing Dictionary, a work which in revised form is still in print. It was here that the cardinal vowel
diagram, made a first appearance.
The problem of the phonetic description of vowels is of long standing, going back to the era of the ancient Indian linguists. Three nineteenth century British phoneticians deserve mention. Alexander Melville Bell
(1867) devised an ingenious iconic phonetic alphabet
which included an elaborate system for vowels. Alexander Ellis had also suggested vowel symbols for his phonetic alphabets. Henry Sweet did much work on the systematic description of vowels, coming up with what must be considered a somewhat over-elaborate system of vowel description involving a multitude of symbols. Jones however was the one who is generally credited with having gone much of the way towards a practical solution through his scheme of 'Cardinal Vowels', a relatively simple system of reference vowels which for many years has been taught systematically to students within the British tradition. It is worth pointing out, however, that much of the inspiration for this scheme can be found in the earlier publications of Paul Passy.
In the original form of the Cardinal Vowels, Jones employed a dual-parameter system of description based on the supposed height of the tongue arch together with the shape of the lips. This he reduced to a simple quadrilateral diagram which could be used to help visualize how vowels are articulated. Tongue height (close vs. open) is represented on the vertical axis and front vs. back on the horizontal axis indicates the portion of the tongue raised on the horizontal axis. Lip-rounding is also built into the system, so that front vowels (such as [i, e, a]) have spread or neutral lip postures, but the back vowels (such as [o,u]) have more marked lip-rounding as vowel height increases. Jones thus arrived at a set of eight "primary Cardinal Vowels", and recorded these on gramophone disc for HMV in 1917.
Later modifications to his theory allowed for an additional set of eight "secondary Cardinal Vowels" with reverse lip shapes, permitting the representation of eight secondary cardinal vowels (front rounded and back unrounded). Eventually Jones also devised symbols for central vowels and positioned these on the vowel diagram. He made two further disc recordings for Linguaphone in 1943 and 1956.
With the passing years, the accuracy of many of Jones's statements on vowels has come increasingly under question, and most linguists now consider that the vowel quadrilateral must be viewed as a way of representing auditory space in visual form, rather than the tightly defined articulatory scheme envisaged by Jones. Nevertheless, the International Phonetic Association still uses a version of Jones's model, and includes a Jones-type vowel diagram on its influential International Phonetic Alphabet leaflet contained in the "Handbook of the International Association". Many phoneticians (especially those trained in the British school) resort to it constantly as a quick and convenient form of reference.
Although Jones is especially remembered for his work on the phonetics and phonology of English, he ranged far more widely. He produced phonetic/phonolological treatments which were masterly for their time on the sound systems of Cantonese, Tswana
(Sechuana as its was then known), Sinhalese, and Russian. He was the first phonetician to produce, in his "Sechuana Reader", a competent description of an African tone language, including the concept of downstep. Jones helped develop new alphabet
s for African languages, and suggested systems of romanisation for Indian languages and Japanese. He also busied himself with support for revised spelling for English through the Simplified Spelling Society
.
Apart from his own vast array of published work, Jones will be remembered for having acted as mentor to numerous scholars who later went on to become famous linguists in their own right. These included such names as Lilias Armstrong, Harold Palmer, Ida Ward, Hélène Coustenoble, Arthur Lloyd James, Dennis Fry, A.C. Gimson, Gordon Arnold, J.D. O'Connor, Clive Sansom
, and many more. For several decades his department at University College was pivotal in the development of phonetics and in making its findings known to the wider world. A point of interest is that it is probably Daniel Jones (and not as is often thought Henry Sweet) who provided George Bernard Shaw
with the basis for his fictional character Henry Higgins
in "Pygmalion
". See the discussion in "The Real Professor Higgins".
After retirement, Jones worked assiduously at his publications almost up to the end of his long life. He died at his home in Gerrards Cross on December 4, 1967.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-born British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
phonetician
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
. A pupil of Paul Passy
Paul Passy
Paul Édouard Passy was a French linguist, founder of the International Phonetic Association in 1886.He took part in the elaboration of the International Phonetic Alphabet....
, professor of phonetics at the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
(University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
), Daniel Jones is considered by many to be the greatest phonetician of the early 20th century. He was head of the Department of Phonetics at University College, London.
Biography
In 1900, Jones studied briefly at William Tilly's Marburg Language Institute in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
where he was first introduced to phonetics. In 1903 he received his BA degree in mathematics at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, converted by payment to MA in 1907. From 1905 to 1906, he studied at Paris under Paul Passy
Paul Passy
Paul Édouard Passy was a French linguist, founder of the International Phonetic Association in 1886.He took part in the elaboration of the International Phonetic Alphabet....
, who was one of the founders of the International Phonetic Association
International Phonetic Association
The International Phonetic Association is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA’s major contribution to phonetics is the International Phonetic Alphabet—a notational standard for the phonetic...
, and in 1911 married Passy's niece Cyrille Motte. He briefly took private lessons from the great British phonetician Henry Sweet. In 1907 he became a part-time lecturer at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, and was afterwards appointed to a full-time position. In 1912 he became the head of the Department of Phonetics and was appointed to a chair in 1921, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. From 1906 onwards, Jones was an active member of the International Phonetic Association, and was Assistant Secretary from 1907–1927, Secretary from 1927 to 1949 and President from 1950 to 1967.
In 1909, Jones wrote the short Pronunciation of English, a book which he later radically revised. The Outline of English Phonetics which followed in 1918 is the first truly comprehensive description of British Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
, and indeed the first such description of the standard pronunciation of any language.
The year 1917 was a landmark in many ways. Jones became the first linguist in the western world to use the term phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
in its current sense, employing the word in his article The phonetic structure of the Sechuana Language. Jones had made an earlier notable attempt at a pronunciation dictionary but it was now that he produced the first edition of his famous English Pronouncing Dictionary, a work which in revised form is still in print. It was here that the cardinal vowel
Cardinal vowel
Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages. For instance, the vowel of the English word "feet" can be described with reference to cardinal vowel 1, , which is the cardinal vowel closest to it....
diagram, made a first appearance.
The problem of the phonetic description of vowels is of long standing, going back to the era of the ancient Indian linguists. Three nineteenth century British phoneticians deserve mention. Alexander Melville Bell
Alexander Melville Bell
Alexander Melville Bell was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution....
(1867) devised an ingenious iconic phonetic alphabet
Visible Speech
Visible speech is the writing system used by Alexander Melville Bell, who was known internationally as a teacher of speech and proper elocution and an author of books on the subject. The system is composed of symbols that show the position and movement of the throat, tongue, and lips as they...
which included an elaborate system for vowels. Alexander Ellis had also suggested vowel symbols for his phonetic alphabets. Henry Sweet did much work on the systematic description of vowels, coming up with what must be considered a somewhat over-elaborate system of vowel description involving a multitude of symbols. Jones however was the one who is generally credited with having gone much of the way towards a practical solution through his scheme of 'Cardinal Vowels', a relatively simple system of reference vowels which for many years has been taught systematically to students within the British tradition. It is worth pointing out, however, that much of the inspiration for this scheme can be found in the earlier publications of Paul Passy.
In the original form of the Cardinal Vowels, Jones employed a dual-parameter system of description based on the supposed height of the tongue arch together with the shape of the lips. This he reduced to a simple quadrilateral diagram which could be used to help visualize how vowels are articulated. Tongue height (close vs. open) is represented on the vertical axis and front vs. back on the horizontal axis indicates the portion of the tongue raised on the horizontal axis. Lip-rounding is also built into the system, so that front vowels (such as [i, e, a]) have spread or neutral lip postures, but the back vowels (such as [o,u]) have more marked lip-rounding as vowel height increases. Jones thus arrived at a set of eight "primary Cardinal Vowels", and recorded these on gramophone disc for HMV in 1917.
Later modifications to his theory allowed for an additional set of eight "secondary Cardinal Vowels" with reverse lip shapes, permitting the representation of eight secondary cardinal vowels (front rounded and back unrounded). Eventually Jones also devised symbols for central vowels and positioned these on the vowel diagram. He made two further disc recordings for Linguaphone in 1943 and 1956.
With the passing years, the accuracy of many of Jones's statements on vowels has come increasingly under question, and most linguists now consider that the vowel quadrilateral must be viewed as a way of representing auditory space in visual form, rather than the tightly defined articulatory scheme envisaged by Jones. Nevertheless, the International Phonetic Association still uses a version of Jones's model, and includes a Jones-type vowel diagram on its influential International Phonetic Alphabet leaflet contained in the "Handbook of the International Association". Many phoneticians (especially those trained in the British school) resort to it constantly as a quick and convenient form of reference.
Although Jones is especially remembered for his work on the phonetics and phonology of English, he ranged far more widely. He produced phonetic/phonolological treatments which were masterly for their time on the sound systems of Cantonese, Tswana
Tswana language
Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...
(Sechuana as its was then known), Sinhalese, and Russian. He was the first phonetician to produce, in his "Sechuana Reader", a competent description of an African tone language, including the concept of downstep. Jones helped develop new alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
s for African languages, and suggested systems of romanisation for Indian languages and Japanese. He also busied himself with support for revised spelling for English through the Simplified Spelling Society
Simplified Spelling Society
The English Spelling Society is an international organisation, based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1908 as the Simplified Spelling Society and celebrated its Centenary Conference at Coventry University in June 2008...
.
Apart from his own vast array of published work, Jones will be remembered for having acted as mentor to numerous scholars who later went on to become famous linguists in their own right. These included such names as Lilias Armstrong, Harold Palmer, Ida Ward, Hélène Coustenoble, Arthur Lloyd James, Dennis Fry, A.C. Gimson, Gordon Arnold, J.D. O'Connor, Clive Sansom
Clive Sansom
-Life and work:Sansom was born on 21 June 1910 in East Finchley, London and educated at Southgate County School, where he matriculated in 1926. He worked as a clerk until 1934, and then studied speech and drama at the Regent Street Polytechnic and the London Speech Institute under Margaret Gullan...
, and many more. For several decades his department at University College was pivotal in the development of phonetics and in making its findings known to the wider world. A point of interest is that it is probably Daniel Jones (and not as is often thought Henry Sweet) who provided George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
with the basis for his fictional character Henry Higgins
Henry Higgins
Henry Higgins may refer to:*The fictional character: see Pygmalion or My Fair Lady*The Australian politician and judge H. B. Higgins* Henry Higgins -See also:*Harry Higgins, English cricketer*Henry Huggins, fictional character...
in "Pygmalion
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
". See the discussion in "The Real Professor Higgins".
After retirement, Jones worked assiduously at his publications almost up to the end of his long life. He died at his home in Gerrards Cross on December 4, 1967.