John Esling

Last updated
John Esling

Born
John Henry Esling

(1949-06-05) 5 June 1949 (age 74)
Nationality Canadian
OccupationLinguist
Notable work
Title
  • Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Victoria
  • President of the International Phonetic Association (2011–15)

John Henry Esling, FRSC (born 5 June 1949) is a Canadian linguist specializing in phonetics. He is a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, where he taught from 1981 to 2014. Esling was president of the International Phonetic Association from 2011 to 2015 and a co-editor of the 1999 Handbook of the International Phonetic Association.

Contents

His research primarily concerns the categorization, measurement and transcription of voice quality and vocal register, and the production and perception of laryngeal sounds. [1] [2]

Biography

Esling received a BA in History and Languages from Northwestern University in 1971, an MA in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from the University of Michigan in 1972, and a PhD in Phonetics from the University of Edinburgh in 1978. [3] His teachers at Michigan included J. C. Catford and Kenneth Pike, and at Edinburgh David Abercrombie and John Laver. [1]

After teaching at the University of Leeds, Esling began working at the University of Victoria in 1981. He chaired its Linguistic Department between 2008 and 2013. [1] He retired in 2014 with the title of a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics. [2]

Esling was president of the International Phonetic Association from 2011 to 2015. He served as its Secretary from 1995 to 2003, and edited the Journal of the International Phonetic Association from 2003 to 2011. He co-edited the 1999 Handbook of the International Phonetic Association with Francis Nolan, and the 2011 18th edition of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary with Peter Roach and Jane Setter. [1] [2]

In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. [1]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like and semivowels like and, as well as lateral approximants like.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants</span> Consonantal sounds represented by ⟨ɹ⟩ / ⟨ð̠˕⟩ and ⟨ɹ̠⟩ in IPA

The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is ɹ, a lowercase letter r rotated 180 degrees. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\.

The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiced epiglottal trill</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʢ⟩ in IPA

The voiced epiglottal or pharyngeal trill, or voiced epiglottal fricative, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʢ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ɕ⟩ in IPA

The voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɕ. It is the sibilant equivalent of the voiceless palatal fricative, and as such it can be transcribed in IPA with ç˖.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiceless epiglottal trill</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʜ⟩ in IPA

The voiceless epiglottal or pharyngeal trill, or voiceless epiglottal fricative, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʜ, a small capital version of the Latin letter h, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is H\.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epiglottal plosive</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʡ⟩ in IPA

The epiglottal or pharyngeal plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʡ.

In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the active articulator and passive articulator. Standard Spanish ⟨rr⟩ as in perro, for example, is an alveolar trill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharyngeal consonant</span> Consonant articulated through the pharynx

A pharyngeal consonant is a consonant that is articulated primarily in the pharynx. Some phoneticians distinguish upper pharyngeal consonants, or "high" pharyngeals, pronounced by retracting the root of the tongue in the mid to upper pharynx, from (ary)epiglottal consonants, or "low" pharyngeals, which are articulated with the aryepiglottic folds against the epiglottis at the entrance of the larynx, as well as from epiglotto-pharyngeal consonants, with both movements being combined.

The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front and back, it is normally written a. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, typically centralized ä.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the International Phonetic Alphabet</span> History of the IPA phonetic representation system

The International Phonetic Alphabet was created soon after the International Phonetic Association was established in the late 19th century. It was intended as an international system of phonetic transcription for oral languages, originally for pedagogical purposes. The Association was established in Paris in 1886 by French and British language teachers led by Paul Passy. The prototype of the alphabet appeared in Phonetic Teachers' Association (1888b). The Association based their alphabet upon the Romic alphabet of Henry Sweet, which in turn was based on the Phonotypic Alphabet of Isaac Pitman and the Palæotype of Alexander John Ellis.

Laryngeal consonants are consonants with their primary articulation in the larynx. The laryngeal consonants comprise the pharyngeal consonants, the glottal consonants, and for some languages uvular consonants.

The voiced epiglottal or pharyngeal tap or flap is not known to exist as a phoneme in any language. However, it exists as the intervocalic voiced allophone of the otherwise voiceless epiglottal stop of Dahalo and perhaps of other languages. It may also exist in Iraqi Arabic, where the consonant 'ayn is too short to be an epiglottal stop, but has too much of a burst to be a fricative or approximant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet</span> Disordered speech additions to the phonetic alphabet

The Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for Disordered Speech, commonly abbreviated extIPA, are a set of letters and diacritics devised by the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association to augment the International Phonetic Alphabet for the phonetic transcription of disordered speech. Some of the symbols are used for transcribing features of normal speech in IPA transcription, and are accepted as such by the International Phonetic Association.

Harsh voice, also called ventricular voice or pressed voice, is the production of speech sounds with a constricted laryngeal cavity, which generally involves epiglottal co-articulation. Harsh voice includes the use of the ventricular folds to damp the glottis in a way similar to what happens when a person talks while lifting a heavy load, or, if the sound is voiceless, like clearing one's throat. It contrasts with faucalized voice, which involves the expansion of the larynx.

Faucalized voice, also called hollow voice or yawny voice, is a vocal quality of speech production characterized by the vertical expansion of the pharyngeal cavity due to the lowering of the larynx. It is termed faucalized because of the stretching of the fauces and visible narrowing of the faucial pillars in the back of the oral cavity. During faucalized voice, the sides of pharynx expand outward and the larynx descends and tilts forward. The term "yawny voice" is appropriate to compare this voice quality to the physiological act of yawning. Its opposite is harsh voice, a vocal quality produced when the pharynx is contracted and the larynx raised. Faucalized voice is not to be confused with breathy voice, which involves relaxed vocal folds, greater velocity of airflow through the glottis and produces a lower pitch sound. Faucalized voice involves the forward tilting of the larynx which stretches the vocal folds and produces a higher pitch sound, despite the increased volume of the pharyngeal cavity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Roach (phonetician)</span> British retired phonetician (born 1943)

Peter John Roach is a British retired phonetician. He taught at the Universities of Leeds and Reading, and is best known for his work on the pronunciation of British English.

John David Michael Henry Laver, was a British phonetician. He was emeritus professor of speech sciences at Queen Margaret University, and served as president of the International Phonetic Association from 1991 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiceless upper-pharyngeal plosive</span> Rare consonant

The voiceless upper-pharyngeal plosive or stop is a rare consonant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiced upper-pharyngeal plosive</span>

The voiced upper-pharyngeal plosive or stop is a rare consonant.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hill, Carrie; Huijsmans, Marianne; Onosson, Sky, eds. (2014). Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle of the University of Victoria: Vol. 24. Department of Linguistics, University of Victoria.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dr. John Esling". University of Victoria. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  3. "The Phoneticians". Seeing Speech. University of Glasgow. 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2019.