Proceedings Fonetik 2009 - Institutionen för lingvistik

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Proceedings, FONETIK 2009, Dept. of Linguistics, Stockholm UniversitySwedish phonetics 1939-1969Paul TouatiFrench Studies, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund UniversityAbstractThe aim of the current project (“Swedish Phonetics’39-‘69”) is to provide an account of thehistorical, social, discursive, and rhetoric conditionsthat determined the emergence of phoneticscience in Sweden between 1939 and1969. The inquiry is based on a investigation infour areas: how empirical phonetic data wereanalysed in the period, how the disciplinegained new knowledge about phonetic factsthrough improvements in experimental settings,how technological equipment specially adaptedto phonetic research was developed, and howdiverging phonetic explanations became competingparadigms. Understanding of the developmentof phonetic knowledge may be synthesisedin the persona of particularly emblematicphoneticians: Bertil Malmberg embodied theboom that happened in the field of Swedishphonetics during this period. The emergence ofinternationally recognized Swedish research inphonetics was largely his work. This investigationis based on two different corpora. The firstcorpus is the set of 216 contributions, the fullauthorship of Malmberg published between1939 and 1969. The second corpus is his archive,owned by Lund University. It includessemi-official and official letters, administrativecorrespondence, funding applications (…). Thetwo are complementary. The study of both isnecessary for achieving a systematic descriptionof the development of phonetic knowledgein Sweden.Research in progressThe aim of the current project (“Swedish Phonetics’39-’69”) is to provide an account of thehistorical, social, discursive, and rhetoric conditionsthat determined the emergence of phoneticscience in Sweden during a thirty year period,situated between 1939 and 1969 (seeTouati 2009; Touati forthcoming). The inquiryis based on a systematic investigation essentiallyin four areas: how empirical phonetic datawere analysed in the period, how the disciplinegained new knowledge about phonetic factsthrough improvements in experimental settings,how technological equipment specially adaptedto phonetic research was developed, and howdiverging phonetic explanations became competingparadigms.The claim sustaining this investigation isthat knowledge is a product of continually renewedand adjusted interactions between a seriesof instances, such as: fundamental research,institutional strategies and the ambition of individualresearchers. In this perspective, the inquirywill demonstrate that phonetic knowledgewas grounded first by discussions on the validityof questions to be asked, then by an evaluationin which results were “proposed, negotiated,modified, rejected or ratified in andthrough discursive processes” (Mondada 1995)and finally became facts when used in scientificarticles. Therefore, in order to understand theconstruction of this knowledge, it seems importantto undertake both a study of the phoneticcontent and of the rhetoric and the discursiveform used in articles explaining and propagatingphonetic facts. A part of this research is inthis way related to studies on textuality (Broncarkt1996), especially those devoted to “academicwriting” (Berge 2003; Bondi & Hyland2006; Del Lungo Camiciotti 2005; Fløttum &Rastier 2003; Ravelli & Ellis 2004; Tognini -Bonelli) and to studies on metadiscourse andinteractional resources (Hyland 2005; Hyland& Tse 2006; Kerbrat-Orecchioni 2005; Ädel2006).Understanding of the development of phoneticknowledge may be synthesised in the personaof particularly emblematic phoneticians.Among these, none has better than BertilMalmberg 1 [1913-1994] embodied the boomthat happened in the field of Swedish phonetics.The emergence of internationally recognizedSwedish research in phonetics was largely hiswork. As Rossi (1996: 99) wrote: “Today, allphoneticians identify with this modern conceptof phonetics that I will hereafter refer to, followingSaussure, as speech linguistics. Themuch admired and respected B. Malmberg significantlycontributed to the development ofthis concept in Europe”.208
Proceedings, FONETIK 2009, Dept. of Linguistics, Stockholm UniversityThe starting date, “the terminus a quo” chosenfor the study is set in 1939, the year of thefirst publication by Malmberg, entitled "Vad ärfonologi?" (What is phonology?). The “terminusad quem” is fixed to 1969 when Malmbergleft phonetics for the newly created chair ingeneral linguistics at the University of Lund.CorporaMalmberg's authorship continued in an unbrokenflow until the end of his life. The list of hispublications, compiled as “Bertil MalmbergBibliography” by Gullberg (1993), amounts to315 titles (articles, monographs, manuals, reports).The first corpus on which I propose to conductmy analysis is the set of 216 contributions,the full authorship of Bertil Malmberg publishedbetween 1939 and 1969. The second corpusis his archive, owned by Lund University(“Lunds universitetsarkiv, Inst. f. Lingvistik,Prefektens korrespondens, B. Malmberg”) Itincludes semi-official and official letters, administrativecorrespondence, inventories, fundingapplications, administrative orders, transcriptsof meetings. In its totality, this corpusreflects the complexity of the social and scientificlife at the Institute of Phonetics. Malmbergenjoyed writing. He sent and received considerablenumbers of letters. Among his correspondentswere the greatest linguists of his time(Benveniste, Delattre, Dumezil, Fant, Halle,Hjelmslev, Jakobson, Martinet), as well as colleagues,students, and representatives of thenon-scientific public. Malmberg was a perfectpolyglot. He took pleasure in using the languageof his correspondent. The letters are inSwedish, German, English, Spanish, Italian,and in French, the latter obviously the languagefor which he had a predilection.The first corpus consists of texts in phonetics.They will be analysed primarily in terms oftheir scientific content (content-oriented analysis).The second corpus will be used to describethe social and institutional context (contextorientedanalysis). The two are complementary.The study of both is necessary for achieving asystematic description of the development ofphonetic knowledge. While the articles publishedin scientific journals are meant to ensurethe validity of the obtained knowledge by followingstrict research and writing procedures,the merit of the correspondence is to unveil in aunique, often friendly, sometimes astonishingway that, on the contrary, knowledge is unstableand highly subject to negotiation.The phoneticianBertil Malmberg was born on April 22, 1913 inthe city of Helsingborg, situated in Scania insouthern Sweden (see also Sigurd 1995). In theautumn of 1932, then aged nineteen, he beganto study at the University of Lund. He obtainedhis BA in 1935. During the following academicyear (1936-1937), he went to Paris to studyphonetics with Pierre Fouché [1891-1967].That same year he discovered phonologythrough the teaching of André Martinet [1908-1999]. Back in Lund, he completed his highereducation on October 5, 1940 when he defendeda doctoral dissertation focused on a traditionaltopic of philology. He was appointed"docent" in Romance languages on December6, 1940.After a decade of research, in November 24,1950, Malmberg finally reached the goal of hisambitions, both personal and institutional. Phoneticsciences was proposed as the first chair inphonetics in Sweden and established at theUniversity of Lund, at the disposal of Malmberg.Phonetics had thus become an academicdiscipline and received its institutional recognition.Letters of congratulation came from farand wide. Two of them deserve special mention.They are addressed to Malmberg by twomajor representatives of contemporary linguistics,André Martinet and Roman Jakobson.Martinet's letter is sent from Columbia University:« Cher Monsieur, / Permettez-moi toutd’abord de vous féliciter de votre nomination.C’est le couronnement bien mérité de votrebelle activité scientifique au cours des années40. Je suis heureux d’apprendre que vous allezpouvoir continuer dans de meilleures conditionsl’excellent travail que vous faites enSuède.» Jakobson's letter, sent from HarvardUniversity early in 1951, highlights the factthat the appointment of Malmberg meant theestablishment of a research centre in phoneticsand phonology in Sweden: “[...] our warmestcongratulations to your appointment. Finallyphonetics and phonemics have an adequate centerin Sweden”. As can be seen, both are delightednot only by Malmberg's personal successbut also by the success of phonetics as anacademic discipline.209
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