The Missing Meditatio: Leonhard Euler’s (1707–1783) Contribution to Articulatory Phonetics
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC 301
Start Date
21-5-2015
End Date
21-5-2015
Keywords
Mathematics, Linguistics, History
Abstract
This is an interdisciplinary research project combining the history of mathematics and linguistics. The work describes the contributions of Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), the eighteenth century physicist and mathematician, to the fields of articulatory and experimental phonetics. First, the authors provide evidence for Euler’s role in establishing the St. Petersburg Academy prize of 1780. Next, they consider a short and posthumously published work of Euler, the Meditatio de formatione vocum. It is shown that the Meditatio represents an early attempt to compare vowels in several languages, and includes a two-dimensional classification of vowels which anticipates in many ways the International Phonetic Alphabet vowel chart.
Recommended Citation
Hirschey, Olivia, "The Missing Meditatio: Leonhard Euler’s (1707–1783) Contribution to Articulatory Phonetics" (2015). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 75.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2015/oralpresentations/75
Department/Program
English
Additional Mentoring Department
Mathematics
The Missing Meditatio: Leonhard Euler’s (1707–1783) Contribution to Articulatory Phonetics
SURC 301
This is an interdisciplinary research project combining the history of mathematics and linguistics. The work describes the contributions of Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), the eighteenth century physicist and mathematician, to the fields of articulatory and experimental phonetics. First, the authors provide evidence for Euler’s role in establishing the St. Petersburg Academy prize of 1780. Next, they consider a short and posthumously published work of Euler, the Meditatio de formatione vocum. It is shown that the Meditatio represents an early attempt to compare vowels in several languages, and includes a two-dimensional classification of vowels which anticipates in many ways the International Phonetic Alphabet vowel chart.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dominic Klyve