Phonetics and Phonology: then, and then, and now

Abstract

Phonetics attempts to describe and understand how speech is produced and perceived; phonology attempts to understand the patterning — in general, the behavior — of speech sounds in particular languages and in all languages. Is phonetics part of phonology? This straightforward question has received various answers at different points in the history of linguistics. In this paper I attempt to document that for the two centuries starting approximately with the eighteenth century, phonetics was well integrated into linguistics but that around the start of the 20th century phonetics and phonology were estranged, at least in some cases. During the second half of the 20th century there began a trend, continuing today, to re-integrate phonetics and phonology. The history I give is admittedly selective, interpretive, and possibly biased. Most if not all histories are like this. Whoever may disagree with this history is free to — indeed, obliged to — present and document their own interpretive history.