Leigh Lisker facts for kids
Leigh Lisker (born December 7, 1918, died March 24, 2006) was an important American scientist. He was a linguist, which means he studied languages. He was also a phonetician, meaning he studied how we make speech sounds.
He spent most of his working life at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he was a professor who taught about languages. He earned several degrees from the university, including his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1949.
What Did He Study?
Dr. Lisker was a major expert in the study of speech sounds, called phonetics. He worked at both the University of Pennsylvania and Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories from 1951 until he passed away.
He is best known for his work on something called voice onset time. This is a scientific way to measure when your vocal cords start vibrating after you make a sound like 'p' or 'b'. He did much of this important work with his colleague, Arthur S. Abramson.
Dr. Lisker also studied Dravidian languages, which are spoken mainly in southern India. He even wrote a book called Introduction to Spoken Telugu about the Telugu language.
How We Hear Sounds
He also did research to understand how people hear and understand speech sounds. He compared how people who knew a lot about language (linguists) heard sounds versus people who didn't. He worked with different people from various language backgrounds.
He collaborated with other scientists on these studies. These included Dr. Abramson from the University of Connecticut, Bh. Krishnamurti from University of Hyderabad in India, Adrian Fourcin from University College London, and Mario Rossi from the Institut de Phonétique in France.
