On the history of palatography in Hungarian phonetics

Abstract

The beginnings of the field of experimental phonetics can be traced back to the second half of the nineteenth century, when (among others) palatography, initiated by an English dentist, started an important new trend in phonetics. This paper outlines the evolution of this revolutionary experimental technique, discusses its two types, direct (static vs. natural) and indirect palatography, and describes the materials and procedures that researchers used. Hungarian scholars, Balassa, Gombocz, Csűry and Hegedűs, were among the very first who used palatography, ahead of many other European researchers. This paper highlights their methodological achievements and some of their findings obtained in studying the articulation of Hungarian vowels and consonants using palatography.