Fifty years of phonetic sciences in The Netherlands

Abstract

The General Society of Linguistics (Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap, AVT) in the Netherlands was founded 50 years ago. On the occasion of its 50 anniversary we were asked to look back and assess the achievements of the discipline of Phonetics, with special emphasis on the contribution made in the Netherlands in the last five decades, and speculate on developments that may take place in the next 50 years. Citing a well-known aphorism of disputed origin, predictions are extremely hazardous, especially when they are about the future, so that we are reluctant to engage in this second part of the assignment. Henry Ford, when introducing his first T-Ford model in 1928, told the assembled press: When fifty years ago people asked themselves how to travel faster, they could only think of breeding faster horses. Although Ford almost certainly never said anything of the sort, the message is clear enough. It is impossible to predict sudden breakthroughs in science and how they change the discipline. Therefore, we opt for the easier way out, and ask ourselves what ideas were around in phonetics at the end of the 1960s, and if anyone made any useful prediction at the time of what the field would be like by 2020.