The global periphery: Armando de Lacerda and the Coimbra Experimental Phonetics Laboratory (1936-1979)

Abstract

The Experimental Phonetics Laboratory of the University of Coimbra Faculty of Letters was regarded in the mid-twentieth century as the most advanced laboratory of its kind in Europe. Scientists from all over the world (the universities of Harvard, Paris, Cambridge, Bonn, Texas, Toulouse, Milan, Salvador da Bahia, Madrid, Accra, Uppsala, Oslo, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona and Edinburgh) worked at the laboratory carrying out research and receiving training in the use of the instruments and research methods developed by its head, Armando de Lacerda. How is it that in Portugal, a country regarded as peripheral and scientifically backward, there existed such excellent research facilities? Who were these scientists? What impact did the work of the laboratory have on science and society? How did Armando de Lacerda’s techniques and instruments develop from 1931? This book addresses these and other issues. The examination of the operations of the laboratory and its profile worldwide, leading to the identification of historical sources in Europe, the USA, South America and Australia, means that this study is purely exploratory in nature. The conviction of a disciple of Armando de Lacerda’s at Harvard that he was a pioneer in the field of the speech synthesis and recognition technology is just one of the novel suggestions made in this book.