Developing new ways to measure phonetic parameters: John Ohala’s contributions

This paper reviews John Ohala’s contributions to instrumentation and experimentation in phonetics. Ohala profoundly influenced the history of phonology in the late 20th century by advocating for an experimental foundation for phonological claims and, importantly, by developing instruments to measure and quantify speech phenomena. Scientific breakthroughs depend largely on the availability of instruments and technological advances that enable researchers to test claims and theoretical models. If no suitable instruments were available to test phonological claims, Ohala developed them. This paper specifically examines some of Ohala’s instrumental contributions, including the nasograph, methods for tracking laryngeal movement, the plethysmograph and aerodynamic modelling. However, reading about instrumentation, techniques and methods for collecting data unrelated to discussion of the data obtained and its interpretation in relation to specific questions does not illustrate the impact of scientific instrumentation. Therefore, this paper also illustrates the types of data obtained and the phonological findings that arise from the use of new instruments and experimental techniques.