phonetician

[ foh-ni-tish-uhn ]

noun

1. a specialist in phonetics phonetics or in some aspect of phonetics. phonetics.
2. a dialectologist.

phonetician

/ ˌfəʊnɪˈtɪʃən /

noun

1. a person skilled in phonetics or one who employs phonetics in his work

Word History and Origins

Origin of phonetician¹

First recorded in 1840–50; phonetic + -ian

Example Sentences

The original cast included Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins, an irascible phonetician in Edwardian London who gives speech lessons to a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle.

From Washington Post

One such quirk has already been discovered, by the neuroscientist Sophie Scott: an extra loop of gray matter, present from birth, in the auditory cortex of some phoneticians.

From The New Yorker

It’s not enough that her own father sells her for five pounds to the bully phonetician Henry Higgins.

From New York Times

Otto Jespersen was another admirer, calling Hart’s principles ‘excellent’ and the man himself ‘an honest scholar’ and ‘the first phonetician of the modern period.’

From Time

Pymalion by George Bernard Shaw is a classic comedy in which a well-known phonetician places a bet that he can transform a flower girl into a 'true lady' in a mere couple of months.

From The Guardian

Related Words

• linguist
• wordsmith