ISCA Archive HSCR 2025
ISCA Archive HSCR 2025

The Grenoble Institute of Phonetics and its role in the conceptual transformation of phonetics in the early 20th century

Coriandre Vilain, Nathalie Vallée

The 19th century marked a scientific evolution in linguistics with the rise of experimental phonetics. Foreign language teaching gradually integrated this new discipline, leading to the creation of the first phonetics research laboratories. At the beginning of the 20th century, Grenoble's economy was booming and the university was expanding. Thanks to the 'Comité de patronage des étudiants étrangers', phonetics began to be taught. In 1904, a chair of modern French philology was created, entrusted to Théodore Rosset, who played a central role in establishing experimental phonetics in Grenoble. Rosset founded a phonetics laboratory on his arrival, gradually transforming it into an institute combining teaching and experimental research. He developed innovative teaching methods using phonographic recordings, speech vibration inscription and voice analysis instruments.