In Memoriam: Michael Studdert-Kennedy (MSK) — 1927 - 2017

Michael Studdert-Kennedy, Haskins Laboratories President Emeritus, passed away on January 9, 2017. Michael was born in Worcester, England, obtaining a B.A. in Classics (Greek and Latin literature, Greek archaeology) at Cambridge University, and a Ph.D .in Experimental Psychology from Columbia University. MSK was a brilliant scientist and scholar, and a major contributor to the Haskins research and theoretical mission, as a research scientist (1961-1984), Vice President of Research (1984-1986), and President and Director of Research (1986-1992). He was also Chairman of the Board of the Haskins Laboratories from 1988 until 2001 and a member of the Board of Directors from 2006 until 2010. MSK is well known for his contributions to studies of speech perception, the motor theory of speech perception, and the evolution of language, among other areas. He was a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Connecticut and a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at Yale University. He was a generous mentor, a dedicated scientist and a role model who leaves a legacy of admiration and appreciation. He will be missed.

Education

B.A., Classics, Cambridge University

Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Columbia University

Publications

Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Liberman, A. M. (1962). Psychological considerations in design of auditory displays for reading machines. Proceedings of the International Congress on Technology and Blindness, 1, 289–304.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Cooper, F. S. (1966). High-performance reading machines for the blind. International Conference on Sensory Devices for the Blind, 317–340.

A. M. Liberman, F. S. Cooper, D. S. Shankweiler, and M. Studdert-Kennedy. Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review, 74, 1967, 431–461.

Liberman, A. M., Cooper, F. S., and M. Studdert-Kennedy. (1968). Why are spectrograms hard to read? American Annals of the Deaf, 113, 127-133.

Liberman, A. M., Cooper, F. S., Studdert-Kennedy, M., Harris, K. S., and D. P. Shankweiler. (1968). On the efficiency of speech sounds. Z. Phonetick. Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung, 21, 21-32.

Stevens, K. N., Liberman, A. M., Ohman, S. E. G., and M. Studdert-Kennedy. (1969). Cross-language study of vowel perception. Language and Speech, 12,(1), 1-23.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., Liberman, A. M., Harris, K. S., & Cooper, F. S. (1970). Motor theory of speech perception: A reply to Lane's critical review. Psychological Review, 77, 234–249.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Shankweiler, D. P. (1970). Hemispheric specialization for speech perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 48, 579–594.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., Shankweiler, D., & Schulman, S. (1970). Opposed effects of a delayed channel on perception of dichotically and monotically presented CV syllables. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 48, 599–602.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., Shankweiler, D., & Pisoni, D. (1972). Auditory and phonetic processes in speech perception: Evidence from a dichotic study. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2, 455–466.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Hadding, K. (1973). Auditory and linguistic processes in the perception of intonation contours. Language and Speech, 16, 293–313.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1975). Two questions. Brain and Language, 2, 123–130.* * Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1976). Speech perception. In N. J. Lass (Ed.), Contemporary issues in experimental phonetics (pp. 243–293). New York: Academic Press.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1980). Speech perception. Language and Speech, 23, 45–66.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Lane, H. (1980). Clues from the differences between signed and spoken language. In U. Bellugi & M. Studdert-Kennedy (Eds.), Signed and spoken language: Biological constraints on linguistic form (pp. 29–39). Deerfield Park, FL.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Shankweiler, D. (1981). Hemispheric specialization for language processes. Science, 211, 960–961.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1993). Discovering phonetic function. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 147–155.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Goodell, E.W. (1995). Gestures, features and segments in early child speech. In: deGelder, B. & Morais, J. (eds.). Speech and Reading: A Comparative Approach. Hove, England: Erlbaum (UK), Taylor & Francis.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1998). The particulate origins of language generativity: from syllable to gesture. In: Hurford, J., Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Knight, C. (eds.), Approaches to the evolution of language, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Whalen, D.H. (1999). A brief history of speech perception research in the United States. In A. Bronstein, J. Ohala & W. Weigel (eds), A guide to the history of the phonetic sciences in the United States. University of California Press: Berkeley CA.

Studdert-Kennedy, M., Mody, M. & Brady, S. (2000). Speech perception deficits in poor readers: A reply to Denenbergfs critique. Journal of Learning Disabilities, v.33, 4, 317–321.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (2000). Imitation and the emergence of segments. Phonetica, 57, 275–283.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (2000). Evolutionary implications of the particulate principle: imitation and the dissociation of phonetic form from semantic function. In: Knight, C., Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Hurford, J.R. (eds.). The Evolutionary Emergence of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Goldstein, L. (2003). Launching language: The gestural origin of discrete infinity. In Morten Christiansen and Simon Kirby (eds.), Language Evolution, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 235–254.

Studdert-Kennedy, M. (2005). How did language go discrete? Language Origins: Perspectives on Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 48–67.

Fowler, Carol A. , Shankweiler, Donald and Studdert-Kennedy, Michael (2016). Perception of the Speech Code Revisited: Speech Is Alphabetic After All. Psychological Review, Vol. 123 (2) pp. 125.-150

Wikipedia page

Download Michael Studdert-Kennedy ePub photo book from 2011, via Google Drive.