Mark Liberman
Encyclopedia
Mark Liberman (ˈlɪbərmən) is an American
linguist
. He has a dual appointment at the University of Pennsylvania
, as Trustee Professor of Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics, and as a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He is the founder and director of the Linguistic Data Consortium
.
Liberman attended Harvard College
but did not graduate. After two years' service in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, he enrolled in graduate school in Linguistics
at MIT where he received his MA
and, in 1975, his PhD
. From 1975 until 1990 he was a Member of Technical Staff
at Bell Laboratories.
Liberman's main research interests lie in phonetics
, prosody
, and other aspects of speech communication. His research is frequently conducted through computational
analyses of linguistic corpora
.
Liberman is also the founder of (and frequent contributor to) Language Log
, a blog with a broad cast of dozens of professional linguists. The concept of the eggcorn
was first proposed in one of his posts there.
Liberman is the son of the psychologists Alvin Liberman
and Isabelle Liberman
, both of whom are now deceased.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
. He has a dual appointment at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, as Trustee Professor of Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics, and as a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He is the founder and director of the Linguistic Data Consortium
Linguistic Data Consortium
The Linguistic Data Consortium is an open consortium of universities, companies and government research laboratories. It creates, collects and distributes speech and text databases, lexicons, and other resources for linguistics research and development purposes. The University of Pennsylvania is...
.
Liberman attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
but did not graduate. After two years' service in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, he enrolled in graduate school in Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
at MIT where he received his MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and, in 1975, his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
. From 1975 until 1990 he was a Member of Technical Staff
Member of Technical Staff
A Member of Technical Staff is the title for permanent research staff at some institutions and companies. It is roughly equivalent to an assistant professor or associate professor at a university or a chief technical officer in a technology startup company.A Distinguished Member of Technical...
at Bell Laboratories.
Liberman's main research interests lie in phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
, and other aspects of speech communication. His research is frequently conducted through computational
Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective....
analyses of linguistic corpora
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
.
Liberman is also the founder of (and frequent contributor to) Language Log
Language Log
Language Log is a collaborative language blog maintained by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman.The site is updated daily at the whims of the contributors, and most of the posts are on language use in the media and popular culture. Google search results are frequently used as a...
, a blog with a broad cast of dozens of professional linguists. The concept of the eggcorn
Eggcorn
In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for...
was first proposed in one of his posts there.
Liberman is the son of the psychologists Alvin Liberman
Alvin Liberman
Alvin Meyer Liberman was an American psychologist whose ideas set the agenda for fifty years of research in the psychology of speech perception and laid the groundwork for modern computer speech synthesis and the understanding of critical issues in cognitive science...
and Isabelle Liberman
Isabelle Liberman
Isabelle Yoffe Liberman was an American psychologist, born in Latvia, who was an expert on reading disabilities, including dyslexia. Isabelle Liberman received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her doctorate from Yale University...
, both of whom are now deceased.
Books
- Mark Liberman and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Far from the madding gerund: and other dispatches from the Language Log. 2006, William, James, and Co. ISBN 1-59028-055-5.