Carl Adolf Theodor Wilhelm Viëtor (; 25 December 1850 – 22 September 1918) was a German

phonetician Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

and language educator. He was a central figure in the Reform Movement in

language education Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second language, second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are f ...

of the late 19th century, which sought to replace the traditional

grammar–translation method The grammar–translation method is a method of teaching foreign languages derived from the classical (sometimes called traditional) method of teaching Ancient Greek and Latin. In grammar–translation classes, students learn grammatical rules an ...

with oral language teaching. He was one of the early members of the

International Phonetic Association The International Phonetic Association (IPA; , API) is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA's major contribution to phonetics is the International Phoneti ...

, founded by

Paul Passy Paul Édouard Passy (; 13 January 1859, Versailles21 March 1940, Bourg-la-Reine) was a French linguist, founder of the International Phonetic Association in 1886. He took part in the elaboration of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Early life ...

in 1886, alongside leading British phonetician

Henry Sweet Henry Sweet (15 September 1845 – 30 April 1912) was an English philologist, phonetician and grammarian.''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', as hosted oencyclopedia.com/ref> As a philologist, he specialized in the Germanic lang ...

, and served as its president from 1888 until his death. In 1981, German phonetician Klaus J. Kohler described Viëtor as "the most outstanding figure in the field of descriptive and practical phonetics of individual languages in Germany at the turn of the century".

Life and career

The son of a pastor, Viëtor studied theology and philology at the Universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, where he received a PhD in philology in 1875. He taught English and French in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, and

Friedrichsdorf Friedrichsdorf () is a town of the Hochtaunuskreis, some north of Frankfurt am Main in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Friedrichsdorf is located in the Taunus area, ranking third among the Hochtaunuskreis boroughs after Bad Homburg vor der ...

from 1876 to 1882. In 1882, Viëtor published an influential pamphlet titled ''Der Sprachunterricht muss umkehren!'' ("Language teaching must start afresh!") under the pseudonym Quousque Tandem (taken from the opening words of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's speech to Catiline), which spurred the Reform Movement in foreign language teaching in Europe. Its English translation, by A. P. R. Howatt and David Abercrombie, was published in 1984. In 1884, Viëtor was appointed associate professor of English philology at the University of Marburg. In 1886, Viëtor joined the

founded by

, then known as the Phonetic Teachers' Association, of which he became President two years later. He launched the phonetics journal ''Phonetische Studien'' in 1888 and the language teaching journal ''Die neueren Sprachen'', which absorbed the former, in 1893. Viëtor authored two successful textbooks in phonetics: ''Elemente der Phonetik'', first published in 1884, went through seven editions by 1923; ''Die Aussprache des Schriftdeutschen'', first published in 1895, reached its eleventh edition in 1925. He also revised and edited works by the British phonetician Laura Soames, including ''Introduction to English, French and German Phonetics'' (1899). Viëtor also compiled ''Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch'' (1912), which likely played a role in inspiring Daniel Jones to publish the ''

English Pronouncing Dictionary The ''English Pronouncing Dictionary'' (''EPD'') was created by the British phonetician Daniel Jones and was first published in 1917. It originally comprised over 50,000 headwords listed in their spelling form, each of which was given one or more ...

'' (1917). From 1899 to 1901, Viëtor held summer schools at Marburg, which were attended by language teachers from all over Europe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vietor, Wilhelm Phoneticians Language teachers 19th-century German linguists University of Marburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Marburg 1850 births 1918 deaths