Education

Yeshiva University	B.A.	1949	Judaic Studies; French
T.C., Columbia University	M.A.	1950	French
Columbia University	Ph.D.	1960	Linguistics

Main Positions Held

1943–1946		Medical Department, U.S. Army
1953–1955		Fulbright teacher, English and linguistics, Thailand
1959–1963		Research Staff, Haskins Laboratories
1963–1964		Associate Professor of Speech, Queens College & Graduate Center, City University of New York; research associate, Haskins Laboratories
1964–1965		Research Staff, Haskins Laboratories (Acting Head, Speech Research)
1965–1967		Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Queens College & Graduate Center, City University of New York
1967-		Scientist, Haskins Laboratories
1967–1992		Professor of Linguistics, University of Connecticut

Selected Current and Past Professional Activities

Founding Head, Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut
Co-editor, Language and Speech, 1975–1978, Editor, 1979–1987
Linguistic Society of America: Secretary-Treasurer, 1974-1978;

Vice-President/President-Elect, 1982, President 1983

Permanent Council for the Organization of Congresses of Phonetic Sciences,

1971–2007

Board of Directors, Haskins Laboratories, 2005–

Selected Honors and Awards

Phi Kappa Phi,
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellow, Acoustical Society of America
Fellow, Linguistic Society of America
Fellow, International Society of Phonetic Sciences

Research Interests

Arthur Abramson studies the acoustical aspects of the production and perception of speech with occasional forays into physiological mechanisms. Specifically, in the Haskins tradition, he seeks the information-bearing properties of the speech signal that serve to differentiate the phonologically relevant sounds of speech and then tests their perceptual relevance as acoustic cues through experiments with either synthetic speech or altered natural speech. His research has focused on a number of languages with emphasis on languages of Southeast Asia, which illustrate facets of the human capacity for speech and language through types of phonemic distinctions not found in Western languages.