LEIGH LISKER (1918—2006)

Malcah Yaeger
Comments on Leigh Lisker

In sharing our memories of the Dr. Lisker we knew, many of us will have 'linguistic' memories. Linguistically, I knew what I'd be learning from Dr. Lisker, because I'd 'apprenticed' as an undergrad with his student. The greater surprise to me was the personality which shone out, even in a seminar course on [what else?] VOT.

It was definitely his personality that made Dr. L special to all students who moved into phonetic research. The outstanding motif of that personality was not to infringe on his students' 'space': Dr. Goffman taught us about 'face' and 'space'. Dr. Lisker lived a life that avoided infringement on other's space, as noone else I've ever met has managed to.

Dr. Lisker always avoided imposing his interests on the student. Unfortunately, in a world where each of the professors was jockeying for student 'votes', very few students did become interested in the minutiae of stop articulation or vowel duration and how it reflected on phonology much less its obvious relevance to cognitive science. In order to permit a passing grade on the prelim to those who had not been imposed on, he would then devise a prelim for phonetics that a 101 undergrad could ace after the first week of the course. This pattern carried over even when we had begun to work in the field: When I was a student, Haskins was still in NY, a block or two from the UN, as I recall. In contrast, The 'lab' space in a basement in Phily was not really providing the scope for any research study at all: if WE initiated the request, Dr. Lisker would make it easy for us to go up to the city to work. We were never even saw the filaments of red tape that permitted our entry into those hallowed halls. As an insecure worker, first analyzing prosodic variation [which of course does not come under the heading of VOT] I also was always infinitely grateful to hear 'Uncle Arthur' in the distance, bringing my advisor over to see what their 'Niece' was up to today. Inevitably, my training was enhanced by the input the two men would provide, and the advice they would give me as they hovered over my workstation.

As I have gone through life as the Jewish-mother of hands-on advisors, I have always held before me the memory of the guy who tried to teach me the rudiments of how to avoid imposing on our students' space, and the heroic work it must have taken to help us to each take our own direction.

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