LING 605 Advanced Phonetics

Prerequisites

This course is an introduction to phonetics, the study of how human speech sounds are made and heard. In this course, the student will learn about how speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract and how they are perceived, and the student will be given an introduction to phonetics research. The student will also learn how phonetics research is used in other subfields of linguistics.

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Vocal Tract Assignment

The student will be asked to apply the knowledge he/she has learned in the reading on vocal tract anatomy. The goal of this application is to allow the student to think critically about how speech sounds are made and to learn the names of the articulators that make each of these sounds. This knowledge is foundational to the study of phonetics, and understanding the physiology of the vocal tract is necessary before studying consonants and vowels in the world’s languages. For this assignment, the student will answer the questions in the provided template in Canvas. For many questions that require written responses, there is a required length of the response that is provided following the prompt. The student must meet the required length requirement for any relevant questions. Any sources used must be cited in current APA format. 

Consonants and Vowels Assignment

The student will practice using the IPA for English consonants and vowels. Understanding transcription and the IPA is fundamental to the study of both phonetics and phonology. IPA is used instead of orthography in the study of speech sounds, and it is therefore imperative to have a firm understanding of how transcriptions work and what the IPA symbols represent. Practicing transcribing English will help the student understand the basic properties of the IPA, which will help when using the IPA for sounds of the world’s languages. The student will also be asked several questions that require him/her to think critically for what the required reading for the assignment can teach the student about the cognitive function of language. For this assignment, the student will answer the questions in the provided template in Canvas. For many questions that require written responses, there is a required length of the response that is provided following the prompt. The student must meet the required length requirement for any relevant questions. Any sources used must be cited in current APA format. 

Partner Transcription Exercise Assignment

This assignment will help prepare the student for future assignments and phonetics research. In this assignment, the student will record a speaker and transcribe what the speaker said. The student will analyze real speech data using the theoretical rules outlined in the textbook. Phonetics research relies on data from speakers of the target languages, and this assignment will be the student’s first opportunity in this course to work with data collected. At the end of this assignment, the student will be able to identify positional variants of sounds in English, as well as transcribe speech from audio, rather than from written words. For this assignment, the student will record and transcribe the speech of a member of his/her household or a classmate. The participant must be an English speaker. After obtaining consent to record the participant, the student will ask the participant to read the provided passage. The student will then transcribe the participant’s speech, providing two transcriptions (one broad and one narrow). The student will submit the recording to Canvas as a .wav file.

Sound Waves and Resonance Exercises Assignment

This assignment has two sections. In the first section, the student will complete practice problems on the basics of sound waves. Practice problems are intended to help the student solidify the conceptual knowledge to practical knowledge. In the second section of this assignment, the student will be asked to think critically about sound waves and how we might relate these concepts to speech sounds. It is imperative to understand speech sounds, sound sources, and resonance in order to partake in any acoustic analyses. For this assignment, the student will complete the textbook exercises 1-7 at the end of Chapter 6 of the Zsiga text (part 1) and answer three additional questions (part 2) in the template provided in Canvas. For many questions that require written responses, there is a required length of the response that is provided following the prompt. The student must meet the required length requirement for any relevant questions. Any sources used must be cited in current APA format. 

Acoustics of Speech Sounds Exercises Assignment

The student will apply his/her knowledge of the acoustics of speech sounds to new examples. This practice will serve as the foundation when he/she will need to use his/her knowledge of acoustics to analyze real speech samples. Analyzing sound waves and spectrograms is central to phonetics. With the understanding of acoustics, the student will be able to recognize second language pronunciation, speech disorders, dialect variation, and style shifting, amongst many other topics. For this assignment, the student will complete the textbook exercises 2-7 at the end of Chapter 7 of the Zsiga text (part 1) and answer three additional questions (part 2) in the template provided in Canvas. For many questions that require written responses, there is a required length of the response that is provided following the prompt. The student must meet the required length requirement for any relevant questions. Any sources used must be cited in current APA format. 

Analyze Speech in Praat Assignment

The student will practice acoustic analyses using real speech data in Praat. Praat is a free software used by many phoneticians to analyze speech data. As a result of this assignment, the student will have the practical skills to research speech sounds. Knowledge of these skills can contribute to phonological or phonetic theory but can also be used in applied settings (such as speech pathology or second language acquisition). This assignment has two sections that the student must complete within the provided template. In the first section (part 1), the student will compare different stop consonants in Korean. In the second section (part 2), the student will record, transcribe, and analyze his/her own speech data. For many questions that require written responses, there is a required length of the response that is provided following the prompt. The student must meet the required length requirement for any relevant questions. The student must download Praat onto his/her computer before completing this assignment. The student will upload the .wav file and textgrid he/she creates for his/her own recording in Part 2, as well as the completed template, to Canvas for grading.

Perception Research Assignment

The student will read three papers (or “long abstracts”) from the proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS). By doing so, the student will read original research papers that were presented at a phonetics conference and will reveal how researchers use the tools we have been discussing to analyze real speech data. The student will see the types of research questions phoneticians address and the methods they use to do so. At the end of this exercise, the student will be able to read and critically analyze research papers. Using the provided assignment resources link, the student will find three papers from the proceedings of the 19th ICPhS. The paper may be about any aspect of speech perception. Next, for each of the papers, the student will write a two-paragraph summary and critique of the research project. The student must include the full citation for each paper in current APA format in a references page at the end of the document and proper current APA formatted in-text citations for any quoted or paraphrased material in the response.

Variation and SLA Reflection Assignment

The student will reflect on his/her linguistic background and personal experiences and connect them to the concepts learned throughout the course. The student will think critically about the empirical findings stated in the text and apply them to his/her own speech in an academic paper. For this writing assignment, the student will reflect on features of his/her dialect (first reflection) and his/her experiences with second language acquisition or interacting with a foreign language speaker (second reflection). Each of the two reflections must be about a page long. The entire paper must be formatted according to current APA standards.

Quizzes (2)

The student will have two quizzes in this course, one on articulatory phonetics and the other on acoustic phonetics. Each quiz will be 1 hour 30 minutes and allow for one attempt. Both quizzes will cover Learn material from several modules in the course. The student will answer 11 fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions for the Quiz: Articulatory Phonetics. The student will answer 10 short answer questions for the Quiz: Articulatory Phonetics.