LING 605 Advanced Phonetics

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

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 they have 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.

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.

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.

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.

Acoustics of Speech Sounds Exercises Assignment

The student will apply their knowledge of the acoustics of speech sounds to new examples. This practice will serve as the foundation when they will need to use their 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.

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).

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.

Variation and SLA Reflection Assignment

The student will reflect on their 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 their own speech in an academic paper.

Quizzes (2)

The student will have two quizzes in this course, one on Acoustic Phonetics and the other on Articulatory Phonetics. Each quiz will be 90 minutes and worth 100 points. The student will answer fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions.