Phonetics (Postgraduate)
- Course Code:
- 15PLIH045
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 0.5
- Taught in:
- Full Year
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
At the end of the course, a student should be able to demonstrate…
- an understanding of how humans produce and perceive speech sounds
- an understanding of the acoustic manifestation of speech sounds
- mastery of some acoustic and experimental techniques to investigate the physical manifestation of speech sounds
- an ability to transcribe southern British English and the sounds of the world’s languages
- an ability to make and interpret recordings
- a practical knowledge of the Praat speech analysis software to complete and report on practical assignments
Specific PG outcome additional to UG course:
- an ability to design phonetic experiments, and to interpret and present the results
Workload
This course is taught over 10 week with a two-hour lecture and a one-hour tutorial per week.
Scope and syllabus
This course covers the following:
- The speech chain; phonetics compared to phonology
- Principles of transcription; IPA broad transcription of British English
- Articulation: the organs of speech, vocal anatomy
- Principles of classificatory description of sounds
-airstream mechanisms: egressive vs ingressive; pulmonary, glottalic, velaric
-phonation: modal, breathy, creaky, whisper etc
-vowels and semivowels
-place of articulation
-manner of articulation
-syllables and suprasegmentals: tones, intonation - IPA and narrow transcription of English, other languages, nonsense words, disordered speech
- Acoustics: Speech pressure waves, sound spectra, spectrograms
- Acoustic description of vowels and consonants
- Non-acoustic experimental phonetics: laryngography/EGG, air pressure
Specific PG syllabus additional to UG syllabus:
- Making a recording; experimental design, statistical analysis and presentation of the results
Method of assessment
One unseen written exam taken in May/June (50%); one essay to be submitted on the Friday after reading week in which the course is taught(10%); one essay to be submitted on the Friday of week one in the term after the one in which the course is taught (10%); two transcription tasks carried out in class time (5% each); design a phonetic experiment of 3000 words (20%), to be submitted on day one, week two, term three.
Suggested reading
Readings for this course will be taken from the following:
- Ball, M.J. & Rahilly, J. (1999) Phonetics: the Science of Speech. London: Arnold
- Catford, J.C. (1988) A Practical Introduction to Phonetics. Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Clark, J. & C. Yallop (1995/1990) (2nd/1st ed.) Phonetics and Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Denes, P.B. & E.N. Pinson (1973) The Speech Chain. New York: Anchor Press.
- Hayward, Katrina M. (2000) Experimental Phonetics. London: Longman.
- Hardcastle, W.J. & J. Laver (eds) (1999) The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. London: Blackwell.
- International Phonetic Association (1999) Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press.
- Johnson, K. (1997) Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics (2nd Edition). Oxford: Blackwell.
- Kent, R. and C. Read (1992) The acoustic analysis of speech. San Diego/London: Whurr Publishers.
- Ladefoged, P. & I. Maddieson (1996) The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Ladefoged, P. (1993/1982 3rd/2nd Ed.) A Course in Phonetics. New York: Harcourt Brace.
- Ladefoged, P. (1996, 2nd edn 1995) Elements of Acoustic Phonetics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Ladefoged, P. (2001) Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages. Blackwell.
- Ladefoged, P. (2003) Phonetic Data Analysis: An Introduction to Fieldwork and Instrumental Techniques. London: Blackwell.
- Watkins, J (2002) The phonetics of Wa. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
