Proseminar in Sound Structure (451-0-20)

Instructors

Ann R Bradlow
847/491-8054
2016 Sheridan Road, Rm 110
Office Hours: by appt

Meeting Info

Cresap Laboratory 101: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

This advanced phonetics course covers topics in acoustic phonetics and speech perception. In the first half of the course, the acoustic theory of speech production is introduced and the acoustic correlates of speech sounds are presented. We also cover acoustic-phonetic features of connected speech. In the second half of the course, we turn our attention to the perception of speech signals. We address such topics as phonetic categorization, speech perception and linguistic experience, and the role of speech perception in phonology. Throughout the course, students practice corpus phonetics techniques including corpus design, phonetic annotation, metadata specification, corpus documentation, and hypothesis-driven corpus-based phonetic analysis.

Learning Objectives

This course will prepare students to conduct research in experimental phonetics. Specifically, the content and activities of this course are designed to help students:
1) develop a rigorous understanding of the acoustic theory of speech production,
2) become familiar with the issues, theories, and debates that animate current research in speech perception and production,
3) learn how to design and conduct speech science research using current digital speech and data analysis techniques, and
4) learn how to critically evaluate primary research literature in speech science.

Teaching Method

Lecture, discussion, small group activities, peer feedback, oral and written presentations.

Evaluation Method

Projects, term paper and presentation.

Class Materials (Required)

Class materials will be available online.