Seminar in Sound Structure (452-0-20)
Instructors
Jennifer S Cole
2016 Sheridan Road, Rm 103
Office Hours: By appt
Meeting Info
Cresap Laboratory 101: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
This course explores prosody and intonation in spoken language, which relate to the grouping of words in continuous speech and pitch patterning across phrases. The course examines prosody and intonation from theoretical (formalist) and experimental (behavioral, phonetic) approaches, focusing on American English and with briefer looks at prosodic or intonational typology. Topics covered include phonological models of prosody and intonation, their acoustic phonetic correlates, the relationship between prosodic and syntactic structure, and the semantic and pragmatic functions of prosody and intonation. Additional topics will be added based on student interest, e.g., relating prosody and intonation to sociolinguistic variation, computer speech synthesis or recognition, sentence processing, discourse interactions, cognitive function, neural processing of speech, clinical populations, or music. Methods for experimental and corpus research on prosody and intonation will be emphasized.
Registration Requirements
Ling 350 or permission of the instructor.
Learning Objectives
Students in this course will gain an understanding of linguistic (formal) models of prosody and intonation, and the empirical evidence that supports them. Students will learn and gain practical experience with experimental methods for investigating prosody through acoustic measurement, annotation, and perceptual judgments.
Teaching Method
The class format will be combination of lecture, discussion and laboratory activities.
Evaluation Method
Students will be evaluated based on presentation and discussion of assigned readings, laboratory assignments and a final paper.
Class Materials (Required)
Readings will be assigned from textbooks, handbooks and research articles made available through the course website. Students will be involved in selecting readings based on individual and group interests.