Sound Patterns in Human Language (250-0-20)

Instructors

Erin M Leddon
847/467-7092
2016 Sheridan Rd, Rm. 107
Office Hours: By appt

Meeting Info

Frances Searle Building 1441: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

Linguistics 250 is an introduction to the science of speech. It focuses on phonetics and phonology—the sound structure of language. Students will learn about the ways speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract (articulation), the physical characteristics of speech sounds (acoustics), and how listeners process the speech signal (speech perception). We will explore how speech sounds pattern in language to convey meaning, and the ways that these patterns are similar and different across the languages of the world. Finally, we will discuss how phonetics and phonology are applied in technologies for speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Describe how the human vocal tract functions to create speech sounds in human languages, and recognize and describe the articulatory characteristics of speech sounds.
2. Describe the essential acoustic characteristics of human speech sounds, and identify and measure those characteristics in digitized speech.
3. Recognize the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and their associated speech sounds, and use the IPA for phonetic transcription of spoken English.
4. Recognize and describe the sound inventories of individual languages, and their sound patterns, in terms of phonemes, allophones and syllables. Analyze sound patterns using formal (symbolic) rules.
5. Recognize and describe how phonetic and phonological models of sound structure are applied in the development of technologies for automatic speech recognition and speech synthesis.

Teaching Method

Lectures/discussions, small group activities, peer feedback, homework.

Evaluation Method

Homework, projects, quizzes, exams

Class Materials (Required)

Title: The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, 2nd edition. Elizabeth C. Zsiga, March 2024. ISBN: 978-1-119-87848-3.

Class Attributes

Natural Sciences Foundational Discipline

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: REASON: Pre-registration is not allowed for this class. Please try again during regular registration.