Introduction to Phonetics

SPAU 3343, Fall 2005

MW 9:30-10:45, CR1.202

Instructor: William F. Katz (x 3188), wkatz@utdallas.edu

Office hours: MW 9:00-9:30, 11:00-11:30, and by appt.
TA: June Levitt junelev@utdallas.edu

This course provides an overview of modern phonetics. We will cover articulatory, acoustic, and
linguistic phonetic theories. Students will acquire basic transcription skills, with particular attention paid to
foreign-accented English and the language of disordered individuals.

******** COURSE OUTLINE *******

Texts: Ladefoged:

I. Anatomy of the speech production mechanism; Ch. 1

articulatory phonetics

II. I.P.A.; Transcription Ch. 2

III. Consonants: place, manner, & voicing Ch. 3 (pg. 55-71), 6, 7

IV. Vowels and the vowel space Ch. 2, 4

V. Phonological rules and allophones Ch. 3 (pg. 71-76)

Æ (MIDTERM)

VI. Stress and intonation Ch. 5

VII. Acoustic properties of vowels Ch. 8, 9

VIII. Linguistic phonetics Ch. 10, 11

• Tentative date for midterm exam: 10/12

• Tentative date for turning in final project: 11/23
• Tentative date for final Exam: Weds., 11/30

1
 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Selected readings from the required texts:

• Ladefoged, P., A Course in Phonetics, 5th Edition, 2006. An audio CD is included.

• , Optional software: “Phonetic transcription of American English” (2 volume CD set) P. Hoffman

& H. Buckingham, 2000. Louisiana State University. I will arrange for copies to be purchased in
class direct from LSU source.

2. Short problem sets from text.

3. In-class quizzes and transcription practice.

4. Weekly lab exercises.

5. In-class midterm and (cumulative) final.

6. Final paper including transcription/analysis of a small speech corpus. To be turned in on (or before) 11/23.

Grading: 25% quizzes/homework/labwork; 25% midterm; 25% final, 25% final paper. Class participation is
noted and encouraged.

9 NOTE: Please visit our class website:

http://www.utdallas.edu/~wkatz/phonetics_course/phonetics_course.html

Use of the web page is not required, but it is strongly encouraged!

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 Homework, handout and lab schedule / Spring 2005
Reading assignment
Week Lecture HW = Homework Lab Lab Materials
HO = Handout
Introduction. Review syllabus. Chap. 1 No lab
8/22 - 8/24
“Mini-lecture” HO-initial set
Chap. 1 No lab
Source-filter theory/ Feature theory/ HW1 (assign)
8/29 – 8/31 Place, manner of consonants. Begin pg 16-21, A-E
vowel features.

Continue with consonant and vowel Chap. 1 & 2, 4 (part 1) (Lab 1) Lab 1 PPT
features. HW 2 (assign) Intonation
9/5 (no class) pg 32-33 A practice.
9/7 VPM practice.
HW 1 (collect) Broad
transcription.
Chap. 1 & 2 Lab 1 PPT
Concepts of phoneme and HW 3 (assign) (Lab 2) Quiz 1 Lab 2 PPT
allophone. Cover last points in pg 61,62 A, “fill in the blanks” (10 intonation
9/12- 9/14
chapters 1-3. problems).
HW 2 (collect) Broad
HW 1 (return) transcription
Chap 6. Airstream mechanisms. In- Chap. 6 (Lab 3) Quiz 2 Lab 2 PPT Lab
class demo and discussion of these HW assign– pg 134-135, E, “fill (5 real words 3 PPT
sounds. in the blanks” transcription).
9/19 - 9/21
HW 3 (collect) Broad
HW 2 (return) transcription

Chap. 7 (Lab 4) Quiz 3 (5 Lab 3 PPT

Grade hmwk #4 in class. Chap 7: HW 3 (return) non-words
9/26 - 9/28 Place and manner of languages transcription).
other than English. Broad
transcription
Chap. 3 No lab
Chap 3. HO-Summary of 12 phono.
10/3 - 10/5 12 Phonological rules of GAE Rules and
12 Phono. Work sheet

10/10, Midterm Review

10/12 Midterm Exam
Midterm (return & Accent-Dialect
Return Mid-term (then collect) collect) American Tongues PPT
Final Project Q & A Project tapes (assign) Video HO-In-class
10/17 – 10/19 Narrow Transcription video
Looking back Mid-term
PPT Video tape
Lab 5 PPT
Chap. 5 (Lab 5) Lab 4 PPT
Chap 5: Intonation contour, tonic Project tapes (collect) Intonation contour
10/24 – 10/26 stress, primary/secondary stress. HO-Practice with Narrow transcription
Strong and weak forms, citation suprasegmentals.
form/ assimilation
10/31 – 11/2 Chap. 8 (Lab 6) Lab 5 PPT

3
 CREEPY Chap 8: Acoustic phonetics. Nature Acoustics HW (assign) Narrow transcription
HOLLOWEEN of sound, wave theory, harmonics Project tapes (return)
CLASS and formants. Brief presentation of HO- “Articulatory
BLISS speech-analysis software. Factors affecting…”
Chap. 9 (Lab 7) Phono. Rules
Chap 8 cont’d: Spectrogram. Brief Acoustics HW (collect) Quiz 4 review
history. Axes, length of material in. Mystery spec. (assign) (Primary stress
How to interpret vowels/diphthongs, HO- “Spectrogram Broad & Narrow Lab 6 PPT
followed by consonants. Tidbits” transcriptions)
11/7 – 11/9
HO-“Examples of rule
Chap 9 (briefly): Vowel reduction, sum. for foreign talkers” Narrow transcriptions
unstressed syllables, cardinal and “Tools for
vowels, secondary articulations transcribing Am. English
affecting other languages accents”
Chap. 10 (Lab 8) Phono Rules
Chap 10: Syllables and Mystery spec. (collect) Quiz 5 review
suprasegmentals. Onset, rhyme, Acoustics HW (return) (Narrow transcriptions,
nucleus, coda. Ambisyllabicity. HO-“Mary passage” Intonation contour, tonic Lab 6 PPT
11/14 - 11/16
Syllable- vs. stress-timed languages. stress and secondary stress
Sonority/prominence. Stress, marks)
length, geminate consonants, extra-
long vowels. Phonemic tone. Narrow transcriptions
Guest lecture: Dr. Bharadwaj Chap. 11 Review for Final with Final review
Chap 11: Coarticulation/ motor June PPT
equivalence/coordinative structures/
11/21 – 11/23
Ease of articulation vs. perceptual Project is due!
distinctiveness.

11/28, Final Review, Samples of disordered speech

11/30 Final Exam