Postgraduate Course: Phonetics and Laboratory Phonology (LASC11125)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The general area of this course is the relation between phonology (i.e., the system of sound contrasts, as well as their ordering, groupings, and relative prominence within a planned utterance), and phonetics (the realization of utterances in articulation and acoustics). We show that a great deal of phonetic variability can be explained through an understanding of phonological structure, and that phonological questions can be answered using phonetic data. We explore these issues through the study of the the phonetic realization of a) constituent structure and b) suprasegmental contrasts. |
| Course description |
The goal is not just to offer insight in this topic area, but also to equip students with the skills and expertise to carry out research independently, for example in an MSc dissertation project.
In the MSc Introduction to Phonology & Phonetics course, students have learned about acoustic representations, and gotten a first experience with making measurements on these. That basic level expertise forms the foundation of the practical component of Intermediate Phonetics, where it will be developed in a number of ways. Students will explore issues of experimental design, they will make their own recordings, process them using Praat software, and learn to automate acoustic measurements, in part or in full, depending on the nature of the measurement. In the process, they will learn how to script within the Praat software environment. For many this will be their first experience with programming.
The knowledge gained in this course will form the foundation for more specialized professional training in speech technology, speech therapy, and forensic phonetics.
The course includes lectures, lab practicals, and readings.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students must have passed the following course, or its equivalent: Introduction to Phonology & Phonetics (LASC11031), OR must be taking it simultaneously. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 18,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 9,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
70 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Completion of weekly reading reports (5%)
Lab reports (30%) 600 words each. PG students will take part in several practicals, and submit two lab reports based on them (approx. 600 words each). Only the best of the two will count towards the final mark.
Project (65%) 2500 words maximum. Students will take part in, and write up, a laboratory experiment designed to show phonetic effects of prosodic structure and segmental context on phonetic parameters such as duration, fundamental frequency and formant frequencies. |
| Feedback |
Comments provided on submitted assessments |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand the relation between phonetics and phonology, and being able to engage critically with research articles in this area
- understand how to use instrumental data to answer research questions in phonology and phonetics, and understanding the pitfalls of phonetic transcription
- make a sound recording and process it for acoustic analysis
- create, modify, and use scripts to automate the analysis of several acoustic features, including duration, F0, spectral balance, and formant frequencies
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The knowledge gained in this course will enable students to conduct their own research projects in phonetics, and form the foundation for more specialized professional training in speech technology, speech therapy, and forensic phonetics.
Transferable skills include skills relating to summarising research articles, project design, scripting, and writing. |
| Keywords | phonetics,prosody,laboratory phonology,phonetic measurement,phonetic analysis |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alice Turk
Tel: (0131 6)50 3483
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: |
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