INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS

SPHS 130, Spring 2000

Instructor: David J. Zajac, Ph.D.

Dr. Zajac's Office and Hours Course Objectives Related Links:
Classroom and Meeting Times Course Evaluations   Dr. Zajac's homepage
Honor Code Sequence of Course Topics   Dr. Zajac's publications
Grading Policy Syllabus   UNC Craniofacial Center
Required Text and Audio Tapes Acoustic Labs   Course Discussion Forum
Teaching Assistant Journals of Interest   Course Grades

Office and Hours

Office:  09-E Brauer Hall, Craniofacial Center (CFC), School of Dentistry, 966-1362.

Email: david_zajac@dentistry.unc.edu

Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-4:00 PM. Appointments should be made in advance.

Required Text

Donald R. Calvert  (1992).  Descriptive Phonetics, Revised Second Edition.  New York: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Linda I. House (1998).  Introductory Phonetics and Phonology: A Workbook Approach.  New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Room Assignment and Meeting Times

All lectures will be in 107 Berryhill Hall; 4:00-5:15 PM, Mondays and Wednesdays.

Teaching Assistant

Rebecca Hanson.  Mailbox in DSHS.  Email: rhanson@email.unc.edu

Objectives of the Course

1. Students will demonstrate basic competence in phonetic transcription (broad and narrow) of American English speech, including various aspects of disordered production. The focus of this course will be to prepare students for graduate work in speech and hearing sciences.

2. Students will be introduced to basic concepts and analysis techniques of aerodynamic and acoustic phonetics (i.e., instrumental phonetics).

Course Evaluations

1. Three in-class transcription quizzes.  The quizzes will assess the student's ability to transcribe orthographically presented and/or tape-recorded material.  The quizzes will contribute 10%, 15%, and 15%, respectively, to the final course grade.

2. Midterm and Final examinations; each will contribute 25% to the course grade. The final exam will cover all aspects of the course but will focus on acoustic phonetics. Both exams will consist of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer type questions.

3. Acoustic phonetics laboratory (10% of final grade).  This laboratory assignment will be completed in April in small groups.  Students will use an acoustic acquisition and analysis program available on the computers in the Health Sciences Library.  The objective of the lab is to describe the acoustic variation of vowels due to phonetic context.  Students will be required to report and graph vowel formant frequencies and discuss the results.  Specific instructions for the assignment will be given in class.
 

Notes:  Some practice transcription and all quizzes will be conducted in class. Audio tapes, which provide an initial experience in sound discrimination and transcription, are available for use in the Health Sciences Library.  They can be found in the reserves stacks. Call number: X 10480.  The text Clinical Phonetics, by LD Shriberg and RD Kent, is also on reserve, and includes the assignments for the tapes, and is a good supplemental text.

Honor Code

The Honor Code is, as always, in effect in this course.  Students are expected to follow the policy of the code during all quizzes and exams.

Grading Policy

Quizzes and exams may be graded according to a modified curve. This means that the performance of the class will help determine the scores used to assign letter grades.

Sequence of Course Topics

A. Speech, language, and dialects
B. Traditional linguistic phonetics
C. Levels of perceptual discrimination of speech
D. Review of speech production subsystems
    1) Respiration
    2) Phonation
    3) Articulation and resonance
E. Vowels and diphthongs
F. Consonants
G. Speech aerodynamics
H. Diacritics and sounds in context
I.  Diacritics and distorted speech
J.  Acoustic phonetics
    1) Basic dimensions of sound
    2) Resonance
    3) The sound spectrum and spectrogram
    4) Vowel acoustics
    5) Consonant acoustics
    6) Speech disorders and instrumental phonetics

Some journals of interest to students in the course

Class Syllabus

 
Meeting Date Tentative Topics Assignments Due/Tests
Wed, 1/12 Course introduction, syllabus review, and phonetics intro  
Mon, 1/17 MLK Jr. Holiday - no class meeting 
Wed, 1/19  Speech, language and dialects; vowel symbols Chapter 1 (C)
Mon, 1/24  Linguistic phonetics; consonant symbols  
Wed, 1/26  Dichotic listening and perceptual model 
Mon, 1/31  Speech production - respiration  Chapter 2 (C); Tape 1A
Wed, 2/2  Speech production - phonation 
Mon, 2/7 Speech production - articulation  Quiz #1
Wed, 2/9 Speech production - resonance 
Mon, 2/14  Vowels and diphthongs Chapter 4 (C)
Wed, 2/16  Vowels and diphthongs  
Mon, 2/21  Consonants  Chapter 3 (C)
Wed, 2/23  Consonants
Mon, 2/28  Syllabic consonants  Quiz #2
Wed, 3/1  Aerodynamics of consonants  
Mon, 3/6  Review for midterm exam  Review Chapters 1-4 (C)
Wed, 3/8  Midterm Exam  
3/13 & 3/15  Spring break -  no class meetings  
Mon, 3/20  Connected and disordered speech; diacritics Chapter 5 (C)
Wed, 3/22  Connected and disordered speech; diacritics  Tape 1B
Mon, 3/27  Phoneme-specific nasal emission 
Wed, 3/29  Stress, timing, and juncture  Chapter 6 (C)
Mon, 4/3  Connected speech transcription Chapter 7 (C)
Wed, 4/5  Basic dimensions of sound Chapter 8 (C)
Mon, 4/10  Glottal source and spectrum
Wed, 4/12 Diacritics review Quiz #3
Mon, 4/17 Resonance and vowel acoustics
Wed, 4/19 Resonance and vowel acoustics
Mon, 4/24  Resonance and velopharyngeal inadequacy  
Wed, 4/26  Consonant acoustics and voice onset time  
Mon, 5/1 McGurk effect Lab Assignment
Wed, 5/3 Review for final exam  Review Chapters 5-8 (C)
Sat, 5/6 Final Exam (4-6PM, 107 Berryhill Hall)  

Note: C = Calvert text


 

Course Grades (Posted 5/8/2000). Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) are listed in ascending numerical order.

 
PIN Final Exam Grade Course Grade
7000-28399  B B+
7002-31207 A A
7007-04741 B B
7009-85382 C C+
7010-66365 D C
7011-72794 C C+
7012-49274 C+ B
7012-90348 C+ B
7014-56278 B B
7014-75222 A A
7016-26734 B B+
7019-84988 D+ C+
7020-11463 B A-
7020-21091 B+ B
7022-20038 D C+
7022-49457 B B+
7023-16474 C B
7023-40602 C C+
7023-67261 C B
7023-72807 A- A
7023-80617 D C+
7027-33284 C B
7029-51116 C B
7030-77747 D+ D+
7031-06391 A A
7032-67603 B B+
7036-84572 A A
7037-01246 C+ B
7037-95108 C B
7038-23188 C C+
7038-95112 C B
7038-98807 C C+
7039-38884 C C+
7040-59117 B B+
7042-05044 B B+
7042-05998 B B+
7046-79021 C B-
7054-33543 B B