AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Transcription

1 1 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Course Objectives English 228 Phonetics Course Syllabus This course is intended for students who have developed some degree of familiarity with how human language works, both in form and in function. Its purpose is to help students build and expand their knowledge of the sounds and sound systems of human language, with special reference to the English Language. More specifically, students will gain practical knowledge of the principles and mechanisms that govern the production and perception of linguistic sounds and sound combinations. That is, they will learn in depth about where and how sounds are made (articulatory phonetics); their physical, auditory, and acoustic characteristics (acoustic phonetics); and the rules that govern their operation within specific language systems (phonetic and phonological processes). Furthermore, students will receive intensive training in phonemic and phonetic transcription of English and Arabic. By the end of the semester, students are expected to be able to do the following: 1. Recognize, produce, and transcribe, phonemically and phonetically, all the consonants, vowels, and diphthongs of English and Arabic. 2. Define and give examples of all relevant terminology, such as phoneme, allophone, stress, pitch, amplitude, secondary articulation, spectrograms, voicing, airstream mechanism, voice onset time, places of articulation, manner of articulation, and the like. 3. Describe sounds of human languages by voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation, centrality, direction of air, nasality, and tongue position. 4. Match utterances with their spectrographic representations. 5. Compare the sounds of English with those of Arabic and identify the similarities and differences. 6. Identify the phonetic processes involved in conversational utterances, such as assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, cluster reduction, and the like. 7. Explain how change in stress and intonation could result in a change of meaning at the level of single words, compounds, and sentences. Course Content The course covers the following major topics: language as a system of verbal symbols, speech production, speech perception, reduction and simplification in

2 2 conversational utterances, phonemic and phonetic transcription, speech analysis and synthesis, syllables and syllabic structure, secondary articulation, and experimental phonetics. Required Textbook Ladefoged, P. (2001). A Course in phonetics. 3 rd edition. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. (Third Edition) In addition to this basic textbook, materials, exercises, and activities from other textbooks listed under references will be used for reinforcement or for introducing topics not covered adequately in the required textbook. Attendance Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Those who miss seven classes or more, no matter what their excuses are, will be dropped automatically from the course. Needless to say, students will held responsible for any materials covered during their absence from class. Policy on Plagiarism As students are expected to do projects in the course, it is essential to point out that the work done should be theirs and theirs only. They could consult sources and references for these projects, but they should not copy materials already produced commercially. In case there are direct or indirect quotations, the references should be listed. Students who plagiarize or copy from a classmate will get a grade of zero on the assigned task and will be referred to the Student Affairs Committee for further disciplinary action. Evaluation of Students Performance Homework, Project, Quizzes, and Classroom Exercises and Activities 15% First Test 25% Second Test 25% Final Examination 35%

3 3 SYLLABUS Week 1 Introduction Language structures and functions The sound system Phonemic stress and intonation Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Articulatory Phonetics The vocal organs Consonants and vowels Diphthongs Prosodic features Phonemic and Phonetic Transcription The IPA system Other systems (Webster, Prator, Jones) Consonant chart Vowel chart Phonological Systems Distinctive features Phonetic processes Phonological variations Phonemic stress and intonation English Consonants Stop consonants Assimilation/Co-articulation Experimental evidence Fricatives and affricates Nasals Approximants English Vowels Vowel variation among dialects of English Vowel quality and stress Tense and lax vowels Reduced vowels Sounds Combinations: Words and Sentences Strong and weak forms of words Word and sentence stress Types of intonation

4 4 Week 8 More Supra-segmental Features Relation between intonation and attitude, intent, emotions, and intonation Degrees of stress Juncture and rhythm Segment length Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Phonology of Other Languages I Airstream Mechanisms States of the vocal chords Voice onset time Project assignment Phonology of Other Languages II Place of articulation Manner of articulation Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics Sound waves Experimental evidence Acoustic measurements Pitch and frequency Loudness and amplitude Vowel quality Spectrographic analysis Acoustic analysis Secondary Articulations Labialization Palatalization Velarization Nasalization Rhotacization Tafkhim Emphatic Spread The Syllable Definition Controversial divisions Syllable and prosodic features Phonetics and Other Language Subsystems Experimental Phonetics Phonetics and Teaching Phonetics and special education Phonetics and technology

5 5 REFERENCES Abercrombie, D. (1969). Elements of General Phonetics. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. Anderson, S. R. (1974). The Organization of Phonology. London: Academic Press. Blake, N. F. & Moorhead. (1993). Introduction to English Language. London: Macmillan. Bolinger, D. (1972). Intonation. Harmondworth: Penguin Books. Carr, P. (1993). Modern Linguistics: Phonology. London: Macmillan. Clifford, H. & Prator, J. (1957). Manual of American English Pronunciation. New York: Holt-Rinehart & Winston. Coleman, J. S. (1998). Phonological Representations: their names, Forms, and Powers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Couper-Kuhlen, E. (1986). An Introduction to English Prosody. Maryland: Edward Arnold. Cruttenden, A. (1997). Intonation (2 nd Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Denses, P.B. & Pinson, E. N. (1963). The Speech Chain: The Physics and Biology of Spoken Language. New York: Anchor Press. Durand, J. & Katamba, F. (1995). Frontiers of Phonology. Essex: Longman Finegon, E. (1994). Language: Its Structure and Use. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Giegerich, H. J. (1992). English Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gimson, A. C. (1970). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. New York: St. Martin s Press. Griffith, J. & Miner, L. E. (1986). Sound Search: Aspects and Language Drill book. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Harris, J. (1994). English Sound Structure. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Hyman, L. M. (1975). Phonology: Theory and Analysis. USA: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

6 6 Jakobson, R., Gummar, C., Fant, M. & Halle, M. (1969). Preliminaries to Speech Analysis: the Distinctive Features and their Correlates. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press. Katamba, F. (1989). An Introduction to Phonology. Essex: Longman. Katamba, F. (1993). Morphology. London: Macmillan. Kenworthy, J. (1991). Language in Action: An Introduction to Modern Linguistics. London: Longman. Kuiper, K. & Allan W. S. (1996). An Introduction to English Language: Sound, Word and Sentence. London: Macmillan. Ladefoged, P. & Maddieson, I. (1995). The Sounds of the World s languages. Oxford: Blackwell. Laver, J. (1994). Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McMahon, A An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. O conner, J. D. (1973). Phonetics. Britain: Penguin Books. O conner, J. D. (1973). Phonetic Drill Reader. Cambridge: University Printing House. Paul, P. (1993). Linguistics for Language Learning: An Introduction to the Nature and Use of Language. Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia PTY Ltd. Postal, P. M. (1968). Phonological Theory. London: Harper & Row. Roach, P. (1992). Introducing Phonetics. London: Penguin. Roca, I. & Johnson, W. (1999). A Course in Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell. Roca, I. (1999). A Workbook in Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell. Schane, S. A. (1973). Generative Phonology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Smalley, W. A. (1973). Manual of Articulatory Phonetics. Michigan: Cushing Malloy. Sommerstein, A. H. (1977). Modern Phonology. Birkenhead: Willner Brolher.