| Professor: | Jonathan North Washington | |
| Office: | Pearson 105 | |
| Office phone: | x6134 | |
| Office hours: | M 13:30-15:00 & by appointment message me on Google Chat/Hangouts for Zoom link | |
| Email/messaging: | jwashin1@swarthno scrapers please...more.edu | |
| Meeting time: | TTh 11:45-13:00 | |
| Meeting modality: | Online synchronous | |
| Classroom: | Zoom (see Moodle for meeting URL) | |
| Course website: | http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/jwashin1/ling045 | |
| Course Moodle site: | S21 - LING045.01 | |
This course is designed to give you an understanding of the main concepts in the fields of Phonetics and Phonology and impart the skills needed to solve the types of problems encountered in these fields. Here's the official description:
Phonetics explores the full range of sounds produced by humans for use in language and the gestural, acoustic, and auditory properties that characterize those sounds. Phonology investigates the abstract cognitive system humans use for representing, organizing, and combining the sounds of language as well as processes by which sounds can change into other sounds. This course covers a wide spectrum of data from languages around the world and focuses on developing analyses to account for the data. Argumentation skills are also developed to help determine the underlying cognitive mechanisms that are needed to support proposed analyses.
Students who complete this course will have gained the following knowledge and skills:
The following textbooks are required, and are available from the bookstore and will be on reserve at the library as well.
Besides these two books, some material may be taken from the following book, which is on reserve at the library. Any required reading from it will also be posted on Moodle.
For the most part, we will be using Reetz & Jongman up through the midterm, and Zsiga afterwards. Classroom discussion will often deal with content from the books, so please have the book we are currently working with available during class every day. Any other materials needed in class or for assignments will be provided by the professor.
Also, you'll need to be able to access Moodle (moodle.swarthmore.edu). This is where you'll take reading quizzes, submit assignments, and view your grades for the course, so make sure you can access it as soon as possible—especially if you're a BiCo student! If you have any trouble with it, let me know as soon as possible.
The course website (listed above, and linked to from the Moodle course) contains a constantly updated schedule for the semester. While each reading quiz on Moodle will list the required readings for that quiz, other information might be found only on the course website (such as resources discussed in class, the course structure and our progress in it, the presentation schedule, etc.). It's recommended to check the website at least a couple times per a week. I will make announcements about any major changes.
Show up on time and silence cell phones. Food and drinks are allowed as long as they are not disruptive. If you need to step out of the class for any reason (bathroom, emergency phone call, etc.), please do so with minimum disruption (i.e., don't ask for permission).
Please use computers only for relevant classroom activities. In other words, please refrain from any sort of non-class-related activities, including messaging (e-mail, social media, etc.), homework for other courses, or even catching up on course reading. Even the best multitaskers are still not participating fully when they're engaging in unrelated endeavours. If it's too difficult to avoid the temptation of these other distractions, you may try strategies like using a filter for web usage or similar.
Note on pronouns: if you'd like to be referred to by a pronoun that you think I might not guess correctly or if you notice me referring to you by some other pronoun than what you'd prefer, please let me know so that I can get it right.
All material covered during course-related activities—including assigned readings, quizzes, and homeworks—should be assumed to be required course content, and may be included in exams. It is each student's responsibility to attend all classes to learn the material covered. If you must miss a class, it is courteous to notify your professor ahead of time if at all possible, but it will be your responsibility to learn about missed material from classmates. It is not my responsibility to make up for your absence or re-teach the material. (That said, let me know if you're having trouble making something up.) With so few class meetings, missing one day can be a very big deal—so I really recommend trying not to miss class.
The assigned readings are to be read in advance of the class dates they're assigned for, and the online quizzes will test your understanding of the content. The readings complement in-class activities and provide the necessary background; however, you should not assume that they will be fully summarized or reviewed in class. Students should be prepared to evaluate, integrate, or respond to the readings in class discussions.
Reading quizzes are to be completed online by the beginning of the class they are due for, and Moodle will enforce this by deactivating the quiz then. If for some reason you won't be able to take an assigned quiz, please let me know ahead of time so an alternative can be arranged; however, because you will usually have at least a couple days to complete these quizzes and may do so at your convenience, you will have to have a pretty good excuse to be granted an alternative to a quiz.
Homework assignments will generally be assigned for online submission by the beginning of the class they are due in, and Moodle will enforce this by deactivating submissions then. If you anticipate a problem getting the homework in on time, please let me know ahead of time so that an alternative can be arranged; however, because you will usually have several days to complete these assignments and may do so at your convenience, you will have to have a pretty good excuse to be granted an alternative to an assignment. If you are having a problem submitting the assignment online (such as ensuring that the symbols are displaying correctly), there will be an option at the end of each assignment to upload it in PDF format instead (the deadline remains the same). You may also hand it to me typed at the beginning of class. Please do not send assignments by email.
The grade in this course is broken down into the following components. Each component is expounded upon following the table.
| Homeworks: | 40% |
| Reading quizzes: | 30% |
| Exams (2): | 15% |
| Final project presentation: | 5% |
| Engagement: | 10% |
There will be a number of homeworks assigned throughout the semester. These assignments will appear on Moodle at the end of the class meeting that they're assigned, and must be completed by the beginning of the class that they're due. If problems are encountered submitting the assignment online (such as ensuring that the symbols are being displayed correctly), it may be uploaded to Moodle in PDF format or in a worst-case scenario, emailed to me by the beginning of class.
You may collaborate on the problem solving portions of homeworks, but you must write up your own responses, unique from other students'. I suggest you only take notes when working with friends and then write up your responses alone, in your own words. Work identical to another student's, even partially, will be investigated for plagiarism.
No make-up or extra credit assignments will be given, and if you miss class, it is still your responsibility to make sure you understand the requirements of the assignment. Please talk with the professor if you think you will miss a class.
One reading quiz will be assigned for almost every assigned reading—i.e., approximately twice per week. Each of these quizzes will cover material from the assigned reading. They are meant to test your understanding of the reading and provide you with materials from which to study. The quizzes will be accessible on Moodle and are to be completed outside of class by the beginning of class the day the reading is due; they will be deactivated automatically as class starts. You can take each quiz as many times as you want, and your highest score will be recorded; however, you will not be shown which answers you got wrong. There will be no make-ups for quizzes without a valid excuse (see late assignment policy above).
There will be two exams: a mid-term exam involving the material covered up to that point in the course, and a cumulative final exam covering topics starting from the first day of class. These will be open-book take-home exams, but unlike the homeworks, you are not allowed to work together on the exams. No early or make-up exams will be given except in extreme circumstances. Further details, including the due date of the final, will be provided later in the semester.
Through the course of the homework assignments, you will work with a native speaker of a spoken language other than English that you're not yet familiar with to apply the concepts you're learning in the course. This will culminate in a presentation of your findings to the class during our assigned finals period. More details will be provided later in the semester.
Reading quizzes, exams, and some assignments will be assigned an arbitrary number of points. Your score will be calculated as the percentage of the number of points gained out of the total number of points possible, and weighted equally with assignments of the same type.
Other assignments, especially the various stages of your project, will be graded with a somewhat coaser measure of completion and correctness based on normal letters grades and grade points (A = 4.0, B = 3.0, C = 2.0, D = 1.0, and F = 0.0), with the standard modifiers + (one-third of a grade point higher) and - (one-third of a grade point lower). In addition, intermediate grades using parentheses or a slash may be used, giving the following correspondence between letter grade and grade points:
| A+ | 4.33 |
| A(+) | 4.17 |
| A | 4.00 |
| A(-) | 3.83 |
| A- | 3.67 |
| A/B | 3.50 |
| B+ | 3.33 |
| B(+) | 3.17 |
| B | 3.00 |
| B(-) | 2.83 |
| B- | 2.67 |
| B/C | 2.50 |
| C+ | 2.33 |
| C(+) | 2.17 |
| C | 2.00 |
| C(-) | 1.83 |
| C- | 1.67 |
| C/D | 1.50 |
| D+ | 1.33 |
| D(+) | 1.17 |
| D | 1.00 |
| D(-) | 0.83 |
| D- | 0.67 |
| D/F | 0.50 |
| week | date | topic | reading (+quiz) (by class) | due (by class) | materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 Feb | Introductions, syllabus What/why are Phonetics and Phonology Oscillogram representations of speech | |||
| 2 | 16 Feb | Segmentation: sounds, words | |||
| 18 Feb | Categorisation in oscillograms | HW1 | |||
| 3 | 23 Feb | Vocal tract anatomy, midsagittal view | |||
| 25 Feb | Speech sound categorisation (consonants and vowels) | ||||
| 4 | 2 Mar | The sounds of English The IPA (for English) | |||
| 4 Mar | Phonetic transcription | ||||
| 5 | 9 Mar | The entire IPA chart(s) "Exotic" consonants | |||
| 11 Mar | Vowel acoustics | Reetz & Jongman - Ch. 11.4-11.4.1, Course packet 2.4 [ course packet, §II | quiz ] | |||
| 6 | 16 Mar | Consonant acoustics | Course packet 2.5 (all), 2.6 (just pp. 35-37) [ quiz ] | ||
| 18 Mar | Spectrogram reading | ||||
| 7 | 23 Mar | Airstream mechanisms | |||
| 25 Mar | Spring break! | ||||
| 8 | 30 Mar | Phonotactics | HW5 | ||
| 1 Apr | Syllable structure and sonority | (Hayes - Ch. 4.4, Zsiga - Ch. 15.1.3) | |||
| 9 | 6 Apr | Phonological distribution Phonemic analysis | midterm | ||
| 8 Apr | Phonological alternations | ||||
| 10 | 13 Apr | Distinctive features, natural classes | HW6 | ||
| 15 Apr | Morphophonemic analysis Phonological rules | ||||
| 11 | 20 Apr | Rule ordering typology, opacity | HW7 | ||
| 22 Apr | Autosegmental phonology: tone, vowel harmony, templatic morphology | ||||
| 12 | 27 Apr | Conspiracies and constraints Intro to Optimality Theory | HW8 | ||
| 29 Apr | Optimality Theory | ||||
| 13 | 4 May | Guest lecture: sign language phonetics and phonology | |||
| 6 May | Metrical phonology | HW9 | |||
| 14 | 14 May | (9 a.m.–12 p.m. UTC-4) Presentations | presentations | ||
| TBA | final exam |