ENG 322 - Phonetics & Phonology

This is an introductory course to the study of speech sounds. It explores the fields of phonetics and phonology. It starts with a look at the human vocal tract and its work mechanism. Students then learn to describe and classify speech sounds based on their place and manner of articulation and voicing. After that students are trained on transcribing words and sentences using IPA. Students are then introduced to phoneme theory. They explore the relationship between phonemes and allophones as well as types of distribution. The course looks at distinctive features and trains students to use them to describe speech sounds and to group them into natural classes. Students are also introduced to the form and operation of phonological rules. Operations such as assimilation, deletion, and insertion are looked at as prime examples of phonological rules. 

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Identify the different parts of the human vocal tract and explain how they work
2. Describe and classify linguistic sounds along the dimensions of place of articulation, manner of articulation, glottal status, and air stream mechanism
3. Transcribe (broadly and narrowly) English words using the IPA
4. Describe syllable structure
5. Understand and describe suprasegmental elements (stress and intonation) and their linguistic and communicative uses
6. Explain distinctive features and their classificatory function
7. Show understanding of phoneme theory and different types of sound alternation and variation
8. Show understanding of phonological operations (rules, conditions, constraints)
9. Explain and use phonological rules such as elision, assimilation, and insertion to account for sound change