ENGLISH 226 Phonological Analysis 11895 (Fall 2004)
Instructor: Dr. Ela Thurgood

Office: Siskiyou 131, phone: 898 5451, email: ethurgood@csuchico.edu
Office hours: MW: 2:15— 3:45; MW: 5:30— 6; F: 2—3, and by arrangement

Required texts:

(1) Ladefoged, Peter. 2001. A course in phonetics . Fourth edition.
(2) Articles:
Bohn, Ocke-Schwen and James Emil Flege. 1992. The production of new and similar vowels by adult German learners of English. SSLA 14, 131—158.
Rocca, Paulina D. A. 2003. The speech of early bilinguals: evidence from a study on VOT of English and Portuguese voiceless plosives. 15th ICPhS Barcelona.
Pomacóndor, Susan C. 2003. Transfer in L2 sound production. 15th ICPhS Barcelona
Hume, E. and K. Johnson. 2001. A model of the interplay of speech perception and phonology. The role of speech perception in phonology, ed. by Elizabeth Hume and Keith Johnson, 3-26. Academic Press.

Goals:
This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of phonology through readings, lectures, discussions, analysis of data from English and other languages. The course has three primary goals:
(i) to examine the structure of sounds and sound systems
(ii) to present the concepts and methods of analysis available in a phonological theory
(iii) to show the practical applications of phonological theories
In this course, we will explore such topics as phonology of second language, ongoing changes in American English dialects, stress in English, phonological variation, and foreign accents. Using MacQuirer, we will also explore language sound systems from the point of view of the listener and the speaker.

Data collection:
You will need a consultant (either a non-native speaker of English or a speaker of a different dialect of American English). In most cases, your consultant will have to come to the phonology lab 2-3 times for short recording sessions. In the lab, you will also work on the MacQuirer to prepare and conduct a perception test. In other words, be prepared to spend some time in the phonology lab.

Writing proficiency:
This is a writing proficiency (WP) course, open only to students who have completed ENGL 001: Freshman Composition (or its equivalent at another institution) with a grade of C- or better. To achieve writing proficiency in linguistics, you must learn to
1) present analyses of original data in an organized manner.
2) use your data in writing phonological arguments.
3) respond to and incorporate suggestions for strengthening your writing.
4) utilize critical and editing suggestions for strengthening your writing.
To this end, the writing assignments in your portfolio will require you to analyze original data, present the work of others, discuss how it fits into your analysis, and write about the process of writing. You will also revise and edit drafts of your paper incorporating not only new data but also comments from the instructor and others.

Assignments
There will be will five assignments. These assignments will familiarize you with phonological data, how to organize phonological descriptions, how to look for patterns, and how to write an analysis. See the syllabus for when the assignments are due.

Summaries
There will be three written summaries of articles read in class. Writing them, you will learn how to present the work of others.

Paper
Your paper will be based on original data collected by you. These data will be analyzed and organized in patterns. You will revise your paper several times, reanalyzing old data, incorporating new data, finding new patterns, and utilizing the instructor's feedback. You will present your paper in class (November 29 and December 1). The final version of your paper will reflect the feedback you received during your presentation.

Tests
There will four quizzes, a mid-term, and a final. They are designed to evaluate your comprehension of the issues covered in class.

Attendance: 2 points will be taken off for each absence

Grading. Grades for the semester will be calculated as follows:

5 assignments (5x8) 40 points
Paper 70 points
4 quizzes (4x10) 40 points
3 summaries (3x10) 30 points
Mid-term 25 points
Final 30 points
Attendance 15 points
–––––––––
250 points

Final grades:
A (250—225 points)
B (224—200 points)
C (199—175 points)
D (174—150 points)
F (149 points and below)

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Cheating: Students caught cheating will not be warned. Instead, they will be given a failing grade for the semester.

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FINAL NOTES

Disabilities

Any student in this class who has a disability of any kind that might prevent the fullest expression of his or her abilities should contact me the first week of class so that we can discuss class requirements.

Religious holidays

Any student who foresees conflicts with assignments in the course because of religious holidays should discuss it with me the first week of class.

ENGLISH 226 SYLLABUS

August 23 Introduction. Articulatory phonetics (chapter 1)
August 25 Articulatory phonetics (chapter 1). Collecting data. Assignment 1 due

August 30 Phonology and phonetic transcription (chapter 2). Assignment 2 due
September 1 QUIZ 1. Chapter 2 (cont.)

September 6 LABOR DAY
September 8 The English consonants (chapter 3). Assignment 3 due.

September 13 Rules for English consonant allophones (chapter 3). Assignment 4 due.
September 15 QUIZ 2. Vowel quality; tense and lax vowels (chapter 4). Collecting data.

September 20 Unstressed syllables. Rules for English vowel allophones.
September 22 QUIZ 3. Cont. (chapter 4)

September 27 Airstream mechanisms and phonation types (chapter 6). Assignment 5 due.
September 29 State of glottis. Voice Onset Time. Data report I due.

October 4 QUIZ 4. Analysing data. Acoustic phonetics (part 1, chapter 8). Start reading Bohn and Flege (1992)
October 6 Acoustic phonetics (part 2, chapter 8)

October 10 Reading 1: Bohn and Flege (1992) . Summary 1 due
October 13 Review ( Data report I written revisions due)

October 18 Mid-term
October 20 Reading 2: Rocca (2003) Summary 2 due

October 25 Syllables (Chapter 10 on syllables) ( Data report II)
October 27 MacQuirer 1 (in the lab)

November 1 MacQuirer 2 (in the lab)
November 3 Reading 3: Pomacondor (2003) Summary 3 due

November 8 Production,perception experiments -- discussion; problem solving
November 10 Chapter 9: Cardinal vowels, ATR; problem solving. Your data ( Data report III due)

November 15 Rhotacized vowels, nasalization, semivowels, secondary articulation. ( Data report III revisions)
November 17 Cont.

November 22-26 THANKSGIVING

November 29 PRESENTATIONS
December 1 PRESENTATIONS

December 6 Phonetics and phonology
December 8 Reviewing the course. Final paper due.

December 13-17 Final exam week

THE PHONOLOGICAL ATLAS OF NORTH AMERICA (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phonoatlas)