EXPERIMENTAL METHODS ON PHONETICS
Instructor:
Fall 2008
陈忠敏 Chén, Zhōngmǐn [tən35 tʊŋ55 min214]
Location/Time: 上海师大语言所 101/Sunday
E-mail:
zhongminchen7@hotmail.com
Purpose and goal:
This course is designed with a practical goal: to train students in the techniques of
experimental phonetic in order to prepare them for more advance research in
phonetics and phonology within linguistics, speech technology, communication
disorder, and language acquisition. It will provide the student with hands-on
experience in methods of experimental phonetic research, including audio recording,
acoustic speech database construction, recording and interpreting speech air flow and
pressure, static palatography, and the design of perception tests. In addition, students
receive training in writing up experimental results for publication.
Prerequisites:
It is better for you to have finished ‘Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology’ and
‘Experimental Phonology and Sound Change’ which I taught last year at Zhejiang and
Shanghai Universities, before you take this course..
Since this is a bilingual course (required text, reading materials, homework assignments,
project introduction written in English; but don’t worry, you could use Chinese to answer
questions and write the project, etc.), a good English-reading ability is obligatorily
required for all students who enroll in the course.
Coursework:
Reading assignments; in-class participation; six group homework projects.
Textbook:

Ladefoged, Peter. 2003 Phonetic Data Analysis: An Introduction to Fieldwork and
Instrumental Techniques. Cambridge: Blackwell.

Clark, John & Yallop, Colin 1996. Introduction to phonetics and phonology. Second
edition, Blackwell 此书作为“当代国外语言学与应用语言学文库”的一种在中国外
语教学与研究出版社出版
Ladefoged, Peter 1996. Elements of Acoustic Phonetics (2th ed.). The University of
Chicago Press.

Reference books:
Clark, John & Yallop, Colin 1996. Introduction to phonetics and phonology.
Second edition, Blackwell 此书作为“当代国外语言学与应用语言学文库”的一种在中
国外语教学与研究出版社出版
Baken R.J. and Robert F. Orlikoff 2000. Clinical Measurement of Speech and Voice (2nd ed)
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Singular Thomson Learing.
Borden G. J., Harris K. S & Raphael L. J. 2003 Speech Science Primer, Physiology, Acoustics, and
Perception of Speech (4th ed) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Catford, J. C. 1977. Fundamental Problems in Phonetics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Hardcastle, William J. & John Laver ed. 1997. The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. Blackwell.
Johnson Keith 2003. Acoustic & Auditory Phonetics. Second edition, Blackwell.
Ladefoged, Peter 1996. Elements of Acoustic Phonetics (2th ed.). The University of Chicago
Press
Ladefoged, Peter 2006. A Course in Phonetics (5th ed.). Thomas Wadsworth..
Stevens, Kenneth 1999. Acoustic Phonetics. MIT Press.
Rosen, Stuart and Peter Howell 1991. Signals and Systems for Speech and Hearing. Academic
Press.
Homework projects: The class will be divided into research teams who will work on
homework projects together. One student of the team will presents results during the
lectures for each topic. The homework projects are the focus of the course, and will
occupy much of our time together in the class meetings. The projects are designed to
be specific enough to be doable, while introducing students to general research
methods in experimental phonetics. Each student should turn in a final project based
on his/her own interesting topic related the experimental phonetics in the end of the
long semester.
Tentative schedule:
WEEK OF
Topic
Readings; Assignments
Week 1
Bureaucratic preliminaries;
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 2
Week 2
Topic I Palatography I
Topic I Palatography II
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Topic I Palatography III
Student’s presentation 1
Topic II Aerodynamic properties of speech
I
Topic II Aerodynamic properties of speech
II
Topic II Aerodynamic properties of speech
III
Student’s presentation 2
Topic III Audio recording I
Topic III Audio recording II
Student’s presentation 3
Topic IV Digital signal processing
Topic V Basic acoustics and acoustic filters
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 2
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 3
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 3
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 3
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 1
Ladefoged 2003 Chapter 1
Ladefoged 1996 Chapter 9
Student’s presentation 4
Ladefoged 1996 Chapter 1-5
Clark Chapter 7
Topic VI Acoustic/phonetic databases I vowels
Ladefoged Chapter 5
2
Clark Chapter 7
Week 12
Topic VI Acoustic/phonetic databases II Ladefoged Chapter 5
vowels
Student’s presentation 5
Week 13
Topic VI Acoustic/phonetic databases III Ladefoged Chapter 6
consonants
Week 14
Week 16
Week 17
Clark Chapter 7
Topic VI Acoustic/phonetic databases IV Ladefoged Chapter 6
consonants
Student’s presentation 6
Week 15
Clark Chapter 7
Clark Chapter 7
Topic VII Acoustic analysis of phonation Ladefoged Chapter 4 & 7
types and tones I
Topic VII Acoustic analysis of phonation Ladefoged Chapter 4 & 7
types and tones I
Student’s presentation 7
Ladefoged 1996 Chapter 6
Topic VIII Speech perception I
Clark Chapter 8
Week 18
Topic VIII Speech perception II
Student’s presentation 8
Web Resources:
Ladefoged 1996 Chapter 6
Clark Chapter 8
IPA fonts http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts
http://www.eastling.org
IPA Help http://www.sil.org/computing/speechtools
Speech Analysis Software: Praat http://fonsg3.hum.uva.nl/praat
Wavesurfer: http://www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/
Cool Edit: http://www.eastling.org/resource.htm
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