everything.study
24.931

Language and Its Structure I: Phonology

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Introduction to fundamental concepts in phonological theory and their relation to issues in philosophy and cognitive psychology. Articulatory and acoustic phonetics, distinctive features and the structure of feature systems, underlying representations and underspecification, phonological rules and derivations, syllable structure, accentual systems, and the morphology-phonology interface. Examples and exercises from a variety of languages. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments.

Fall 2010

Topics

  • Introduction, course overview, vowels: Articulatory description and transcription
  • Consonants: Articulatory description and transcription; distinctive features
  • Phonological versus phonetic representations
  • Alternations and derivations I
  • Alternations and derivations II
  • Constraints
  • Phonetics I: Acoustics of vowels, using Praat
  • Phonetics II: Acoustics of consonants
  • Phonetics III: Suprasegmentals
  • Feature geometry
  • Course review
  • Sociolinguistic variables
  • American English dialects
  • Tone I: African languages
  • Tone II: Asian languages
  • Tone III: Intonation and phrasing
  • Syllables I: Structure and syllabification
  • Syllables II: Sonority
  • Stress I: Prominence
  • Stress II: Rhythm
  • Stress III: Weight
  • Prosodic morphology: Reduplication and truncation
  • Loanword phonology

Readings

  • [PGG] = Kenstowicz, Michael. Phonology in Generative Grammar . Blackwell, 1994. ISBN: 9781557864260.
    Required
  • [CIP] = Ladefoged, Peter. A Course in Phonetics . 5th ed. Thomson, 2005. ISBN: 9781413006889.
    Required
  • [CIP], chapter 1
    Listed reading
  • [PGG], chapter 1
    Listed reading
  • [CIP], chapter 2
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 4 · TOPICS: Phonological versus phonetic representations · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 2
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 5 · TOPICS: Alternations and derivations I · READINGS: [PGG] chapter 3, pp. 89-114
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 8 · TOPICS: Phonetics I: acoustics of vowels, using Praat · READINGS: [CIP], chapter 8
    Reading assignment
  • [CIP], chapter 6
    Listed reading
  • Lisker, Leigh, and Arthur S. Abramson. “A Cross-language Study of Voicing in Initial Stops: Acoustical Measurements." Word 20, no. 3 (1964): 384-422. ↗
    Listed reading
  • LEC #: 10 · TOPICS: Phonetics III: suprasegmentals · READINGS: [CIP], chapter 10
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 11 · TOPICS: Feature geometry · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 4, section 3 (pp. 145-168)
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 13 · TOPICS: Sociolinguistic variables · READINGS: Labov, William. “The Social Stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores.” Chapter 2 in Sociolinguistic Patterns . University of Pennsylvania Press, 1973. ISBN: 9780812210521.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 15 · TOPICS: Tone I: African languages · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 7, pp. 310-331
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 16 · TOPICS: Tone II: Asian languages · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 7, pp. 376-384
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 17 · TOPICS: Tone III: intonation and phrasing · READINGS: Ladd, Robert. “Cross-language Comparison of Intonation.” Chapter 4 in Intonational Phonology . Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780521475754.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 18 · TOPICS: Syllables I: structure and syllabification · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 6, pp. 250-269
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 19 · TOPICS: Syllables II: sonority · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 6, pp. 269-285
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 20 · TOPICS: Stress I: prominence · READINGS: [PGG], chapter 10, pp. 548-565
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 22 · TOPICS: Stress III: weight · READINGS: Kenstowicz, Michael. “Peak Prominence Stress Systems and Optimality Theory.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Linguistics at Chosun University. Gwangju, Korea, November 26, 1993.
    Reading assignment
  • LEC #: 23 · TOPICS: Prosodic morphology: reduplication and truncation · READINGS: [PGG], pp. 622-646
    Reading assignment
  • Silverman, Daniel. “ Multiple Scansions in Loanword Phonology: Evidence from Cantonese .” Phonology 9, no. 2 (1992): 289-328. ↗
    Listed reading
  • Yip, Moira. “The Symbiosis Between Perception and Grammar in Loanword Phonology.” Lingua 116 (2006): 950-975.
    Listed reading
  • Kenstowicz, Michael. Phonology in Generative Grammar . Blackwell, 1994. ISBN: 9781557864260.
    Listed reading
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos, and Haike Jacobs. Understanding Phonology . Hodder Arnold, 1998. ISBN: 9780340692189.
    Listed reading
  • Odden, David. Introducing Phonology . Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780521534048.
    Listed reading
  • Hayes, Bruce. Introductory Phonology . Blackwell, 2008. ISBN: 9781405184113.
    Listed reading
  • Goldsmith, John. Handbook of Phonological Theory . Blackwell, 1995. ISBN: 9780631201267.
    Listed reading
  • De Lacy, Paul. Cambridge Handbook of Phonology . Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521848794.
    Listed reading
  • Natural Language and Linguistic Theory . ↗
    Listed reading
  • Ladefoged, Peter. A Course in Phonetics . 5th ed. Thomson, 2005. ISBN: 9781413006889.
    Listed reading
  • Reetz, Henning, and Allard Jongman. Phonetics: Transcription, Production, Acoustics and Perception . Wiley-Blackwell, 2008. ISBN: 9780631232261.
    Listed reading
  • Ladefoged, Peter, and Ian Maddieson. Sounds of the World’s Languages . Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 9780631198154.
    Listed reading
  • Buy at MIT Press Stevens, Kenneth. Acoustic Phonetics . MIT Press, 2000. ISBN-13: 9780262692502. ↗
    Listed reading
  • Journal of Phonetics . ↗
    Listed reading
  • Journal of the International Phonetic Association . ↗
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Subject meets with 24.901 Prereq: 24.900 , 24.9000 , or permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Sources