ENG 412D - Introduction to Phonology

(3 units) CO9

Theory and structure of sound systems of language, including the sociolinguistic variation within dialects of English.

Prerequisite(s): ENG 281 or ENG 282 or ENG 412A or SPA 320; ENG 303 or Junior standing.

Grading Basis: Graded
Units of Lecture: 3
Offered: Every Fall - Even Years

Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. use the International Phonetic Alphabet to transcribe words at the phonetic and phonemic levels.
2. explain the concepts phoneme, complementary & contrastive distribution, and apply them in phonological analysis.
3. identify and describe common phonological processes.
4. use the acoustic analysis software Praat to answer questions about the acoustic nature of speech sounds.
5. explain the relationship between phonetic and phonological representations.
6. distinguish between sound and unsound interpretations of scientific information in the following ways: a.) by applying the scientific method to formulate, evaluate, and revise their own hypotheses about the phonological phenomena observed in datasets, and 2. by comparing, evaluating, and synthesizing scholarly literature representing competing views of phonological phenomena.
7. explain the role of phonetics and aerodynamics in phonological change.
8. explain how the descriptive and analytical mechanisms presented in the course relate to problems of societal concern, for instance by describing how varieties of English and other languages differ in their phonological structure and behavior according to sociolinguistic variables such as origin, ethnicity, gender, and age.

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