The course is intended to provide a brief consideration of phonetics focusing on the simple description and characterization of speech sounds. Students who have not previously taken a course in phonetics will need to consult Ladefoged, 2011, or other introductory textbooks.
The primary purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theory and practice of phonology, that is, how sounds pattern in language, and how those patterns can be represented and explained. We will attempt to characterize these patterns through explicit formalisms relying on learning by doing, with data analysis. We will attempt to explain why sounds pattern in the way they do by reference to such things as historical processes, speech physiology, and cognitive constraints on the speech system. We aim to develop student's skills at linguistic argumentation: students will learn to understand, develop, and evaluate linguistic arguments, the assumptions underlying those arguments, and the evidence used to support them.