Introduction to Speech Science
Introduction to Speech Science
Objective: The coursework is designed to assess how well you can write in a technical manner about phonetics and speech science. You will be assessed on the writing style and presentation of the coursework as well as its content.
Content: By this point in the course you have learned about sounds, voice and vowels. In this coursework you should write an introduction to the articulation, phonology and acoustics of vowels at a level suitable for a new first year undergraduate to understand.
Your essay should consist of two sections:
• An Introduction to the Phonetics of Vowel Sounds, in which you discuss how the human speech production mechanism generates vowel sounds, including a description of the articulatory and acoustic processes.
• An Introduction to the Phonology of Vowels, in which you discuss how the human capability for making vowel sounds is exploited to make phonological contrasts in English and in one other language.
• A Discussion of some Acoustic Measurements of English Vowel Sounds, in which you first present acoustic measurements of some English vowel sounds collected in the laboratory then interpret these findings with respect to the earlier discussion about the Phonetics and Phonology of vowels.
The use of tables and figures is encouraged.
