Manuals

LING 380: Acoustic Phonetics Lab Manual (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

This lab manual is designed to be used in the context of an introductory course in Acoustic Phonetics. It is based on the software Praat, created by Paul Boersma and David Weenink (www.praat.org), and covers measurement techniques useful for basic acoustic analysis of speech. LAB 1 is an introduction to Praat: the layout of various displays and the basic functions. LAB 2 focuses on voice onset time (VOT), an important cue in identifying stop consonants. The next several labs guide students through taking acoustic measurements typically relevant for vowels (LAB 3 and LAB 4), obstruents (LAB 4) and sonorants (LAB 6 and LAB 7). LAB 8 discusses ways of measuring phonation. LAB 9 focuses on stress, pitch-accent, and tone. LAB 9 and LAB 10 bring together the material from previous labs in an exploration of cross-dialectal (LAB 10) and cross-linguistic (LAB 9) differences in speech. Finally, LAB 11 introduces speech manipulation and synthesis techniques. Each lab includes a list of sound files for you to record, and on which you will run your analysis. If you are unable to generate good-quality recordings, you may also access pre-recorded files. Each lab also includes a set of questions designed to ensure that you – the user – understand the measurements taken as well as the values obtained for these measurements. These questions are repeated in the report at the end of the lab, which can serve as a way of recapitulating the content of the lab. The lab manual is a work in constant progress.

Supplemental Materials

WISC-Online Linguistics Learning Objects (CC BY-NC)

A collection of learning objects on various topics in Linguistics.

Textbooks

Languages and Worldview (CC BY-NC-SA)

Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.

Linguistics for Teachers of English (CC BY-NC-SA)

The primary goals of this text are to acquaint prospective teachers of English with certain aspects of the history, structure, and use of the English Language. Through considering the nature of the English language; how language and culture are interconnected as well as how it is acquired and how and why it changes, readers will come to a fuller understanding of sociolinguistics.

Videos

Generative Linguistics (CC BY-NC-SA)

A series of eleven videos dealing with topics on generative syntax.

The Origins of the Scots Language (CC BY)

A fantastic video introduction to the tongues, peoples and events that shaped the earliest history of the Scots language with versions narrated both in Scots and English.