LING20005: Phonetics

2 x transcription assignments - one using a foreign language dataset, the other using foreign words + English sentences; 1 x oral production test; 1 x listening test; 1 x two hour exam

I'll start with what is most likely to put people off this subject: by the end of this course, you will (or should ) be able to produce every single sound and combination of sounds on this chart from memory:

To me, that is incredibly exciting and challenging, but when this was made clear in the first or second lecture, there was a noticeable drop in attendees. However, this subject is very well-paced, and it rarely felt overwhelming.

The fact that I'm really interested in this subject matter is going to prejudice this review a smidge, so I'll focus on the details surrounding assessment first and talk about general pros and cons afterwards. The two major assignments throughout the semester are listening or transcription exercises whereby you're given a series of audio files with three second sound bites of someone saying 'mfarnglchth' in another language, and then you have to write down that sound using the appropriate symbols from the above IPA chart (which incidentally, would be [ɱɐŋɬθ].) Luckily, we were given a fairly simply language (Korean) and told to just focus on the consonants, since by that point in the semester we hadn't yet explored vowels in full. It was fairly straightforward, and you were told which possible symbols might come up. Plus, because this was a take-home exercise, you could play the sounds as many times as you wanted to... and there was a slight cheat to working things out (hint: don't listen to the files in order ) This was probably the easiest exercise, and there was a pretty high average according to the lecturers.

The second assessment involved transcribing 20 Burmese words, which was a little trickier since you had to get the vowels right this time too, but like the first assignment, we were given a table of ~40 relevant symbols from that language. There were also two English sentences that we had to transcribe using the Australian English symbols ( -a real struggle for the two American girls in our tute who were constantly getting vowels 'wrong' since they were going by their accents instead of ours.) You also had to describe the tone targets which I'll talk more about later.

Then, towards the end of semester, you had to pick an allocated time slot for the oral production test, which consisted of a 5 minute mini-exam where you're given six random IPA symbols and you have to state their full name (eg. voiced post-alveolar fricative; open mid-front unrounded vowel; dental ejective, etc.) then produce the sound, plus three 'nonsense words' like [nøʔɶɮ] that you're given about five minutes before the test. You're given heaps of practice with this in all the practical session, and it's really easy to test yourself just be going through the chart. I ended up taking a whole stack of sticky notes and making a wall size IPA chart at home with symbols on the front and names on the back, and I saw a lot of other people practicing with cue cards or online flash card programs in lectures too. There's no way of knowing which symbols or combinations of symbols (eg. devoiced alveolar nasal, lowered close back vowel, etc.) though just through conferring with the people I knew, it seemed like everyone got at least two vowels and one non-pulmonic consonant. The tutors were really good about providing ample opportunity to hone your skills though, and apparently you could even seek them out in their office hours and they'd do a practice run-through with you. They're also really good in the actual assessment if you stuff up one of the symbols and then realise five seconds later... I got the stupid freaking velar approximant mixed up with the stupid freaking palatal lateral approximant... it's not my fault that whole class of phonemes sound the same... but they let me correct myself which was super nice of them :'D

The final bit of assessment before the exam was the listening test where Janet would produce a bunch of sounds (from memory it was 20 IPA symbols + a full symbol and tonal transcription of two English sentences, but I could be wrong) and we'd do the notations. This is going to sound like an odd compliment, but Janet is very good at... making sounds. As in, her articulation was really unambiguous if you knew your stuff, and she even stressed certain features both visually and aurally to help people who were struggling. The whole thing only took about twenty minutes, and you get to choose one of three sessions across three days to do it. I'd highly recommend sitting close to the front though, since you've got a slight advantage if you get a chance to observe Janet's facial movements and enunciation. She also had to do a bilabial trill (like blowing a raspberry, basically) for the session I was in, and we were giggling like a pack of three year olds

Finally the exam... which I don't remember much about. There was a fair bit of 'this is a symbol, write what it is' and vice versa, as well as a few multi-choice and short answer questions about sound production and airstream mechanics (eg. describe the various process involved in the production of the phoneme [ð] or whatever) There were also some tricky diagram sections like this:

but you will have seen these in lectures and possible pracs, plus the readings for those who bother to do them

There was also some spectrogram analysis which I really struggled with since physics is not my forte, but more on that later.

In general the exam seemed like a pretty apt condensed version of everything that had been covered in the lectures. There were no 'omg what the hell is this' moments, nor were there any 'damn, I memorised everything to do with ___ and it wasn't even on there' thoughts that I had afterwards, so it seemed well organised overall.

Yes, but lecturer would occasionally draw on the board & more importantly, would often do physical demonstrations of sound production, so attending the lectures is a good idea.

Mainly Janet Fletcher, but there was someone else who came in to talk about the physics and physiognomy of speech sound in Week 10 or so.

Yes, one, and it was easier than the actual exam but still gave a good general overview of the subject matter.

4.5/5

The Ladefoged & Johnson textbook was surprisingly expensive for relatively little content (~I think it was under 200 pages but over $100 :/ though according to the lecturers it's the best, most concise summation of all of Phonetics, and admittedly was pretty great if you wanted to learn beyond the overviews given in the lectures.) Baillieu has some old editions in the high use section, so I'd recommend just reading through that over an afternoon or two and make notes. It's not a necessity, but it does aid in theoretical understanding.
There were also a few groups (one of which I joined) who pitched $15-$20 each and got a shared copy that they passed throughout the Semester around depending on whoever needed it - most would just borrow it for a week, photocopy or take notes on whatever they needed, and handed it on to the next person - then sold it at the end of semester and gave whatever they got back to a relevant charity so that's a really good option as well.

2 x 1 hour lectures with one repeat each (ie. one lecture at 11:00, one at 4:15 on both Tuesday and Thursday for our cohort) + 1 x 1 hour practical session - explained below.

2015, Semester 1

H1

Transcription Assignment 1 (20%): Transcription of 21 Korean words (only marked on the number of correct IPA symbols used for consonants).

Transcription Assignment 2 (20%): Transcription of the consonant and vowel sounds as well as the lexical stress of 15 Gupapuyngu words. Transcription of the consonant and vowel sounds as well as the lexical tone of 10 Thai words.

Transcription Test (10%): Transcription of approximately 14 single symbols and 5 single nonsense words, as well as the intonation pattern of 3 Australian English sentences. No IPA charts allowed. Held during the last lecture.

Production Test (10%): Identification and production of 6 given symbols from the IPA chart, as well as the production of 3 nonsense words distributed approximately 10 mins before the test. No IPA charts allowed. Held during the last tutorial.

Final Exam (40%): Multiple choice and short-answer questions on phonetic theory and speech waveforms. 2 hours, with 15 minutes reading time.

Frankly, this was the toughest subject I'd ever taken (though I admit I was a lazy arse this semester ). On top of the already hefty amount of theoretical knowledge, students are also expected to memorise and produce, both orally and in writing, the entire IPA chart. I found this a bit like learning a new language, and often felt tone deaf and tongue-tied. Tutorials are absolutely essential (a special mention to my tutor Rosey, who was extremely capable and pleasant!), as they mostly consist of going through all the symbols and sounds as well as practising a bit of transcription. Definitely do the homework exercises and listen to the sound clips beforehand, or you might feel lost in class. I didn't find the lecturer that great (I thought Hywel fumbled about a bit too much, and he often ran out of time which impacted the structure and flow of subsequent lectures )

Yes, but without screen capture.

Mainly Hywel Stoakes, with Joshua Clothier for one guest lecture.

No, but some sample questions were available.

3.5 of 5

"A course in Phonetics" by Peter Ladefoged and Keith Johnson. Probably important, but I personally never read much of it. "

2 x 1 hour lectures and a 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week. No tutorials in the first and last weeks.

2013, Semester 1

H1