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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Language Sciences

Postgraduate Course: Phonetics and Laboratory Phonology MSc (20 Credits) (LASC11137)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe general area of this course is the relation between phonology (i.e., the system of sound contrasts, as well as their ordering, groupings, and relative prominence within a planned utterance), and phonetics (the realization of utterances in articulation and acoustics). We show that a great deal of phonetic variability can be explained through an understanding of phonological structure, and that phonological questions can be answered using phonetic data. We explore these issues through the study of the the phonetic realization of a) constituent structure and b) suprasegmental contrasts.
Course description The goal is not just to offer insight into this topic area, but also to equip students with the skills and expertise to carry out research independently, for example in an MSc dissertation project. We assume that students taking this course will have an understanding of acoustic representations, and gotten a first experience with making measurements on these.

That basic level expertise forms the foundation of the practical component of the current course, where it will be developed in a number of ways. Students will explore issues of experimental design, process them using Praat software, and learn to automate acoustic measurements, in part or in full, depending on the nature of the measurement. In the process, they will learn how to script within the Praat software environment. For many this will be their first experience with programming.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Phonetics and Laboratory Phonology (LASC11125)
Other requirements Students must have passed the following course, or its equivalent: Introduction to Phonology & Phonetics (LASC11031), OR must be taking it simultaneously.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  10
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 27, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 169 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Weekly reading reports (5%)
Lab Reports (30%)
Project (65%)
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. understand the relation between phonetics and phonology, and be able to engage critically with research articles in this area
  2. understand how to use instrumental data to answer research questions in phonology and phonetics, and understand the pitfalls of phonetic transcription
  3. create, modify, and use scripts to automate the analysis of several acoustic features, including duration, F0, spectral balance, and formant frequencies
Reading List
Current and classic research articles in prosodic theory, experimental phonetics, and laboratory phonology.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills The knowledge gained in this course will enable students to conduct their own research projects in phonetics, and form the foundation for more specialized professional training in speech technology, speech therapy, and forensic phonetics.

Transferable skills include skills relating to summarising research articles, project design, scripting, and writing.
Keywordsphonetics,prosody,laboratory phonology,phonetic measurement,phonetic analysis
Contacts
Course organiserDr Jeremy Steffman
Tel:
Email: jeremy.steffman@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Sasha Wood
Tel:
Email: swood310@ed.ac.uk
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