ENGL 401 Speech Sciences – Final paper

ENGL 401 Speech Sciences
Fall 2020
Due: Sunday, November 29, on Blackboard
Final paper
The final project in this class aims at a student’s independent analysis of speech production or
perception. Crucially, a student is expected to collect original data and provide a detailed
description of the procedure and results. The data can include measurements of either English
or Arabic sounds, or both. In the latter case, the paper should discuss important differences
between the two languages. The data that you are going to collect should be in line with the
topics and materials discussed in this course. You are expected to collect data from two
people saying or responding to 30 different words. Please make sure you start collecting data
by Week 12.
The paper should have a fixed structure and contain four sections. It should include an
introduction with a short literature review (3-4 sources). Please refer to the list of Suggested
Resources on the first page of the Syllabus. Feel free to include additional sources, if
necessary. Next, you should formulate a research question and your predictions about the
results and describe your method (procedure and measurements) in a separate section. The
next section should describe your results. Please include tables and charts with relevant
examples. Finally, a short section with discussion and conclusion should summarize your
findings.
The audio files and marked textgrid files should be zipped and emailed to the instructor on
the day of submission.
The length of the paper can vary from 5 to 6 pages (double space). The paper should be
submitted through SafeAssign on Blackboard by the end of Sunday, November 29.
Suggested topics (rather general)
1. VOT in English
You can compare differences in VOT in English voiceless stops pronounced in different
positions in a word (word-initial in a stressed syllable, word-initial in an unstressed syllable,
after [s], intervocalic in a stressed syllable, intervocalic in an unstressed syllable). Please
make sure you record at least one native speaker of English.
2. Tense and lax vowels in English
You can compare either F1 and F2 of tense [i], [u] and lax [ɪ], [ʊ], or differences in duration
of tense and lax English vowels before voiced and voiceless stops and fricatives. Please make
sure you record native speakers of English.
2
3. Short and long vowels in Arabic
You can compare either F1 and F2 of long [i:], [u:], [a:] and short [ɪ], [ʊ], [a] Arabic vowels
or differences in duration of long and short Arabic vowels in monosyllabic or disyllabic
words.
4. Stressed and unstressed vowels in English and Arabic.
You can compare differences in F1 and F2 and/or differences in duration of stressed and
unstressed English or Arabic vowels.
5. Emphatic sounds in Arabic
You can compare VOT of plain [t] (ت (and [d] )د )and emphatic [tˁ] )ط )and [dˁ] )ض )in
Arabic, as well as F1 and F2 and duration of the vowel [a:]/[a] after these consonants.
6. L2/foreign accent
You can compare acoustic properties of various English sounds pronounced by a native
speaker of English and an L2 speaker, or compare acoustic properties of various Arabic
sounds pronounced by a native speaker of Arabic and an L2 speaker.
7. Perception of native and/or non-native sounds
You can replicate experiments on perception of English/Arabic contrastive sounds to
establish category boundaries or perceptual similarity between two or more sounds.
Feel free to come up with your own topic of the final project as long as it is in line with the
topics discussed in this class.
You will be asked to make an appointment with your instructor during the last two weeks of
the semester to discuss your progress with the project.