Department of Classics,

Modern Languages
& Linguistics
Faculty of Arts & Science

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Winter 2020 Term Dates: January 6 to April 9 , 2020
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Final Exam Dates: April 16 to May 3 , 2020
(NOTE: Travel arrangements should not be made until after the Final Exam Schedule has been posted.)

Course: LING 372/4-B Day & Time: Mon & Wed 10:15-11:30 Location: MB-5.265

Professor: Dr. Veno Volenec Email: Veno.Volenec@concordia.ca

Office Hours: Mon & Wed 11:30-13:00 Office Ext.: 2302 Office Location: FB-1000.08
(1250 Guy)

Required Text: Phonetics: Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception by Henning Reetz and Allard Jongman
(978-0631232254)

Grading System for the Department of Classics, Modern Languages & Linguistics (In the event of extraordinary
circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme for this course is subject to change.)

A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F/FNS

93-100 89-92 86-88 82-85 79-81 76-78 72-75 69-71 66-68 62-65 59-61 55-58 0-54

Calendar Description of the Course:

Description of speech sounds in articulatory terms. Identification and
LING 372 Descriptive and Instrumental Phonetics description of sounds that occur outside the Indo-European family of
(3 credits) languages. Description of speech sounds as to their acoustic qualities:
frequency, amplitude, pitch, stress. Interpretation of sound spectrograms.

Important Term Dates: Last day to add courses: January 20, 2020
(According to the Undergraduate Last day to drop courses (DNE): January 20, 2020
Calendar) Last day to discontinue courses (DISC): March 23, 2020

Mid-Term Break: February 24 to March 1, 2020

Easter: April 10 to 13, 2020
Make-Up Day for April 10 or 11, 2020: April 14, 2020
First day of the Examination period: April 16, 2020
Last day of the Examination period: May 3, 2020

Important Notes: 1. It is the Departmental Policy that auditing courses is not permitted.

2. Assignments should be handed in during class time or during your professor’s office hours.
When circumstances necessitate it and you cannot make it to class, please email your
assignment to your professor or drop it off at the CMLL Department (FB-1030).

Plagiarism:

The Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics upholds the University’s principles of academic integrity and
expects its students to understand and follow the regulations of the Code of Conduct (Academic).
http://www.concordia.ca/students/academic-integrity/code.html

All students are advised to consult the website the following website on academic integrity and information concerning plagiarism
and other forms of academic misconduct:
http://www.concordia.ca/students/academic-integrity.html
Ignorance of these regulations is not a viable excuse for transgressing the Code of Conduct (Academic). Violations of the Code of
Conduct (Academic) can result in a variety of sanctions which include, among others, a failure of your assignment, a failure in your
course or additional mandatory credits.

The most common offense under the Code of Conduct Academic is plagiarism which the Code defines as “the presentation of the
work of another person as one’s own or without proper acknowledgement.” This could be material copied word for word from books,
journals, internet sites, professor’s course notes, etc. It could be material that is paraphrased but closely resembles the original
source. It could be the work of a fellow student, for example, an answer on a quiz, data for a lab report, a paper or assignment
completed by another student. It might be a paper purchased through one of the many available sources. Plagiarism does not refer
to words alone – it can also refer to copying images, graphs, tables and ideas. “Presentation” is not limited to written work. It also
includes oral presentations, computer assignments and artistic works. Finally, if you translate the work of another person into French
or English and do not cite the source this is also plagiarism.
In simple words: Do not copy, paraphrase or translate anything from anywhere without saying from where you obtained it!

Important Links:

Understanding Academic Performance http://www.concordia.ca/students/academic-performance.html

Student Services http://www.concordia.ca/students/your-services.html

Tutoring http://www.concordia.ca/students/success/learning-support.html

Writing Assistance Program https://www.concordia.ca/students/success/learning-support/writing-assistance.html

Access Centre for Students with

http://www.concordia.ca/offices/acsd.html/
Disabilities

Advocacy and Support Service http://www.concordia.ca/offices/advocacy.html/

Concordia Counselling and Development http://www.concordia.ca/offices/cdev.html/

Concordia Library Citation and Style

http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html/
Guides

Financial Aid & Awards http://www.concordia.ca/offices/faao.html/

Health Services http://www.concordia.ca/students/health.html/

Undergraduate Calendar http://www.concordia.ca/academics/undergraduate/calendar/current.html

2
1. Course description
This course covers four areas that are traditionally taken to constitute phonetics—the scientific study of
speech: speech production, phonetic transcription, acoustics of speech, and speech perception. In each of
these areas the course particularly focuses on those aspects of phonetics that can serve as tools in the study of
the human language faculty.

2. Course materials
Reetz, Henning & Allard Jongman. 2009. Phonetics. Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

3. Grading
Attendance: 10%
Homework: 30% (6 x 5%)
Midterm exam: 30%
Final exam: 30%

Note: HW assignments are graded on a pass (+5%) vs. fail (+0%) basis, and you are required to solve at least
50% of an assignment correctly to get a passing mark. Announcements regarding HW assignments and their
deadlines will be given in class and posted on Moodle.

4. Class schedule
January
6 Introduction: overview of phonetics
8 Introduction: overview of phonetics
13 Articulatory phonetics: articulation of consonants
15 Articulatory phonetics: articulation of vowels
20 Phonetic transcription: transcription of consonants in the IPA
22 Phonetic transcription: transcription of vowels in the IPA
27 Phonetic transcription: diacritics and other IPA symbols
29 Phonetic transcription: revision and practice

February
3 Articulatory phonetics: physiology of the vocal apparatus
5 Articulatory phonetics: airstream mechanisms and phonation types
10 Articulatory phonetics: airstream mechanisms and phonation types
12 Articulatory phonetics: coarticulation
17 Revision
19 Midterm exam: covering articulatory phonetics and phonetic transcription
24 Midterm break (no class)
26 Midterm break (no class)

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March
2 Acoustic phonetics: basic acoustics
4 Acoustic phonetics: basic acoustics
9 Acoustic phonetics: acoustic characteristics of vowels
11 Acoustic phonetics: acoustic characteristics of consonants
16 Acoustic phonetics: syllables, stress, length
18 Acoustic phonetics: tone and intonation
23 Speech perception: the structure of the auditory system
25 Speech perception: perception of speech sounds and prosody
30 Revision

April
1 Final exam: covering acoustic phonetics and speech perception
6 Speech pathology
8 Speech pathology