Part 1. VOT and laryngeal contrasts in stops.
Word count: 700 words maximum, excluding tables and figures.
On Moodle, you will find sound files for two languages, labelled Language A and Language B. Download these two sets of sound files (two zipped folders). Each sound file contains one instance of a word uttered by a speaker of that language. The initial sounds of these words are all bilabial or dental stops.
First, using Praat, measure the VOT of the word-initial stop in each sound file, following the method that we practised in class and in tutorial.
Second, on the basis of your VOT measurements, determine how many laryngeal categories each language has for word-initial stops. Determine the typical VOT values for word-initial stops in each of the laryngeal categories that you propose for each language.
Part 2. Descriptive analysis of a tone system.
Word count: 500 words maximum, excluding tables and figures.
On Moodle, you will find sound files from two speakers of the same language, TSpeaker1 and TSpeaker2. This language (which we can call Language T) is a tone language, and it uses a combination of pitch and phonation to distinguish its set of six contrastive tone categories.
Based on the recordings provided to you, write up a descriptive analysis of the contrastive tone categories in Language T. Imagine that you have been dropped into the field to study this language for the first time, and that you are writing a short preliminary report for your linguist colleagues describing the language’s tone system. Assume the reader has no prior experience with Language T, but is otherwise trained in linguistics and phonetics (i.e. you do not need to explain basic concepts, such as what ‘pitch’ or ‘phonation’ mean, or how to measure f0 in Praat; you can assume that the reader already knows these things).
TSpeaker1 and TSpeaker2 speak different dialects of Language T. Some of the tones are different in the two dialects (and some are very similar). Be sure to mention in your analysis any notable similarities and differences that you observe between the two speakers in terms of their tones.
Part 3. Analysis of phoneme inventories.
Word count: 500 words maximum.
Choose two (and only two) of the languages below. Analyse the phoneme inventories of the two languages from the perspective of the three principles that we discussed in lecture and tutorial (dispersion/perceptual distinctiveness, articulatory effort, and feature economy). Where relevant, compare and contrast the two languages that you choose. Your analysis should be written in the style of short essay, including a clear justification of your arguments throughout. (In other words, rather than just stating that X is true, you should explain why you are saying that X is true.) It should not just be a list of bullet points.