Tutorials for Paper XIII (Mainly Phonetics
and Phonology)
Topic 1. Classification
Readings
- Handbook of the International Phonetic Association.
- On vowels: D. Jones (1918 etc) An outline of English Phonetics,
chapter VIII.
- N. Chomsky and M. Halle (1968) The Sound Pattern of English,
chapter 7.
Essay question: Compare and constrast the approaches to the
classification of
EITHER vowels OR consonants in the IPA vs. generative phonology.
Topic 2. Syllable structure
Readings
- [Introductory overview:] Hayes, B. (2009) Introductory Phonology. Blackwell. Chapter 13: Syllables.
- Fudge, E. C. (1969) Syllables. Journal of Linguistics 5, 253-286. [Reprinted as Chapter 19 of J. Goldsmith, ed. (1999) Phonological Theory: The Essential Readings].
- Selkirk, E. O. (1982) The syllable. In H. van der Hulst and N.
Smith, eds. The Structure of Phonological Representations, Part II.
Dordrecht: Foris. [Reprinted as Chapter 17 of J. Goldsmith, ed. (1999) Phonological Theory: The Essential Readings].
- Hayes, B. (1995) Metrical Stress Theory, section 3.9.
Essay question: What is the structure of syllables in English?
Topic 3. Prosody
Readings
- Handbook of the International Phonetic Association.
- Laver, J. (1994) Principles of Phonetics, chapters 14 and 15.
- Ladd, D. R. (1992) An introduction to intonational phonology. In G.
J. Docherty and D. R. Ladd, eds. Papers in Laboratory Phonology II:
Gesture, Segment, Prosody.
Cambridge University Press. 321-334. [There are a few copies of
this volume in the Phonetics Laboratory if you find it unavailable
elsewhere.]
Essay question: What are the functions of pitch and duration in language, and how can those features be transcribed?
Topic 4. Linguistic abilities of humans vs. non-human animals
Readings. (a) General
http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/animals.htm
Coleman, J. S. (2005) Design
features of language. In K. Brown (ed) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Second
edition). Elsevier. 471-5.
Electronically available within Oxford via OXLIP.
Demers, R. A. (1988) Linguistics and animal communication. In
Newmeyer
(1988), 314-335.
Dingwall, W. O. (1988) The evolution of human communicative
behavior.
In Newmeyer (1988), 274-313.
Hockett, C. F. (1960) The origin of speech. Scientific American 293:
88 (Jan or Sept?) Reprinted in Human communication: language and
its
psychobiological bases: readings from Scientific American. San
Francisco:
W. H. Freeman and Co. 5-12.
(b) Case Studies
Bloom, P. (2004) Can a Dog Learn a Word? Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5677 (11 June 2004), pp. 1605-1606 PDF
Kaminski, Call and Fischer (2004) Word Learning in a Domestic Dog: Evidence for "Fast Mapping". Science, Vol. 304, Issue 5677 (11 June 2004), pp. 1682-1683. PDF
See also this news article
Holy, T. E. and Z. Guo (2005) Ultrasonic songs of male mice. PLoS Biology, 3 (12), e386. 2177-2186.
Okanoya, K.
(2004) The Bengalese Finch: A Window on the Behavioral Neurobiology of
Birdsong Syntax. Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences 1016,
724-735.
Pepperberg,
I. M. (1998) Talking with Alex: logic and speech in parrots. Scientific
American presents: Exploring Intelligence. Vol. 9
(4). 60-65.
Richman, Bruce (1976)
Some vocal distinctive features used by gelada monkeys. Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America 60 (3), 718-724.
Richman, Bruce (1987)
Rhythm and melody in gelada vocal exchanges. Primates 28 (2), 199-223.
Yu, A. C. and D. Margoliash (1996) Temporal hierarchical control of
singing in birds. Science 273, 1871-1875.
Essay questions
What do you understand by the 'arbitrariness of the sign', and how is this notion relevant to linguistic analysis?
Does the language faculty constitute a mental module?
Critically appraise the proposal that recursion, displacement, and duality of patterning are characteristic of human language.
On what grounds do linguists say that the vocal communication system of
humans is 'language', whereas the vocal communication system of, say,
gibbons is not?