Linguistics 520: Linguistic Phonetics
UNC-Chapel Hill Linguistics
Fall 2026
Elliott Moreton

Week 13, Day 36: 2026.11.13 (Friday)

Topics: Categorical perception.

Class:

• HO: Categorical perception (Canvas)
• Weber's Law
• "Categorical" perception in some speech tasks
• Two theories of categorical perception:
  • Linguistic labelling plus decay of detailed auditory memory (Pisoni; Fujisaki & Kawashima)
  • Natural auditory sensitivities (Kuhl; Pisoni)
• (Time permitting: Categorical perception of speech by non-human animals.)
• Spectrogram reading.

Assignment:

• If you have technical questions about running your experiment, please get in touch with me.
• Back up your data, back up your data!

Week 13, Day 35: 2026.11.11 (Wednesday)

Topics: Audiovisual speech perception.

Class:

• Slides from last time, second half
• Audiovisual speech perception
  • High confusability of audio-only consonant place (Miller & Nicely 1955)
  • Demo of McGurk Effect.
  • Results of McGurk & MacDonald 1978
  • Integration of audio and video information via perceptual space (Braida et al. 1998 via Johnson 2003)
  • Audition and vision in speech production: Menard et al. 2013 on blind vs. sighted speakers of Quebec French (handout)

Assignment:

• If you have technical questions about running your experiment, please get in touch with me.
• Back up your data, back up your data!

Week 13, Day 34: 2026.11.09 (Monday)

Topics: Auditory perception vs. speech perception.

Class:

• Slides on Canvas (first half only)
• Speech perception is how listeners assign a linguistic category to what they hear. Example: Perception of Hindi stops by English speakers.
• Useful theoretical tool: Perceptual space
• Example: Dimensions of vowel perception
• You can tell it's speech perception because it changes with the perceiver's native language
• In-class problem: Dimensions of Mandarin tone perception (HO, Sakai)
• (Time permitting:) Spectrogram reading.

Assignment:

• For 11/15 F: Do this on-line demonstration of categorical perception (Dani Byrd, U, of Southern California). Save the "Experiment Results" page that it displays at the end; bring it to discuss next time.
• Work on projects. Back up your data!

Week 12, Day 33: 2026.11.06 (Friday)

Topics: Frequency and pitch perception

Class:

• Finish up from last time: Equal-loudness curves.
• Audition 2: the inner ear and pitch perception (slides, Canvas)
• Frequency resolution: Effects of the inner ear
  • Animation of the cochlea. It's awfully abstract; how does it map onto a real cochlea?
  • The same 50-Hz increment sounds smaller at some frequencies than others.
  • A series of 1000-Hz increments: 500 Hz, 1500 Hz, ... 13500 Hz. Notice the change in perceptual spacing, and in spacing on the cochleagram.
  • A series of 1-Bark increments, based on Zwicker (1961) JASA 33:248. Note even perceptual spacing, and compare the cochleagram.
• Audition and speech: Spectrogram vs. cochleagram of scales and speech.
• Spectrogram reading

Assignment:

• For 11/11 W (Day 35) if not before: Revised proposal due.

Week 12, Day 32: 2026.11.04 (Wednesday)

Topics: Acoustics vs. audition. Intensity and loudness. Anatomy and filtering effects of the ear.

Class:

• Acoustics vs. audition.
• Intensity and loudness: Filtering effects of the outer and middle ear.
  • A tone rising from 70 Hz to 17000 Hz at constant pressure amplitude. Notice how the loudness is not constant..
  • HO: Intensity, pressure, and amplitude (Canvas).
  • A 1000-Hz tone being reduced in intensity in 3-dB steps.
  • A 1000-Hz tone being reduced in intensity in 10-dB steps.
  • Equal-loudness curve (like Johnson Figure 3.3) (didn't get to this today)
• Spectrogram reading

Assignment:

• For 11/06 F (Day 33): Read Johnson Ch. 5 on speech perception
• For 11/11 W (Day 35) if not before: Revised proposal due.

Week 12, Day 31: 2026.11.02 (Monday)

Topics: Clicks, trills, taps, and flaps.

Class:

• Slides on Canvas
• Clicks
  • X-ray tracings from Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996
  • Nama clicks (Ladefoged)
  • X-ray video of a click (Ladefoged).
  • Xhosa clicks with varying accompaniments (Ladefoged\)
• Trills, taps, and flaps
  • X-ray tracings from Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, Delattre 1971, Derrick & Gick 2011
  • French uvular trills (Ladefoged)
  • Bilabial and alveolar trills in Kele and Titan (Ladefoged)
  • MRI video of alveolar and uvular trills
• Spectrogram reading

Assignment: Read and act on comments on project proposal. Talk with me!

Week 11, Day 30: 2026.10.30 (Friday)

Topics: Sonorant consonants II: Laterals and semivowels (including Am. Eng. /r/).

Class:

• Articulation of laterals (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, Figures 6.1 and 6.6). Video (seeingspeech.ac.uk)
• Acoustic theory of laterals (Johnson Ch. 9, Figure 9.8).
  • Synthetic [l] made according to acoustic theory in Johnson Ch. 9.
  • Same, without the antiformant.
• Acoustics of natural laterals
  • Natural English laterals and semivowels.
  • Comparison of natural English [l] and [n].
  • Dental, alveolar, and velar laterals in Melpa (Ladefoged).
• Semivowels /j w r/
  • Compared with their corresponding vowels here.
  • /r/ticulation
  • Perceived rhoticity depends on F2-F3 distance.
• Spectrogram reading

Assignments:

• For 11/02 M (Day 31): Read L&D 14.4 to end of Ch. 14 ("Other manners of articulation").

Week 11, Day 29: 2026.10.28 (Wednesday)

Topics: Sonorant consants I: Nasals

Class:

• (Finish from last time:) Guttural PoAs: Uvular, pharyngeal, glottal.
• Acoustic theory of nasal consonants (Johnson Ch. 9).
• Natural nasals before a schwa-like vowel.
• Synthetic nasals made from the simplified acoustic theory in Johnson Ch. 9, with closures at 100%, 90%, ..., 50% of the distance from the glottis to the lips.
• Swapping nasal murmurs:
  • [m] murmur with [n] transitions
  • [n] murmur with [m] transitions
• Another city!

Assignments:

• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 11, Day 28: 2026.10.26 (Monday)

Topics: Other places of articulation.

Class:

• Coronal, palatal, and guttural PoAs (slides on Sakai)
• Wubuy (Nunggubuyu) stops (Ladefoged)
  • Palato/linguograms and X-rays in Ladefoged & Disner.
  • Predict burst and F2 transition using acoustic theory
• Hungarian palatal stops (Ladefoged)
  • From the X-ray, predict the formants.
  • What should it sound like?
• Guttural PoAs: Uvular, pharyngeal, glottal. (Didn't get to them today.)
• Time permitting: Spectrogram reading!

Assignments:

• For 10/28 W (Day 29): Read Johnson 9.1 (bandwidth), 9.2 (nasals), and 9.3 (laterals). "FFT spectrum" is just an ordinary spectral slice. As for"LPC spectrum": Johnson talks about it in 3.3.5.
• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 10, Day 27: 2026.10.23 (Friday)

Topics: Tube models for alveolars and labials. Spectrogram reading!

Class:

• Articulation and acoustics of alveolar and labial stops (slides, Sakai).
• Natural examples: VbV, VdV, VgV
• Spectrogram reading: Identify these famous cities!

Assignments:

• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Read Ladefoged & Disner, Ch. 14, Sections 2--3, on places of articulation. (Section 1, on linguistic fieldwork, is also worth a look.)
• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Article reports due.
• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 10, Day 26: 2026.10.21 (Wednesday)

Topics: Two-tube models of velars and the "velar pinch".

Class:

• Articulation and acoustics of velar stops. (Slides, Sakai), using the Ken Stevens soggy net X-ray movie (UC Berkeley)
• Two-tube schematization
• Predicted and natural
• formant transitions and
• burst
• Partnership evaluation results.
• Spectrogram reading: More glamorous cities!

Assignments:

• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Article reports due.
• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 10, Day 25: 2026.10.19 (Monday)

Topics: Perturbation theory for stops between schwas. Partnership evaluation questionnaires.

Class:

• HW 4: perturbation theory of formant transitions near schwa.
• Handy reference: Wolfgang Fendt's simulation of air in a half-open tube.
• Synthetic stop-plus-schwa syllables, with constrictions 100%, 90%, ... 10%, 0% of the way from the glottis. (Best to download it and listen to it in Praat, so you can hear the syllables separately.)
• Time permitting: Spectrogram reading
• Partnership evaluation questionnaires

Assignments:

• For 10/21 W (Day 26): Read Johnson, Ch. 8, on stops and affricates
• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Article reports due.
• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 9, Day 24: 2026.10.14 (Wednesday)

Topics: Airstream mechanisms and phonation types.

Class:

• Airstream mechanisms: {pulmonic, glottalic} x {egressive, ingressive} (slides on Canvas)
• Phonation types
  • Breathy-voiced (pulmonic egressive) MRI video (Edmonson & Esling 2006)
  • Ejectives (glottalic egressive). MRI video
  • Implosives (glottalic ingressive) MRI video
• Audio examples of stops, from the Ladefoged recordings:
  • Hindi
  • Quechua
  • Sindhi
  • Owerri Igbo
• Spectrogram reading!

Assignments:

• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Article reports due.
• For 10/19 M (Day 25): HW 4. (Should take at most one hour to solve. Hint: Johnson Figure 6.12.)
• For 10/30 F (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 9, Day 23: 2026.10.12 (Monday)

Topics: Stop production and voice onset time. Final projects.

Class:

• Stop production
• Acoustics:
  • Burst
  • Aspiration
  • Formant transitions
• Voicing, aspiration, and VOT
• Information about final projects (1)

Assignments:

• For 10/14 W (Day 24): Read Ladefoged & Disner on consonant phonation types: 13.5 (breathy voice), 13.8 (ejectives), and 13.9 (implosives)
• For 10/26 M (Day 28): Article reports due.
• For 10/19 M (Day 25): HW 4. (Should take at most one hour to solve. Hint: Johnson Figure 6.12.)
• For 10/30 M (Day 30): Final-project proposals due.

Week 8, Day 22: 2026.10.09 (Friday)

Topics: Voicing in fricatives. Production of stops.

Class:

• Voiced fricatives
  • Production of voiced fricatives.
  • Effect of voicing on frication (demo here; use Praat to filter out frequencies below 3000 Hz)
  • Rhotacism demo: intervocalic [z] intact, then with the [z] low-pass filtered at 3000 Hz, then with the filtered [z] doubled in amplitude.
• (Time permitting:) Stops
  • Sequence of events in stop production (Ladefoged 1993)
  • Natural English labial stops, illustrating voicing and aspiration
  • Passive devoicing

Assignments:

• For 10/12 M (Day 23): Article selections due.
• For 10/19 M (Day 25): HW 4. (Should take at most one hour to solve. Hint: Johnson Figure 6.12.)

Week 8, Day 21: 2026.10.07 (Wednesday)

Class:

• Supralaryngeal VT anatomy.
  • Low-tech ways to observe your articulators
  • Active vs. passive articlator.
• Naming conventions for consonant articulations (HO, Canvas)
• Voiceless fricatives: Source/filter again.
  • Slides on Canvas.
  • Synthetic frication source (Johnson 2012, Figure 7.1)
  • Artificial frication (white noise) unfiltered, then filtered by 2.5-cm, 5-cm, and 9-cm half-open tubes.
    For best view, in the Edit window go to View > Show Analyses and set "longest analysis" to 30s, use a narrow-band spectrogram, and set it so you can see up to 8000 Hz. The lowest fricative formants are at about 3400 Hz (2.5-cm tube), 1600 Hz (5-cm tube), and 1100 Hz (9-cm tube). Is this what you expect? What happens at higher frequencies?
  • Synthetic fricative noise with filter center frequency falling.
• Thought problem: Why are voiced fricatives hard to make? (J. p. 156)

Assignments:

• For 10/9 F (Day 22): Read Johnson Ch. 8, through end of 8.1
• For 10/12 M (Day 23): Article selections due.

Announcement: Drop-in office hour 2-3 Thursday instead of Friday this week.

Week 8, Day 20: 2026.10.05 (Monday)

Topics:Vowel odds and ends. Article reports.

Class:

• Midterm
  • Finding f0
  • Harmonics vs formants (see handout from 9/11)
  • Plausibility checking
• HO: Article reports. Where to find phonetics articles: Including, but not limited to:
  • Bound volumes in Davis Library (primitive, but effective)
  • On-line editions of journals
  • Generic Google Scholar; not as convenient as UNC Libraries Google Scholar
  • Library databases
  • Conference proceedings (J. Smith)
• The Odum Institute

Assignments:

• For 10/7 W (Day 21):
  • Read Ladefoged & Disner 11.2 and 11.3 on place of articulation in consonants
  • Read Ladefoged & Disner 6.5 on fricatives
  • Read Johnson 7.1 and 7.2 on fricatives
  • Bring mirrors!
• For 10/12 M (Day 23): Article selections due.
• (Grad students:) Read Ruxton and Colegrave book all the way through.

Week 7, Day 19: 2026.10.02 (Friday)

MIDTERM

Week 7, Day 18: 2026.09.30 (Wednesday)

Topics: Catch-up day.

Class:

• Vowel typology: near-ubiquity of /i a u/ (Crothers 1978, Maddieson 1984).
• Possible explanations:
  • Quantal vowel theory (Stevens 1989, 2007).
  • Dispersion theory (Liljencrants & Lindblom 1972, Schwartz et al. 1997, Flemming 2017)
• Return HW 3 (possible vowel space)
• Questions before midterm?

Week 7, Day 17: 2026.09.28 (Monday)

Topics: Acoustic vowel space.

Class:

• HW 3, the acoustic vowel space
  • Measuring the Ladefoged vowels
  • Theory vs. reality
  • Implications for percepual distinctness? (looking forward to Adaptive Dispersion Theory)
  • Impossible vowels
• Dispersion theory: Vowels spread out in perceptual space.
• Vowel-system typology handout (based on Crothers 1978)
• Compare with plots from HW 3.

Assignment:

• Midterm is 10/2 F (Day 19). MT Syllabus is on Canvas Resources.

Week 6, Day 16: 2026.09.25 (Friday)

Topics: Two-tube vowel models. Nomograms. Quantal theory.

Class:

• Two-tube vowel models and nomograms (we'll work it through in class)
• Regions of stability as shown on nomograms
• Questions re midterm? HW 3? (Are you debugging your partnership?)

Assignment:

• For 9/28 M (Day 17): HW 3.
• Midterm is 10/2 F (Day 19). MT Syllabus is on Canvas, will magically appear shortly before end of class.

Week 6, Day 15: 2026.09.23 (Wednesday)

Topics: Nasalization and nasalized vowels.

Class:

• Vowel nasalization
  • Video of French speaker producing oral and nasal vowel (L&D website).
  • French oral and nasal vowels (on L&D website).
  • Filtering out low frequencies makes oral vowels sound nasal.
• Go over goals for HW 3.
• Return HW 2.
• Formant-measuring practice. Four methods, all requiring human supervision (HO on Canvas)

Assignments:

• Human-subjects certification due today (on Canvas)
• For 9/25 F (Day 16): Read or reread Johnson, Sections 6.1--6.3 (two-tube theory, perturbation theory, and adaptive dispersion)
• For 9/28 M (Day 17): HW 3
• Midterm is 10/02 F (Day 19).

Announcement: Due to a departmental event, I'm moving my drop-in office hour on Friday the 23rd to 10--11 a.m.

Week 5, Day 14: 2026.09.18 (Friday)

Topics: English and non-English vowels. The IPA.

Class:

• What you need to know for this course about using the IPA for vowels (HO, Canvas)
• Talking IPA charts: Ladefoged & Disner textbook, International Phonetic Association.
• Talking IPA chart with MRI and ultrasound imaging: University of Glasgow
• Reference vowels (Ladefoged pronunciations): front unrounded, front rounded, back unrounded, back rounded.
• Examples of oral (i.e., non-nasal) vowels in various languages. Practice hearing height, backness, rounding. (Ladefoged & Disner, Ch. 15.)
• Practice drawing lip and tongue positions on blank midsagittal sections (HO)

Assignments:

• Fpr 9/23 (W) (Day 15) Bring mirrors again.
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)
• Review for midterm on 10/2 (W) (Day 19).
• There will be a homework assigned next time and due 9/28 (M) (Day 17). If there are any conversations you might want to have with your partner about (e.g.) division of labor, this could be a good time to start having them.

Announcement:: MIDTERM on 10/02 (F) (Day 19).

Week 5, Day 13: 2026.09.16 (Wednesday)

Topics: Laryngeal vowel features. F3 and rhoticity.

Class:

• Common laryngeal vowel features (slides, Canvas):
  • f0 (heard as pitch, used for tone and intonation)
  • Creaky voice
  • Breathy voice
• Movies from Edmondson & Esling 2006 article in Phonology.
• Natural audio examples from Ladefoged (Mazatec)
• Schematic of effect of glottal posture on glottal waveform (D. H. Klatt)
• Synthetic voice-quality demos (creaky, normal ("modal"), breathy)
  • Glottal source output
  • Schwa
• (Time permitting:) Significance of F3: rhoticity
  • Natural example from Ch. 3 of Ladefoged & Disner
  • X-ray tracings and spectrograms from Delattre & Freeman 1968
  • Audio demo, F3 varying through schwa

Assignments:

• For 9/18 (F) (Day 14): Listen to the IPA vowel chart
• For 9/18 (F) (Day 14): Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 15, "Vowels around the world".
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 5, Day 12: 2026.09.14 (Monday)

Topics: HW 2. Source/filter independence.

Class:

• HW 2 (do-re-mi) due. Reminders:
  • One writeup per partnership.
  • Honor Code is (of course!) in force. If in doubt, ask before turning something in.
  • Writeup on paper, audio files to Canvas.
  • This is practice for the project. Are you dividing the labor fairly?
• Perturbation theory (David and Goliath)
• Main point of HW 2: source/filter independence.
• Source: Measuring f0
• Filter:
  • Measuring F1 and F2
  • Difficulties measuring F1 and F2 in high-pitched vowels--why?
  • Example: A natural soprano voice (J. Wolfe, U. of New South Wales)
  • Synthetic f0 glissando on [i] and [a]

Assignment:

• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (just the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 4, Day 11: 2026.09.11 (Friday)

Topics: HW 2 clinic. Source/filter independence. Measuring f0 and formants.

Class:

• Main point of HW 2: source/filter independence.
• Source: Measuring f0
• In-class practice: Harmonics vs. formants (handout)
• Questions re HW 2?

Assignments:

• For 9/14 (M) (Day 12): HW 2 (Canvas)
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 4, Day 10: 2026.09.09 (Wednesday)

Topics: Source-filter model: Perturbation theory of non-schwa articulations. Height and backness; F1 and F2.

Class:

• Brief recapitulation of perturbation theory (slides, Canvas)
• Height
  • Articulation (mirror demo)
  • Predicted acoustic effect of oral vs. pharyngeal constriction on F1
  • Acoustic consequences of pinching a flexible tube
  • Psychological effect of F1 on perceived vowel quality: F1 varying through schwa. F1 varying through [i].
• Backness
  • Articulation (spaghetti demo)
  • Predicted acoustic effect of front vs. back oral constriction on F2
  • Acoustic consequences of pinching a flexible tube
  • Psychological effect of F2 on perceived vowel quality Synthetic demo of F2 being varied: With F1 low. With F1 middling. With F1 high.

Assignments:

• For 9/14 (M) (Day 12): HW 2 (Canvas)
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 3, Day 9: 2026.09.04 (Friday)

Topics: Source-filter model: Perturbation theory of non-schwa articulations. Rounding

Class:

• Mapping the uniform tube onto vocal-tract landmarks (slides, Canvas)
• Vowel articulations (slides, Canvas)
  • Rounding
    • Articulation: mirror demo
    • Predicted effect on F1? F2? F3?
    • Audio demo: Buzzing lips into 17.5-cm tube, then pinching the open end. What should happen to the formant frequencies?
    • Audio demos: Lowering schwa formants by 20%; Lowering [i] formants by 20%.
  • En passant: Demonstrate wide-band spectrograms (window length = 0.005 s). Could help with HW 2!
• Trip to soundproof booth in Dey 103. The sign-up sheet is here.

Assignments:

• For 9/09 (W) (Day 10): Bring a mirror to class
• For 9/14 (M) (Day 12): HW 2 (Canvas)
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 3, Day 8: 2026.09.02 (Wednesday)

Topics: Recording. Partnership assignments

Class:

• Where we're headed: Vowels beyond schwa, illustrated with a practical homework (preview on Canvas).
• HO: How to record with Praat (Canvas)
  • A pretty good recording, vs. a pretty bad one. The difference isn't easy to hear, but you can see it clearly in Praat.
  • A recording where the speaker blew on the microphone (first utterance) vs. one where the microphone was correctly placed.
  • A recording illustrating peak clipping, vs. one where the recording level was correctly set
• Partnership assignments
• Go over HW 2 assignment (preview on Canvas)
• You can sign up here for the soundproof studio in Dey 103.

Assignments:

• for 9/4 (F) (Day 9): Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 12 ("Making English vowels"). This will introduce the ways in which the uniform schwa-like vocal tract can be perturbed.
• For 9/4 (F) (Day 9): Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 5, "Charting English vowels". Bring mirrors!
• For 9/14 (M) (Day 12): HW 2 (Canvas)
• For 9/23 (W) (Day 15): Do the on-line human-subjects training (do the CITI modules for Social and Behavioral Research)

Week 3, Day 7: 2026.08.31 (Monday)

Topics: Nodes and antinodes in the uniform tube.

Class:

• Nodes and antinodes: What they are, and why they matter.
• Demonstration with actual tube, and simulation (W. Fendt).
• Partnership questionnaire (5 mins.)

Assignment

• For 9/2 (W) (Day 8): Bring computers to practice recording
• For 9/4 (F) (Day 9):Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 12 ("Making English vowels"). This will introduce the ways in which the uniform schwa-like vocal tract can be perturbed.

Week 2, Day 6: 2026.08.28 (Friday)

Topics: Resonances of a half-open tube.

Class:

• Reprise:
  • Source/filter model of vowel production
  • Last time's experiment: The response curve of the tubular filter, with peaks (formants) at particular frequencies
• Why do the peaks occur at those particular frequencies? (handout, also on Canvas, with audio)
• Destructive and constructive interference
• Resonant frequencies: F1, F2, F3, ...

Assignment:

• For 8/31 M (Day 7): Read Johnson Ch. 6 Section 2 on the acoustic theory of vowels. (Warning: May not be easy. Start early!)
• For 9/2 W (Day 8) Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 12 ("Making English vowels"). This will introduce the ways in which the uniform schwa-like vocal tract can be perturbed.
• For 9/2 W (Day 8): Bring a computer to practice recording.

Week 2, Day 5: 2026.08.26 (Wednesday)

Topics: Source/filter model: Filtering effect of a half-open cylinder

Class:

• Reprise of source-filter model. Last time: Source.
• This time: filter (slides on Canvas)
• Demonstration: Resonances of a half-open cylinder (i.e., [ə]) ( audio).
• Observe filtering effect of tube
• Return HW 1.

Assignment for 8/28 F (Day 6):

• Read Johnson Chapter 2, Section 4, on resonance and schwa

Week 2, Day 4: 2026.08.24 (Monday)

Topics: Source/filter model: Acoustics of the laryngeal source. Use of the laryngeal source in languages.

Class:

• Go over HW 1. Don't forget:
  • Honor Code statement ("I completed this work in accordance with the UNC Honor Code").
  • Names of collaborators.
  • Draw box around notes added in class (or mark in some other clear way)
• Thought problem from last time: Predict narrow-band spectrogram of a glissando (rising or falling sinusoid)
• Finish slides (on Canvas): Source-filter model 1. How is the laryngeal source used to make contrasts in natural languages?

Week 1, Day 3: 2026.08.21 (Friday)

Topics: The source-filter model of vocal production. The larynx and phonation. f0. The glottal wave.

Before class: Please open all three of the Homework 1 sound files in Praat (the two that are included in the zip file, and the one that is on the Ladefoged and Disner site).. If something isn't working, please call me over.

Class:

• Slides (on Canvas): Source-filter model 1.
• Demonstration of acoustic filtering by half-open tube: Low-tech source-filter synthesis: Buzzing lips, then buzzing lips into 17.7-cm tube.
• Source: The larynx (vocal-fold vibration)
• Anatomy of the larynx
• Acoustics of the unfiltered glottal wave
  • Synthesized glottal wave, f0 = 100 Hz
  • Synthesized glottal glissando.
• Start on HW 1.

Assignment for 8/24 (M):

• Finish HW 1.
• Read Johnson 2.1 (voicing), 2.3 (vocal-tract filtering).
• Listen to the Glottal glissando and think about what the spectrogram ought to look like.

Week 1, Day 2: 2026.08.19 (Wednesday)

Topics: Using Praat. Sound. Spectrograms.

Class:

• Types of sound wave (example)
• Simple periodic waves:
  • Physically simple ( simple harmonic motion)
  • Psychophysically simple (stimulate one point on the basilar membrane)
  • Mathematically elementary (in Fourier analysis)
• Praat:
  • Using the Edit function to listen and look (helpful handout from Jen Smith is here).
  • Measuring frequency and period; calculating wavelength
  • Spectrogram basics (like reading music).
  • Use of Spectrogram:Spectrogram settings... to change the Analysis Window: wide-band (0.005 s) and narrow-band (0.05 s)
  • Use of Spectrogram: View spectral slice to make a power spectrum
• Complex periodic waves.
• Fundamental frequency.
• Start on HW 1.

Assignment:

• For 8/21 F: Read Ladefoged & Disner Ch. 2, on pitch and the larynx.
• For 8/24 M: Do HW 1, making some basic acoustic measurements and calculations. The Ladefoged and Disner website is here. An alternative website for the Ladefoged/Disner audio is here.

Week 1, Day 1: 2026.08.17 (Monday)

Topics: Course organization. Praat. Intro to sound.

Class:

• Go over syllabus and course information (Canvas).
• Praat sound analysis software.
  • Information on Installing Praat, and more Praat resources (Jen Smith).
  • How to download sound files and open them in Praat (HO, Canvas). Example:
    • Right-click (control-click) on the link to this demo file.
    • From the resulting pop-up menu, save the file to disk. (Even if the menu calls the sound file a "video".)
    • Open it in Praat.
• The website that goes with the Ladefoged & Disner textbook. If it is down for some reason, here is an alternative with the same content.
• Intro to sound
  • Sound waves are air-pressure waves.
  • (Most) microphones are like little barometers.
• Using the Praat Edit function to listen and look (helpful handout from Jen Smith is here).
  • The waveform display. The time cursor. Zooming. Selecting an interval.
  • Configuring the waveform display with View: Show analyses... to turn off extraneous information.

Assignment for Day 2, 8/19 (W):

• Read Johnson Chapter 1, Sections 1--3, also on sound.
• Check that you can listen to and download sound files from the Ladefoged & Disner website . Navigate in that site to find an audio example, and click on it. You should hear something. In the media pop-up window, right-click on the Play/Stop button, and choose "Download video as..." to save the audio file in .aiff format
• Install Praat on your computer and check that it runs.
• Bring laptops to class next time with Praat installed!
• On the "Discussions" area in Canvas, please go to the "Introductions" discussion and post to it according to the instructions found there.