Articulatory Phonetics Course

Lesson 1 • Introduction to Speech Sound Production

Covers the basic definition of articulatory phonetics and its place within linguistics. Establishes why precise sound description matters for language study.

Lesson 2 • Anatomy of the Vocal Tract

Surveys the anatomical structures involved in speech, from the lungs to the lips. Provides the biological grounding needed for all subsequent articulation analysis.

Lesson 3 • Phonetic Transcription Basics

Introduces the International Phonetic Alphabet as the standard notation system. Students gain the ability to read and write basic phonetic symbols accurately.

Lesson 1 • Glottal Consonants and Laryngeal Features

Covers the glottal stop and glottal fricative as distinct speech sounds. Introduces laryngeal feature theory used in phonological analysis.

Lesson 2 • Vocal Fold Vibration Mechanics

Details the myoelastic-aerodynamic theory of vocal fold vibration. Connects laryngeal anatomy from Chapter 1 to the physical production of voicing.

Lesson 3 • Voiced and Voiceless Contrasts

Analyzes how voicing distinctions create phonemic contrasts across languages. Students practice identifying and producing voiced-voiceless minimal pairs.

Lesson 1 • Palatal and Velar Consonants

Analyzes sounds produced at the hard palate and soft palate. Connects velar place to the velum anatomy introduced in Chapter 1.

Lesson 2 • Dental, Alveolar, and Postalveolar Places

Covers sounds produced at the teeth, alveolar ridge, and just behind it. Students distinguish closely related places that cause frequent transcription errors.

Lesson 3 • Retroflex and Lateral Places

Introduces retroflex articulation and lateral airflow as distinct place-manner combinations. Prepares students for complex consonant inventories in Chapter 4.

Lesson 4 • Uvular, Pharyngeal, and Glottal Places

Describes the posterior places of articulation found in many world languages. Expands transcription range to include sounds rare in English.

Lesson 1 • Stops and Affricates

Covers complete oral closure, pressure buildup, and release in stops, plus the stop-fricative sequence in affricates. Builds on place knowledge from Chapter 3.

Lesson 2 • Nasals and Nasalization

Explains how lowering the velum routes airflow through the nasal cavity. Covers nasal consonants and nasalized vowels as distinct phenomena.

Lesson 3 • Approximants and Liquids

Describes sounds with minimal constriction that do not produce turbulence. Distinguishes glides, laterals, and rhotics within the approximant class.

Lesson 4 • Fricatives and Sibilants

Analyzes turbulent airflow through a narrow constriction to produce fricatives. Distinguishes sibilant from non-sibilant fricatives by acoustic energy.

Lesson 1 • Diphthongs and Vowel Sequences

Describes vowel glides within a single syllable nucleus and sequences across syllable boundaries. Distinguishes true diphthongs from vowel hiatus.

Lesson 2 • Advanced Vowel Features

Covers advanced tongue root position, nasalized vowels, and rhotacized vowels. Prepares students for complex vowel inventories in cross-linguistic analysis.

Lesson 3 • The Cardinal Vowel System

Presents the primary and secondary Cardinal Vowels as reference points for description. Trains students to use Cardinal Vowels as anchors for transcribing unfamiliar vowels.

Lesson 4 • Vowel Dimensions: Height and Backness

Introduces tongue height and front-back position as the primary vowel dimensions. Grounds vowel description in the articulatory movements learned in earlier chapters.

Lesson 1 • Stress and Prominence

Explains acoustic and articulatory correlates of lexical and phrasal stress. Connects stress placement to vowel reduction and rhythm patterns.

Lesson 2 • Segmental Length and Quantity

Covers phonemic length distinctions in vowels and consonants across languages. Introduces geminate consonants and long vowels in transcription.

Lesson 3 • Intonation and Discourse Prosody

Analyzes rising, falling, and complex intonation contours and their pragmatic functions. Extends prosodic analysis from word level to utterance and discourse level.

Lesson 4 • Tone and Pitch Accent

Distinguishes tone languages from pitch-accent languages and describes tonal categories. Introduces IPA diacritics for marking tone in transcription.

Lesson 1 • Assimilation Processes

Describes how sounds become more similar to neighboring sounds through assimilation. Covers place, voice, and manner assimilation with cross-linguistic examples.

Lesson 2 • Liaison, Linking, and Intrusion

Covers the insertion and linking of sounds at word boundaries in connected speech. Illustrates how phonological rules apply across word boundaries.

Lesson 3 • Prosodic Effects on Articulation

Examines how stress, rate, and style affect articulatory precision and reduction. Integrates suprasegmental knowledge from Chapter 6 with coarticulation analysis.

Lesson 4 • Reduction and Elision

Analyzes vowel reduction, consonant weakening, and segment deletion in fast speech. Connects reduction processes to the stress patterns covered in Chapter 6.

Lesson 1 • Integrative Phonetic Description

Synthesizes all course content into a complete phonetic description of a language or dialect. Students demonstrate mastery by producing a structured phonetic profile.

Lesson 2 • Transcribing Non-Native Sound Systems

Develops strategies for transcribing sounds outside the learner's native language. Addresses perceptual challenges and systematic transcription errors.

Lesson 3 • Phonetic Data Collection and Analysis

Covers elicitation methods, recording protocols, and systematic data organization. Prepares students to conduct original phonetic fieldwork or laboratory analysis.

Lesson 4 • IPA Diacritics and Extensions

Introduces the complete set of IPA diacritics for fine-grained phonetic detail. Builds on all prior transcription skills to enable narrow, precise notation.