Advanced phonology

Aims

Aims

This module aims:

• to develop students’ awareness of the core phenomena which phonological theory must account for
• to develop students’ awareness of different theoretical approaches to the analysis of these core phenomena, and their ability to evaluate competing analyses
• to equip students with skills in data analysis methods which can be used to provide empirically based evaluation of theoretical claims and hypotheses in phonology

Programme

Programme

Contact hours

The course lasts for one term. There is a 2 hour lecture and a 1 hour practical each week.

Teaching programme

Subject content:

• By the end of this module, students will be able to:
• find and/or collect data for use as input to phonological analysis
• establish phonological generalisations based on different types of data
• develop an explanatory account of the phonological generalisation(s) in a set of data
• evaluate competing explanatory accounts of phonological generalisations

Academic and graduate skills:

In addition to acquiring subject-specific skills and knowledge, students who finish this module will also be able to:

• argue more convincingly for their position in debates using empirical data
• present themselves better in writing and speech
• critically evaluate research papers based both on their logical structure and empirical grounding

Teaching materials

Selected readings from:

• van Oostendorp, Marc, et al., eds. The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Volumes 1-3. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Assessment

Assessment

Formative work

• Formative data analysis tasks 

Assessment

•  a 2,500 word essay