Lancaster University

Aims and objectives:

At the end of the course students will:

• be able to analyse the structure of English sentences;
• have an understanding of the sense in which grammar is not a purely abstract phenomenon but is, instead, based to a large extent on the way in which we see the world (our cognitive system) and interact with other speakers;
• be aware of the main differences between the grammar of spoken vs. written English;
• be able to think systematically and objectively about phonological variation in varieties of English;
• be able to use technical phonetic and phonological terminology to describe accents of English;
• be able to transcribe accents of English using the IPA;
• be able to recognise and describe the acoustic properties of the speech signal;
• have improved their oral presentation skills;
• have improved their team working skills;
• have improved their general analytical skills;
• have a better understanding of the nature and importance of empirical evidence in argumentation.

Course description:

The first half of the course will cover important aspects of English grammar, stressing the sense in which grammar (in English and in general) is not an abstract system of arbitrary rules but is motivated by meaning and shaped by usage. We will apply this so-called functionalist perspective not only to present-day English but also to the way in which certain grammatical constructions have developed over time.

The second half of the course will deal with present day variation in spoken English.  We will investigate the nature of English accents in detail and consider variation both between and within accent varieties.  An important characteristic of the course is that in addition to an auditory analysis of speech sounds, we will have workshops to investigate speech acoustics (i.e. how we can analyse and measure certain features of speech on computer).   Later in the term we will examine how phonetics can be applied by looking at an area in which a detailed knowledge of spoken language is crucial: forensic speech science.

TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:

Term 1

• The purpose of (studying) grammar
• Simple sentences
• Word classes, from lexical to minor
• Grammatical functions                         
• Sentence types: declaratives, interrogatives and beyond
• Types and structure of phrases
• Complex sentences: basic patterns
• The passive: form(s) and function(s)
• The grammar of spoken English

 Term 2

• Introduction: the purpose of (studying) speech
• Consonants in present-day ?English'
• Visible consonants?
• English vowels in the ear
• Visible vowels?
• When the head disagrees with the mouth
• Sounds in a sequence: when sounds influence each-other
• Phonetics Applied I: Phonetics meets sociolinguistics
• Phonetics Applied II: Forensics