Freshman Seminar:
How we speak
Weekly Schedule
Embedded Files
Currently on Hiatus
Fall 2024 Weekly Schedule
Fall 2024 Weekly Schedule
Subject to Change — Always check back for current status
Subject to Change — Always check back for current status
Week 1 Aug 29—Hallmarks of Human Language
and Producing Speech Sounds
Week 1 Aug 29—Hallmarks of Human Language
and Producing Speech Sounds
Reading Due: DSWM Chapter 2 Section 1 pp. 23-39 [ebook pages 34-52]
[DSWM = textbook Discovering Speech, Words, and Mind Byrd & Mintz (associated website)]
Also available electronically from the Libraries
Odyssey "Speech: Dances of the Vocal Tract" by Rubin & Goldstein
Fun Website: Slo-Mo Gargling
REMEMBER to fill out your required Lang Info Sheet.
Week 2 Sept 5—English Sounds and the International Phonetic Alphabet
Week 2 Sept 5—English Sounds and the International Phonetic Alphabet
Reading Due: DSWM Chapter 2 Section 1 cont. (same as last week)
Fun Website: Real-time MRI IPA Chart collected here at USC
Two handouts: mini IPA Chart for English Sounds; English Contrasts (These are combined into a single pdf here, albeit slightly smaller.)
This clickable IPA chart website is helpful for 'typing' (copy & paste) IPA symbols
Listen before next meeting: Professor Krisha Nayak's podcast interview on "But I'm Not an Engineer!" (20 min)
Homework 1 released and required for everyone (due Sept 19): Transcription
Week 3 Sept 12—Speech Acoustics
Week 3 Sept 12—Speech Acoustics
Reading Due: DSWM Chapter 2 Section 2 [pdf 63-76]
Handout: Source Filter Handout (courtesy of Louis Goldstein)
Fun Website: The Resonant Bridge
Week 4 Sept 19—Varieties of English
Nicole Holliday's lecture "It's in the tone": how we make sociolinguistic judgments based on voice and language [28 min]Are southern accents disappearing? [pls listen rather than read only] (podcast 4 minutes)Week 4 Sept 19—Varieties of English
Other interesting items:Linguists hear an accent begin (Scientific American, 5 min audio)Fun websites: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Another; Your 'personal' dialect map; The Cambridge Online survey and its results; Accents of English (JC Wells); The speech accent archiveWe will watch in class: Jamila Lyiscott TedSalon 2014 "3 Ways to Speak English"
Homework 2 Option A released (due Oct 3): Transcribing a Variety of English [for supporting material see textbook reading; and Wired Magazine's YouTube 3-part video series hosted by Erik Singer "Accent Expert Gives a Tour of US Accents"-- Part 1 here]
Homework 1 due today September 19
In class, prep for DISC tour. Optional safety screening form for those who want to come inside the scanner room here .
Week 5 Sept 26—Sounds of the World's Languages
Week 5 Sept 26—Sounds of the World's Languages
Reading Due: DSWM Chapter 3 Section 1 pp. 72-82 (ebook pp. 75-102)
Handout: Complete IPA Chart
Fun Websites: What are voiced and voiceless plosives (aka stops)?
UCLA Language Index for Sounds of the World's Languages and Vowels and Consonants; Talking IPA Chart or IPA with real-time MRI video from USC Span (click on individual phonetician); Audio language samples and language sample
Optional readings: Gibbs "Saving Dying Languages" Scientific American 2002
What is vocal fry?
Homework 2 Option B released (due Oct 24): Mini Fieldwork Demonstrating Phonetic Contrasts (not for English)
Week 6 Oct 3—Tour of the Dynamic Imaging Science Center
Week 6 Oct 3—Tour of the Dynamic Imaging Science Center
Meet in front of the Michelson Hall [MCB] at noon sharp to walk to basement.
Info and map here.
The USC Dynamic Imaging Science Center's low-field high-performance MRI with Professor Krishna Nayak.
See items to take care of in advance above under Week 4.
Homework 2 Option A due today Oct 3
Week 7 October 10-11 is a USC Holiday
Week 8 Oct 17 —Bilingualism
Week 8 Oct 17 —Bilingualism
37 maps that explain how America is a nation of immigrants; NYT Everyone has an Accent; Washington Post Op-Ed: " Trudeau says he wants to tackle systemic racism. He should start with this policy." September 30, 2020
Optional/Fun Readings: From the New Yorker on Hyperglots "The mystery of people who speak dozens of languages;" What language does your state speak
Optional video: Bilingualism in business (5 min); Video example of code switching (1 min); Podcast on the benefits of bilingualism (28 min)
Week 9 Oct 24—Puzzles and Illusions of Speech Perception
Reading Due: Myers "From Sound to Meaning" Physics Today 2017Optional Reading after lecture: Does Sensory Modality Matter? Not for speech perception by L. RosenblumWeek 9 Oct 24—Puzzles and Illusions of Speech Perception
Homework 2 Option B due today Oct 24
Week 10 Oct 31—Hearing and Deafness
Week 10 Oct 31—Hearing and Deafness
"This common habit can ruin your hearing and increase dementia"
Handout: Common Misconceptions About Hearing [website] [pdf]A pretty good online hearing test from Dr. Ir. Stéphane Pigeon -- need silence and headphones NYT FDA clears path for hearing aids to be sold over the counterWeek 11 Nov 7—Speech Production in Breakdown: Diseases and Disorders
Week 11 Nov 7—Speech Production in Breakdown: Diseases and Disorders
Reading Due: DSWM Chapter 11
We have a vaccine for six cancers; why are less than half of kids getting it?
Video: Audiologist Answers Hearing Questions
Video: In a short documentary, John Hendrickson describes the frustration of having a stutter (New York Times; 8 min).
Optional Reading: The Atlantic "What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say";
This American Life: Act One Time Bandit (24min)
Vaping and Public Health and E-cigarettes: Facts, stats and regulations
Website for future reference: American Speech and Hearing Association
Resources for quitting vaping: KickIt CA, Truth Initiative, smokefree.govRecommended documentary movie (required if you are going to do Homework 2 Option C): "When I Stutter" (director John Gomez; 1hr7min)
Homework 2 Option C released (Monday Dec 2) -- An Interview (documentary viewing above required)
Week 12 Nov 14—Guest Lecture from Dr. Miran Oh, AI/ML Voice Building Engineer for Apple Inc.
"A Primer on LLMs for AI"
Week 12 Nov 14—Guest Lecture from Dr. Miran Oh, AI/ML Voice Building Engineer for Apple Inc.
"A Primer on LLMs for AI"
This will likely be a zoom lecture but we will all gather in our classroom.
Week 13 Nov 21—Speech Technology including Deep Fakes
And Course Close
Reading Due: Speech Synthesis: Toward a "Voice" for All. H. Timothy Bunnell; The Ethics of a Deepfake Anthony Bourdain Voice, Helen Rosner Fun Websites: A collection of some speech synthesis sites ; Kid tries to train Google Home; Meet the Woman Behind Amazon Alexa; A commercial with Susan Bennett (the voice of Siri); "How computers parse the ambiguity of everyday language"; "Alexa, Siri, and Google Don’t Understand a Word You Say"Homework 2 Option D released Speech Synthesis (due by email no later than Nov 29)
Nov 27-29 Thanksgiving Holiday
No Further Class Meetings
Monday December 2 Homework Two Options C or D due
Date Last Modified: June 20, 2024
Banner Art Credit: Lena Foellmer
Collection of Resources for the USC Community's health, safety and well-being
Fair Use Statement. This site and its dependent within-site links may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance research and teaching in the area of speech science, which we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have an interest in this educational purposes. The material is presented for entirely non-profit educational purposes. There is no reason to believe that the featured media will in any way negatively affect the market value of the copyrighted works. For these reasons, we believe that the website is clearly covered under current fair use copyright laws. We do not support any actions in which the materials on this site are used for purposes that extend beyond fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Banner Art Credit: Lena Foellmer
Collection of Resources for the USC Community's health, safety and well-being
Fair Use Statement. This site and its dependent within-site links may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance research and teaching in the area of speech science, which we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have an interest in this educational purposes. The material is presented for entirely non-profit educational purposes. There is no reason to believe that the featured media will in any way negatively affect the market value of the copyrighted works. For these reasons, we believe that the website is clearly covered under current fair use copyright laws. We do not support any actions in which the materials on this site are used for purposes that extend beyond fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
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