Word List Assignment (20%)
Part 1 (Recordings) due Week 2 (2.5%)
Part 2 (Segmented TextGrids) due Week 3 (2.5%)
Part 3 (Write-Up) due Week 4 (15%)
For your first assignment, you will be collecting, processing, and analyzing vowel data from read word list productions gathered from two people. You will collect the recordings, process the data so that vowel formants can be measured and plotted, and write up an analysis of the plots in the context of what we've learned about regional vowel spaces and shifts in the United States. The data collection and write-up will be completed in stages, each worth a portion of the total grade (see below).
Recordings (2.5%) due Thursday 4/11, 11 a.m.
For the first portion of the assignment, you will record two speakers reading the word list who grew up in the U.S. or Canada, in a dialect region that is not the same as yours. Ideally, you should find someone who stayed within the same dialect region for the entire time they were growing up. This other person should be between 18-25, and should identify as a native speaker of American English; it doesn't matter if they speak other languages as well. You should record them in person. They should not be a classmate, and they should not have completed the assignment for any other student.
Make your recordings using Praat. We will cover how to make recordings in class, and you can find instructions in the Praat handout in the Files section of Canvas. Download Praat and test recording well in advance of the due dates, and contact Annette if you have any problems. If you need access to a computer with Praat installed for recording, please let Annette know. For yourself and your participant, you should fill out the demographic information form following the recording.
Provide your interviewee the word list (distributed in class, PDF available on Canvas) and ask them to read the words aloud one by one, starting at the left column (top to bottom) and then proceeding down the right column. If you'd like a script of some sort for the instructions, you can say something like the following:
"I have a list of words for you to read out loud for a class assignment. There's no right or wrong way to say any of the words, we just want to know how you say them. You can begin whenever you're ready, at whatever pace is comfortable, just read each word however you'd usually say it."
If they mess up or miss a word, just ask them repeat the relevant word. The entire word list for each speaker should be recorded and saved as its own WAV file.
After they have completed the word list, please have them fill out the demographic questionnaire (second page of the word list). Please be sure to have them provide a pseudonym (fake first name and last initial). If they do not want to, you may assign them one yourself. You should not save the questionnaire or sound files with the speaker's real name.
WAV files for yourself and your participant should be uploaded to Canvas, and demographic information entered into this Google Doc by Thursday 4/11 at 11 a.m. Please bring your hard copies to class. Please name your sound files with the following convention: YourLastName_SpeakerPseudonym.wav (e.g. Donofrio_BeccaG.wav). Credit will be given only if both word lists are recorded and uploaded, and demographic information is entered in the google doc, and paper copies are brought to class by the due date. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Segmented TextGrids (2.5%) due Wednesday 4/17 11 a.m.
For this assignment, the word list is designed to focus on vowel productions. To analyze these, we will take formant measurements from the vowels. In order to do this, you will need to segment each word and vowel sound in Praat, creating a TextGrid that will be uploaded to Canvas. Instructions for segmentation will be provided in class, and step-by-step guidance can be found in the Praat handout on Canvas. TextGrids should be uploaded to the Canvas (with the same name as the corresponding WAV file) by Wednesday 4/16 at 11 a.m. Credit will be given only if both word lists are segmented and the TextGrids both uploaded by the due date. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Once all of the TextGrids have been uploaded, Annette will run a Praat script that extracts formant measurements from the midpoint of each segmented vowel, and plot each speaker's vowel space. The data file and plots will be provided to you in the Files folder on Canvas. The plots will show our class's full results, which will serve as the basis for your write-up.
Write-up (15%) due Thursday 4/25 11 a.m.
For your write-up, you will use the vowel plots, demographic information about each speaker, and what you have learned about U.S. regional dialects so far in class to qualitatively analyze some aspect of the vowel spaces we collected. You may observe whether speakers from certain dialect regions show expected patterns based on previous work, whether there are other demographic factors that could be influencing the data, how certain vowel patterns are related to one another, or some other aspect of our results. You should use one or more of the papers we read, and the Atlas of North American English (online and in the Word List Files folder on Canvas) to contextualize your observations. While the topic you choose is up to you, some guiding questions to get you started are provided below:
- Do you see evidence for chain shifts and/or mergers described in the literature? Where, and do they follow the predicted patterns?
- Do certain vowel productions appear to co-occur with one another? What might this tell us?
- Are speakers who are from a dialect region that is characterized by a certain vowel shift showing the expected patterns? How do you know?
- Speculatively, given our small sample size, do other factors like speaker gender, race/ethnicity, or age appear to condition their use of regional vowel features? What additional data would you need to support this claim?
- How do speakers in our sample from the same dialect region differ from one another? How are they the same? What could condition these differences/similarities?
This write-up should be approximately 3-5 pages double-spaced. Introduce the vowel feature(s) you will focus on, situating your claims in the previous work that has been done to motivate your expectations (be sure to cite sources!), and how you know whether these expectations are confirmed or not in our dataset. Refer to specific speaker pseudonyms to make your case, and only make claims that can be supported by the data we have. Due to our small sample size, you will likely need to speculate or extrapolate when connecting our findings to broader patterns or expectations. In these cases, be sure that you always frame generalizations as speculative or tentative, and explain what additional data would be required to support your potential claim. In all assignment write-ups, be sure to illustrate an understanding and extension of class material. Feel free to do research of your own beyond the papers or findings we discuss in class, particularly when they help support your claims. All papers must include a references section at the end with citations in some academic format (your choice, but be consistent). Submit your paper via Canvas by the deadline. Note that as stated on the syllabus, late write-ups will be subject to the course late policy.