In this course, you will use your UMass blog to post writing and media files (images and sound), and you will learn the basics of using Praat, a free piece of software, for sound recording and analysis. Work using this software will be a required part of both homework exercises and projects.

Due dates for all of this work will appear on the daily schedule at least two weeks before the deadline, and usually far in advance of that.

Short homework exercises

There will be 6 relatively short homework assignments over the course of the semester. The average of your top 5 grades on these will be worth 25% of your final grade. Any missed homework assignments will be given a grade of zero, unless you have a valid excuse accompanied by a note from a university or medical official.

Written responses

You will write two very short pieces (most likely discussion of assigned readings) as blog posts. You will also be assigned to write comments on one of your classmates posts. Each of the short pieces will be worth 10% of the final grade, and the comments will be worth 5%, for a total of 30%. Failure to complete these exercises by the due date will result in grades of zero, unless you have a valid excuse accompanied by a note from a university or medical official. You will be given plenty of time to do these exercises in advance, so plan for last minute problems by setting your own earlier deadline.

In-class assignments

6 in-class assignments will be collected for grading with no prior announcement. These will be worth 10% of your final grade, and you will receive 2 points for each satisfactorily completed piece of work, up to a maximum of 10%. Missed in-class assignments will be given a grade of zero, unless you have a valid excuse accompanied by a note from a university or medical official.

Project 1

The first project will consist of a blog page illustrating aspects of the phonology of a variety of English, using sound examples and accurate IPA transcription.

This is worth 10% of your final grade. Extensions will be reluctantly given with an e-mail explanation before the due date (i.e. sent by midnight of the  day before).

Project 2

The second project will consist of two phases – individual analysis and presentation in-class and on the blog, and write-up as a final paper incorporating reference to your classmates work.

The first phase is worth 10% of your final grade, and the second phase is worth 15%. Failure to complete the first phase by the due date will result in grades of zero, unless you have a valid excuse accompanied by a note from a university or medical official. Extensions on the final will be reluctantly given with an e-mail explanation before the due date (i.e. sent by midnight of the day before).

Academic honesty

You will be expected to follow the university’s academic honesty policy. All work completed for this course should be your own. We will give you guidance about what this means for each of the assignments.