LING90015 English Phonetics and Phonology

How LING90015 is assessed

Current LMS: 30%, 30% and 40% at the landed current LMS record; the same LMS states that the minimum attendance requirement is 80% for tutorials, seminars or workshops at the landed current LMS record.

What LING90015 covers

The learning path moves from Speech Production and the Vocal Tract, through the problems opened by Fricatives, Affricates and Sonorants, to the synthesis required in Dialect, L2 Speech and Phonological Argument.

It is positioned as an English phonetics and phonology subject.

Two practical transcription assignments lead into a literature-based essay on second-language phonetics, phonology or World Englishes.

The current subject page does not list the complete assessment weighting for LING90015; check the current LMS assessment table before relying on it.

two transcription assignments and a final essay, with every current weight pinned to the landed LMS table

The operational assessment conditions matter here.

The final essay falls in the examination period; the captured architecture does not publish a separate sit-down exam.

What makes LING90015 demanding is concrete: keeping transcription conventions consistent while hearing gradient, dialect-dependent cues rather than spelling expectations

The current LMS publishes a minimum attendance requirement of 80% for tutorials, seminars or workshops in addition to the weighted assessment total.

For enrolment planning, Consult the current University of Melbourne enrolment controls.

The learning path moves from Speech Production and the Vocal Tract, through the problems opened by Fricatives, Affricates and Sonorants, to the synthesis required in Dialect, L2 Speech and Phonological Argument.

Worked example · free

Audit a transcription disagreement

Key terms

Vocal tract

Airway whose movable and fixed structures shape speech. This chapter uses the concept when students describe a speech event using observable structures and movement.

Articulator

Structure used to constrict or reshape airflow. It helps explain the reasoning required to describe a speech event using observable structures and movement.

Articulatory setting

Background posture influencing a speaker's speech movements. Its limit matters because an anatomical label alone does not explain timing, airflow or acoustic consequence.

IPA

International system for representing speech sounds. This chapter uses the concept when students select and apply an IPA convention appropriate to the analytic purpose.

Phonemic transcription

Representation focused on contrastive categories. It helps explain the reasoning required to select and apply an IPA convention appropriate to the analytic purpose.

Phonetic transcription

Representation adding selected details of realisation. Its limit matters because narrower transcription is not automatically more accurate if detail cannot be heard reliably.

Phoneme

Contrastive sound category in a language variety. This chapter uses the concept when students analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system.

Allophone

Contextual realisation of a category. It helps explain the reasoning required to analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system.

Cardinal vowel

Reference point used to describe vowel quality. Its limit matters because speakers vary within Australian English and reference vowels are not ordinary words.

Airstream mechanism

Method that initiates and directs airflow for speech. This chapter uses the concept when students relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception.

Phonation

Vocal-fold configuration during sound production. It helps explain the reasoning required to relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception.

Voice onset time

Timing between stop release and onset of voicing. Its limit matters because voiced and voiceless labels can conceal context-dependent timing patterns.

Frication

Turbulent noise created by constricted airflow. This chapter uses the concept when students distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing.

Affricate

Stop release into a homorganic fricative-like constriction. It helps explain the reasoning required to distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing.

LING90015 FAQ

Questions students ask in each LING90015 chapter

How does vocal tract help a student describe a speech event using observable structures and movement?

Describe a speech event using observable structures and movement. The opening materials make vocal-tract orientation the basis for later transcription. Airway whose movable and fixed structures shape speech. This chapter uses the concept when students describe a speech event using observable structures and movement. Use this definition when the task is to describe a speech event using observable structures and movement. Chapter 01 · Speech Production and the Vocal Tract

Which criteria should govern an attempt to select and apply an IPA convention appropriate to the analytic purpose?

Select and apply an IPA convention appropriate to the analytic purpose. The IPA materials foreground symbol values and the decisions behind broad and narrow records. Chapter 02 · IPA Principles and Transcription Levels

Where should the reasoning begin when students analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system?

Analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system. The Australian English resources provide the system used by the transcription tasks. Contrastive sound category in a language variety. This chapter uses the concept when students analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system. Use this definition when the task is to analyse Australian English segments without importing spelling or another variety's system. Chapter 03 · Australian English Consonants and Vowels

Which links need evidence when students relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception?

Relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception. Listening and phonation demonstrations connect categorical labels to timed events. Method that initiates and directs airflow for speech. This chapter uses the concept when students relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception. Use this definition when the task is to relate airflow, closure, release and voicing timing to consonant perception. Chapter 04 · Airstream, Phonation and Stops

Why is it important to distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing?

Distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing. Separate listening sets expose the cue bundles behind several consonant manners. Turbulent noise created by constricted airflow. This chapter uses the concept when students distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing. Use this definition when the task is to distinguish consonants using constriction, noise, resonance and timing. Chapter 05 · Fricatives, Affricates and Sonorants

How does syllable help a student segment connected speech while retaining syllable and stress structure?

Segment connected speech while retaining syllable and stress structure. Later readings move beyond isolated segments into syllable organisation and prominence. Organising unit commonly structured around a sonority peak. This chapter uses the concept when students segment connected speech while retaining syllable and stress structure. Use this definition when the task is to segment connected speech while retaining syllable and stress structure. Chapter 06 · Syllables, Stress and Connected Speech

When is it appropriate to use Praat to measure a cue with documented boundaries and settings?

Use Praat to measure a cue with documented boundaries and settings. Praat resources turn auditory judgements into inspectable acoustic evidence. Display of sound pressure variation over time. This chapter uses the concept when students use Praat to measure a cue with documented boundaries and settings. Use this definition when the task is to use Praat to measure a cue with documented boundaries and settings. Chapter 07 · Acoustic Analysis with Praat

Which links need evidence when students connect observed speech patterns to literature without deficit framing?

Connect observed speech patterns to literature without deficit framing. The final essay explicitly moves into second-language speech and World Englishes. Plural English varieties shaped by histories, communities and functions. This chapter uses the concept when students connect observed speech patterns to literature without deficit framing. Use this definition when the task is to connect observed speech patterns to literature without deficit framing. Chapter 08 · Dialect, L2 Speech and Phonological Argument

How to prepare for the assessments

Retrieve the course map, practise the recurring method—fix the speaker variety and transcription convention, observe articulation and acoustic cues, segment the utterance, record phonemic or phonetic contrasts consistently, test the analysis against another token, and qualify dialect and gradient variation—on changed scenarios, and verify every operational assessment detail in the live institutional system.

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