| Kurzkommentar |
Bitte kontaktieren Sie vor Semesterbeginn Dr. Robert Spence per E-Mail: r.spence@mx.uni-saarland.de.
Kursunterlagen werden hier erhältlich sein: http://www.spence.saar.de/courses/phoneticswithlistening
Die Teilnehmerzahl ist auf 12 pro Gruppe begrenzt.
Vorrang haben Studierende, die ihren Abschluss an der Universität des Saarlandes machen werden.
ERASMUS-Studierende dürfen zwar prinzipiell an der Veranstaltung teilnehmen, müssen jedoch vorher eine mündliche Aufnahmeprüfung erfolgreich absolvieren.
This class will take place online. The rooms are available for the respective time slot throughout the semester. Students can use them to participate in online sessions, if they are on campus. |
| Kommentar |
NOTE: The course will most likely be held entirely online, via MS Teams, but there is the possibility of using a hybrid format (face-to-face teaching accompanied by live-streaming). The first few weeks will be offered as an asynchronous online learning experience while we explore the COVID-safety of potentially available rooms.
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| Voraussetzungen |
Die verbindlich geltenden Zulassungsvoraussetzungen entnehmen Sie eigenverantwortlich den Modulhandbüchern und Studienordnungen Ihres jeweiligen Studienganges.
Es wird empfohlen, die Vorlesung "Phonetics" bereits in einem früheren Semester besucht zu haben, bevor man die Übung "Phonetics with Listening Practice (British)" belegt; alternativ kann man die Vorlesung und die Übung im gleichen Semester belegen. |
| Lerninhalte |
In this course we are concerned with certain aspects of what the British linguist J. R. Firth called "the noises we make with our faces in order to live".
You will learn how the sounds of English differ from the sounds of German, both in terms of the way they are produced and in terms of the way they relate to other sounds in the system(s) of the English language. You will practise producing individual English sounds and will also practise what the 18th century phonetician Joshua Steele called the "melody and measure" of English speech, i.e. its intonation and rhythm. Rhythm will provide a context in which to practise some other very important aspects of English, such as weak forms (the reduced, simplified way in which short function words like "should" or "some" or "than" are typically pronounced in normal speech), linking (running your words together smoothly into larger units, so that "an apron" sounds the same as "a napron"), and clipping (of which there are two types: 1) pre-fortis clipping, or shortening the length of the middle of a syllable if the end of the syllable is to be pronounced with more force, as in "search", where the vowel is shorter than the vowel in "surge", and 2) rhythmic clipping, or shortening the length of a stressed syllable if it is followed by unstressed ones, as in "search" -- "searching" -- "searchable").
In addition, you will have opportunities to review what you already know about the complicated relationship between sound and spelling in English.
The course includes a series of listening exercises, which are designed to provide a sample of all the major varieties of English. We will learn, among other things, why so many people misheard Neil Armstrong's famous first words from the surface of the moon, why Australians and New Zealanders misunderstand each other's short vowels (e.g. pan--pen--pin--pun), and what the underlying rhythm of Indian English is that makes it so difficult for speakers of other Englishes to understand what is being said. We will also listen to a recording of what English is predicted to sound like in 100 years' time.
We will meet weekly via MS Teams, and there will be other tasks for you to work on between the weekly meetings. At the beginning of the course, I would like to arrange an individual meeting with each student, for the purpose of assessing everyone's level and deciding which exercises we should work on together.
At the end of the course, there will be a brief (20 minutes) online oral exam, which will involve reading a text aloud, speaking spontaneously, and demonstrating at least a passive knowledge of the phonetic symbols used for transcribing English sounds.
Please note: This course is not designed for Erasmus students, since their level is often too low and their needs too different from those of German students. If there are places available, and Erasmus students would like to apply for one of them, they should contact the course leader by mail to arrange to do an entrance test.
For further information, see the course website:
http://www.spence.saar.de/courses/phoneticswithlistening/ |
