Topics in Phonetics and Phonology: Psycholinguistics of Phonetic Perception

Catalog description

This course examines how perception of acoustic input is shaped by phonological systems, lexicons, and other aspects of linguistic representations. Many factors play a role in phonetic perception; some primary aspects that will be discussed are the role of memory, interactions between perception and production, and effects of top-down and bottom-up processing. Additional topics include individual variation in perception and production, social influences, and mechanisms driving the initiation and spread of sound changes. We will look at studies addressing these issues, examining what sorts of patterns exist, how to approach psycholinguistic questions in phonetic perception, and how to interpret data.