Phonetics Laboratory
Introduction and Interests
The phonetics laboratory was established in 1988, and moved to its current site in the School of Languages and Linguistics in 2009. The laboratory is multi-purpose in nature and is the focus for phonetics teaching, speech science and laboratory phonology research in the Department. The laboratory has collaborative links within the University of Melbourne, namely, Psychology, Cognitive Science, ESL, French and Italian Studies, and with other Linguistics and Speech Departments in Australia and overseas (Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Flinders University, IPS Munich University, Germany).
Research interests in speech science and laboratory phonology include
- Modelling intonation and prosody of Australian English
- Intonation of Australian languages
- Coarticulation in Australian languages
- Phonetics / Phonology interface
- Forensic phonetics
You may contact us about
- Transcription needs
- Speaker identification
- Accent awareness
Staff and Contacts
- Associate Professor Janet Fletcher, Phonetics and Phonology
Rooms 422/417, Babel Buiding
The University of Melbourne 3010 - Dr Debbie Loakes, Phonetics and Phonology
E: dloakes@unimelb.edu.au - Professor John Hajek, Phonetics and Phonology
E: jhajek@unimelb.edu.au
Facilities
The Phonetics Lab is equipped with the following:
Research Systems:
Signal Processing & Acoustics
- EMU Labeller & EMU/R (Win)
Database management system for acoustic and articulatory phonetics- Pitchworks (Win)
Multi-tiered, prosodic labeling with automatic pitch and intensity calculation- HLSyn (Win)
Speech Synthesizer- Praat (Win and OS X)
Signal processing system – acoustic phonetics (interfaced with EMU/R)Physiology
- Articulate Assistant (Win)
with Electropalatograph (EPG-3)
speech recording and analysis software designed to read,annotate, analyse and print EPG files- PC Quirer (Win)
interfaced with:
Separate Oral and Nasal masks (calib for pressure and flow)
Rotthenberg mask (oral and nasal airflow)
Laryngograph (Lx)Databases & Corpor
- ANDOSL
- Brown & Lobb
- ICAME Hit Centre
Acoustics and Physiology Research Lab:
A Dedicated Workstation and Laptop using an EDIROL USB audio interface have been set up with the following allowing physiological measurements to be recorded at any time both in the lab and in the field.
- HLSyn (Speech Synthesizer)
- Articulate Assistant
- EMU / R
- Pitchworks
- Audacity (transcription)
- PC Quirer interfaced with:
- Electropalatograph (EPG-3)
- Oral and Nasal masks (calibrated for pressure and flow)
- Laryngograph (Lx)
Rack Mounted (demonstration purposes only):
- Kay DSP 5500 Sonograph
- Kay Visipitch
Teaching programs in Phonetics
- LING20005 Phonetics
2nd year core subject that covers phonetic theory with particular emphasis on the articulatory mechanisms governing speech production, development of practical phonetic skills, and training in spectography. - LING30002 Phonology
3rd year elective subject that examines developments in phonological theory and provides students with training in formal phonological analysis. - LING40008 Experimental Phonetics
3rd / 4th year course that focuses on the major acoustic and articulatory techniques of experimental phonetics research. - LING90015 English Phonetics and Phonology
Masters course that focuses on the phonetics and phonology of spoken English.
Research Projects
Funded Research Projects- Structure and meaning of intonation in three Australian languages
Investigators: Janet Fletcher, Ruth Singer, Marija Tabain
Funding: Australian Research Council (ARC) - The Big Asc. Audiovisual speech corpus for Australian English.
Melbourne Investigators: Deborah Loakes, Janet Fletcher, John Hajek, David Grayden, Steven Bird
Funding: Australian Research Council (ARC)
Student Research Projects - Examples
- "Perception and production of prosodic elements in young people with cochlear implants" Colleen Holt (PhD)
- "Intonation and Prosody of Kannada and Bengali English". Olga Maxwell (PhD)
- "The prosody/syntax interface in Kayardild and Dalabon" Bella Ross (PhD)
- "Vowel production and perception by Dinka speakers of English" Tom Harris (PhD)
- "Perception and production of Geminates and prosodic contrasts in Kelantan Malay" Hilmi Hamzah (PhD)
- "An Articulatory and Acoustic Study of Consonants in the Northern Australian Language Bininj Gun-Wok" Hywel Stoakes (PhD)
- "An Acoustic Phonetic Study Concerning Coarticulation and Coarticulation Resistance in Australian Languages " Simone Graetzer (PhD) Recent Completions:
- "Speech as a surrogate marker of central nervous system function: practical, experimental and statistical considerations. Adam Vogel (PhD – Neuroscience)
- "Tone in Sumi". Amos Teo (MA Research)
- "An Accoustic Phonetic Investigation into Raddoppiamento Sintattico in Sienese Italian" Mary Stevens (PhD)
- "A Forensic Phonetic Investigation into the Speech Patterns of Identical and Non-identical Twins" Debbie Loakes (PhD)
- "Tone acquistion by Cantonese children with Cochlear Implants" Johanna Barry (PhD)
- "Intonation and prosody in two dialects of Bininj Gun-wok: an autosegmental-metrical analysis" Judith Bishop (PhD)
- "Modeling the Intonation of Lebanese Arabic Using the Autosegmental Framework: A comparison With English" Dana Chahal (PhD)
- "Connected speech processes and consonant articulation in Australian English and in English spoken by Japanese learners of English" Chie Hama (MA Research)
- "A Sociocultural Comparison of Adolescents' Australian English accents in Melbourne" Brian Fricker (MA Research)