CRJ 7310 - Forensic Language Structure I

Credit Hours: 3

This course introduces students to the linguistic study of phonetics, language sounds and phonology sound systems. There are four main units: Articulatory Phonetics (how speech sounds are produced), Acoustic Phonetics (the physical properties of sound waves and how to measure them), Segmental Phonology (how sounds contrast and alternate within systems), and Suprasegmental Phonology (aspects of sound systems larger than a single segment). An additional unit introduces students to Forensic Linguistic applications of phonetics. Cross-language and cross-dialectal variation in language sounds and sound systems and their implications for Forensic Linguistics are discussed throughout the course. In addition to a solid grounding in the fundamentals of phonetics and phonology, students also gain essential skills in phonetic transcription; recording sounds for phonetic analysis; producing, reading and interpreting spectrograms (commonly mislabeled voiceprints); and conducting basic phonological analyses. Students complete exercises in the various skill areas as the course progresses, including an exercise in the analysis of speech data and professional presentation of results in connection with a hypothetical forensic investigation.