About the Lab

What we do

The Illinois Phonetics & Phonology Lab supports research and teaching in the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics at the University of Illinois. From helping undergrads learn how to use phonetics software to providing resources for faculty who wish to acquire data under controlled conditions, the Illinois Phonetics & Phonology Lab is committed to broadening and disseminating knowledge about how linguistic sounds are produced, perceived, and patterned.

Here's a brief look at some of the routine activities of the Lab:

• High-quality digital recording
• Speech perception and production experiments
• Physiological data acquisition, including aerodynamics and electroglottography
• Electropalatography
• Analysis of data collected in the field

Because the Lab is used by students and faculty from the Department of Linguistics as well as a number of foreign language departments, the research that goes on is linguistically diverse as well. Read more about the languages we are working on.

Who we are

We are a linguistically diverse and empirically oriented group of faculty and student researchers from many academic units in the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. An ever-growing group of faculty and graduate students is conducting research in the Lab. The Lab's resources are also open to undergraduate and graduate students taking phonetics-related courses in the School of Literatures, Culture, and Linguistics. Find out more about us.

History

Upon receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, Professor Chin Woo Kim arrived at the University of Illinois and established the Phonetics Lab in 1967. As in other labs established by students of Peter Ladefoged, research in the Illinois Phonetics Lab dealt with articulation, acoustics, and physiology using the latest instrumental techniques. Forty years later, we foster that same tradition, with the best tools and the sharpest minds at our disposal.

ExPhon

ExPhon is a student-led organization that invests its time and resources learning new technologies in experimental phonetics. Read more about ExPhon's upcoming meetings here.

F³

F³ (or Phonetics and Phonology Forum) is a biweekly reading and presentation group. Faculty and students discuss topics of current interest to the field and periodically present their own research in an informal setting. Check out the schedule for upcoming events on the calendar.

Contact

• Telephone: (217) 244-3063
• Lab Assistants
• Chris Carignan (ccarign2 at illinois.edu)
• Meg Osfar (mosfar2 at illinois.edu)

Where we are

The Lab is located in room G90 of the Foreign Languages Building (FLB). Read about the fabled history and architecture of the Foreign Languages Building and visit its administrative services.

Support

The Illinois Phonetics & Phonology Lab is administered by the Department of Linguistics.

Users of the Lab are grateful for generous support from:

• The Department of Linguistics
• The Beckman Institute
• The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
• The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• The School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics
• The Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
• The Department of French

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