The course will survey a wide range of topics on expressive speech prosody, covering linguistic prosody, information structure, emotional and attitudinal...

Seminar on Expressive Prosody (PLIN0041)

The course will survey a wide range of topics on expressive speech prosody, covering linguistic prosody, information structure, emotional and attitudinal expressions, sexual dimorphism, charisma and attractiveness. We will also discuss relations between expressive prosody and music, and disorders such as Autism and aprosodia. These topics will be examined from both linguistic and evolutionary perspectives. There will be alternation of lectures and seminars. Each seminar will consist of 2-3 sessions, each led by a single or a small group of students reporting their findings on a number of papers assigned a week in advance. The assignment of papers will be accompanied by a number of guiding questions that focus on the critical issues.

The main module aims are:

-To expose students to speech-related theories beyond core phonetics and phonology

-To engage students in debates over the strength and weaknesses of these theories

The main module objectives are:

-To gain an evolutionary perspective of human speech through the examination of expressive prosody

-To gain an appreciation of the coherent links between different aspects of human speech

This module examines key philosophical questions about culture, public art, and cultural heritage. Topics may include: how to define culture and to adjudicate...

Culture, Heritage and Critique (PHIL0189)

This module examines key philosophical questions about culture, public art, and cultural heritage. Topics may include: how to define culture and to adjudicate between competing conceptualisations of culture; how to theorise the relationships between cultures, and in particular how to reconcile tensions between local and particularising models of culture, and broader liberal egalitarian commitments to equality and universalism; how best to make sense of ideas of cultural property and cultural appropriation; the cultural, aesthetic and ethical implications of putting artefacts, and human bodies on public display; and when cultural artefacts such as statues should be removed from public display.

Philosophy Area B