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Bilal Alsharif

Doctoral Student in Linguistics - Bilal’s thesis is entitled ‘A Lingual-Laryngeal Study of Guttural Production and Coarticulation in Jordanian Arabic Dialects’.

Research project title

A Lingual-Laryngeal Study of Guttural Production and Coarticulation in Jordanian Arabic Dialects

Supervisors

Prof Ghada Khattab, Dr Jalal Al-Tamimi and Dr Rory Turnbull

Contact details

E-mail: b.i.h.alsharif2@newcastle.ac.uk

Research interests

  • laboratory phonology
  • phonetics-phonology interface
  • articulatory phonetics
  • sociophonetics
  • language variation and change
  • phonology (Optimality Theory: optionality and variation, exemplar theory, element theory autosegmental approach and lexical phonology)
  • ultrasound tongue imaging (static and dynamic analysis)
  • magnetic resonance imaging (static and dynamic)
  • nasometery, laryngography and labiography
  • Praat and Voicesauce
  • statistics software: R, Python, Matlab and SPSS
  • statistics models: Linear Mixed Model Effects, GAMMs, SS-ANOVA, Random Forests, Conditional Inference Tree, PCA (Pixel Intensity Data and Polar Coordinates), LDA, SVM, Bayesian Statistics
phonetics

A brief outline of the research project

The articulation of post-velar consonants involves two types of constriction: Primary and secondary.  The former refers to pharyngeal, uvulas and laryngeals whereas the latter to emphatics.  Although in these sounds the primary and secondary articulations almost share similar spectral properties (i.e. high F1 and low F2), their articulatory attributes are different, which cause a lot of confusion.  My thesis will explore the role of epilarynx and tongue in the production of Arabic post-velar consonants.  The study will utilize dynamic UTI and MRI data.

Research activities

Academic background

  • MA English Linguistics, Yarmouk University
  • BA English Language and Literature, Al Albayt University