Work-Study Research Assistant Program

Faculty Name: Jennifer Scapetis-Tycer

Faculty Department: Dramatic Arts

General Research Focus: My research is focused on the intonation patterns of different accents and how to distill them into a more teachable form using musical concepts. I am considering a range of accents and much of the work is based in analyzing recordings of speakers with those accents.

Brief Position Description: A student Reasearch Assistant has two important jobs: 1) computational analysis of sound files using a computer program called PRAAT, 2) finding and summarizing relevant articles (largely from Linguistics) focused on the pitch patterns of specified accents. There is also sometimes a need for transcription of recorded speech.    Students will be trained in basic concepts from Linguistics and Music Theory in order to contribute to the analysis. They will also spend a lot of time listening to different accents as they work with the sound files, so there is much opportunity to learn about different accents through that experience and in discussions. Students will also gain experience managing their work time, attending regular meetings to report findings, discussing concepts, and organizing data. 

A "Student Research Review Assistant - 205" will assist faculty in research effort by conducting review of literature and subject material specific to research topics. A student in this position may:

• Finding and summarizing relevant academic sources on the intonation patterns of various accents
• Acoustic analysis of speech samples using PRAAT software and recording key figures on spreadsheets. 
• Transcription of recorded speech