ABSTRACT:
Understanding how the human voice works at the level of the vocal folds is a fundamental part of speech science and linguistics more broadly. Sound Fieldwork is a hands-on training programme designed as part of an ongoing partnership between Brazil (São Paulo, Salvador) and Belgium (Ghent) and dedicated to electroglottography (EGG) and its application to phonetic fieldwork.
Electroglottography is a non-invasive technique that tracks vocal fold contact during speech, allowing for the study of phonation types and other glottalisation phenomena with exceptional temporal precision. While the usefulness of EGG in phonetics is widely recognised, access to practical training with this method remains limited in many academic contexts. This programme is designed to close that gap.
Participants will learn how EGG works from the ground up: how the signal is generated, how electrodes are placed, how different phonation types appear in the waveform, and how to interpret measures such as open quotient, contact quotient, and fundamental frequency in relation to real speech. Training will combine live demonstrations with guided practical sessions in which participants themselves record, process, and analyse EGG data. Participants will learn how portable EGG systems can be used outside traditional lab environments, including in rural and low-infrastructure settings.
Alongside EGG, participants will also receive focused training in acoustic analysis using Praat, allowing them to integrate glottal data with the acoustic signal. They will learn how to annotate phonetic events and derive meaningful measurements that connect articulation, acoustics, and phonology.
Throughout the programme, students will work with real speech data and participate in guided mini-projects that simulate real phonetic fieldwork. Group sessions will also explore how EGG evidence reshapes current debates in the relevant fields.
Sound Fieldwork is designed for students and any other parties interested in linguistics, speech science, phonetics, language documentation, and related areas. No previous experience with EGG is required.
BIO:
Lorenzo Maselli (1996) is “Doctor-assistant” at Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium, EU), Junior fellow at the Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (Tokyo, Japan), and scientific collaborator at Université de Mons - Institut Langage (Mons, Belgium, EU) and Université de Bangui - Institut de Linguistique Appliquée (Bangui, Central African Republic), as well as a former FWO - fundamental research PhD fellow (main institutions: UGent, UMons; partner institutions: ILCAA, ISP Gombe). Lorenzo's main interests lie in the fields of acoustic phonetics, articulation, phonological theory and typology, language documentation, and African linguistics. After obtaining a BA (cum laude) in Italian studies from Università degli Studi di Padova (partner institution: Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori), Lorenzo moved to Pisa to study at Scuola Normale Superiore (taking classes in phonetics and general linguistics). During this time, Lorenzo conducted fieldwork in Ethiopia and completed their education at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at the University of California - Davis. After obtaining an MA (cum laude) in Theoretical and Applied linguistics, Lorenzo spent a year in Paris as an invited researcher at LLACAN, focussing on the phonetics of Nigerian and Ethiopian varieties. Subsequently, Lorenzo worked on the phonetic documentation of the West-Coastal Bantu varieties spoken in Lower Kasai. This culminated in the obtention of two doctoral titles, one in African Studies from UGent and the other in Psychology and Education Sciences from UMons. Lorenzo is currently working on the description of labial-velar and implosive consonants in the Bantu, Ubangi, and Central Sudanic languages of Central African Republic.
