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Irene Chen Shen, MSc in Forensic Speech Science 2013-14

What are your research interests / what are you working on?

I am working on sociophonetics under forensic settings. My interests include impressionist and acoustic phonetics, conversation analyses, and language variation and change.

What is your favourite module and why?

My favourite module is Articulatory and Impressionist Phonetics. It focuses on the general phonetic details of the sound of the world’s languages. This module includes a practical session on one of the non-lingua franca languages. This term we are focusing on Danish - an interesting and exciting language. Learning to understand the rules of the language and transcribing it is great fun.

Why York rather than somewhere else?

York has a very strong academic environment lead by a group of excellent scholars. The university’s campus is beautiful and people are friendly. It is a great place to live and study.

How has your experience at York broadened your horizons as a linguist?

Excellent lectures given by the lecturers, various workshops focusing on different subjects within linguistics, and seminars altogether provide us with numerous resources.

What’s the level of support like from staff and the department as a whole, are they receptive to feedback?

Yes, the lecturers are very helpful. They give feedback on the work we have done and provide advice on future study.

What has been your favourite aspect of living and studying at York so far?

The high quality education and the great company of colleagues.

What do you feel is the most important thing you will take away from your experience at York?

The ability of being a mature independent learner.

Irene