The aim of modern phonological theory is to reveal underlying principles that explain language sound structure in the world's languages. Research in phonological theory has traditionally limited the field of inquiry to normal adult language sources. In this course, we will extend the domain of phonological theory to include more exceptional speech data--data from language learners and from other atypical sources.

We will analyze phonological data from nine exceptional language sources: child first language acquisition, speech disorders, adult second language acquisition, pidgin and creole languages, aphasic speech, slips of the tongue, language games, speaking in tongues, and weird text language, like alien language from science fiction. These types of speech behaviors are not willy-nilly sound productions; rather they all appear to abide by the same underlying principles that normal languages do.