Postgraduate (doctoral) study

The postgraduate study programme in phonetics trains highly educated professionals for research and various ways of treating the speech signal, on the background of linguistic findings about language structure. The study allows for the student’s individual specialization in the selected area of speech sciences. These areas may include researching general phonetic and phonological properties of Czech or other languages, various aspects related to the acquisition of second language pronunciation, possibilities of identifying the speaker from the speech signal, psychophonetically and sociophonetically oriented research, as well as research interfacing phonetic and linguistic knowledge with speech technology.

The doctoral study in Phonetics is a four-year programme, offered in English and Czech.

Essential information about PhD study at the Faculty of Arts

Current PhD students at the Institute of Phonetics
Student Dissertation topic Supervisor Started in
Michaela Svatošová The relationship between the temporal structure of speech and the information structure of utterances in three speech genres Jan Volín 2023
Kryštof Buchal The Influence of Suprasegmental Phenomena on Aural Vocabulary Knowledge in Czech Advanced Learners of English Radek Skarnitzl 2023
Miroslava Hrbková Development of speech communication in preterm infants with intact hearing development and with diagnosed sensorineural hearing loss Radek Skarnitzl 2022
Pranav Badyal Exploring the Aspect of Length in Dogri and Dogri English Tomáš Bořil 2022
Jan Šebek Effects of external radiotherapy in the neck area on the voice and speech of a Czech speaker Tomáš Bořil 2021
Natalia Nudga Acquisition of L2 sounds: optimal training methods and a formal model Kateřina Chládková 2020
Gabriela Marková The relation of critical discourse analysis categories to prosodic parameters in a Czech and English corpus of television debates Jan Volín 2019
Tomáš Nechanský Individual and group manifestations of socioeconomic status in speech Radek Skarnitzl 2018 (suspended)
Martina Černá Stuttering in Czech and its influence on the perception of the personality traits of the speaker Jan Volín 2017 (suspended)
Andrea Rosenbergová Integrating English Pronunciation Instruction into the Adult Language Classroom and the Impact on Student´s Production and Perception Radek Skarnitzl 2017 (suspended)
Lea Tylečková Attractivity of the voice: its acoustic correlares and perceptual characteristics Radek Skarnitzl 2015 (suspended)
Jitka Vaňková Usefulness of vowel spectral properties for speaker identification in various acoustic conditions Radek Skarnitzl 2012 (suspended)
Graduate Profile

Graduates of the doctoral study programme in Phonetics have in-depth theoretical knowledge of the key areas related to the description of human speech and the sound patterns of Czech; in the area of the dissertation, they are very well acquainted with the current state-of-the-arts, which includes the knowledge of both primary and secondary sources. They are able to reflect their branch of study on the background of general linguistic description of language. Graduates are capable of pursuing professional scientific work at an international level, they make effective use of phonetic analysis tools and tools for statistical data processing, corresponding to their area of expertise. The doctoral programme allows graduates to work as researchers and university teachers, or depending on their specialization as experts in the commercial sphere in areas such as speech technology or language instruction.

Admission information

The doctoral study of phonetics is suitable especially for graduates of phonetics or linguistics, as well as other philological programmes, potentially also for graduates of technical programmes like acoustics or information science, and social sciences like psychology.

Information about admission into doctoral programmes

During the admission exam, applicants demonstrate their

  • thorough knowledge of the essentials of speech production, perception and acoustics
  • orientation in the area of speech communication
  • knowledge of current methods of phonetic research
  • practical skills of auditory and instrumental analysis of speech

The admission process involves the submission of the project of the intended dissertation. The project includes a synopsis of existing research in the area, a list of relevant sources, and a proposal of conducting the planned research. The project is thoroughly discussed during the admission exam. It is recommended that the projects are discussed in advance with the chair of the subject-area board (Jan Volín).

Dissertation topics are chosen depending on the current research orientation of the institute (for instance, in relation to grant projects), and also depending on the specialization of the supervisors and the scientific focus of the students. The final dissertation topic is specified based on the submitted project. Barring exceptions, dissertations in phonetics constitute empirical or experimental research based on real speech data.

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