Because speech is the acoustic representation of language, we will examine the time varying acoustic signal –speech production - and the reception, separation and decoding of this signal into language– speech perception. For this class you will be presented with: (a) the basic principles of acoustics; (2) the physiology that produces the acoustic features that comprise speech; (3) basic theories of speech-motor control; (4) basic principles of speech perception; and (5) overview of current theories of speech perception, especially as they pertain to development of language in the first year of life.