Speech is an important part of what makes us human, and physical principles allow us to describe and explain the way we talk. From explaining how sounds are made to explaining why languages change over time, many aspects of language described by linguists involve physics. This course, through real life examples and demonstrations, will connect physical principles like pressure, waves, and resonance to linguistic principles and phenomena such as the description of sounds in English, the creation of tone systems in languages like Mandarin, and the use of implosives in languages like Zulu.