Introduction to English Phonetics

An introduction to the phonetic description of spoken EnglishThe second edition of this distinguished textbook introduces undergraduates to the concepts, terminology and representations needed for an understanding of how English is pronounced around the world.Assuming no prior knowledge, it guides the reader through the vocal tract and explains how the sounds of speech are made, offering an accessible and expanded introduction to areas including transcription, vowels and acoustic analysis. As far as possible, it uses naturally-occurring conversational speech so that readers are familiar with the details of everyday talk (and not just the careful pronunciations presented in dictionaries.) The book also includes a new concluding chapter that works through a piece of spoken data to show the reader how a more complete phonetic analysis can be conducted. Examples are taken from around the English-speaking world, including North America, Australia, New Zealand and varieties of British English. The book takes an open-minded approach to what sounds of English might be significant for making meaning, and highlights the significance of word meaning, morphology, sociolinguistics and conversational interaction in phonetic analysis. Key featuresAssumes no prior knowledge of phoneticsFocuses on phonetics as a skill and encourages the reader to reflect on own speechCovers a range of forms of phonetic representationEach chapter contains a summary, exercises and further readingExpanded, accessible coverage in the areas of transcription and vowelsIncludes a new chapter on Sound and Structures which works through a piece of spoken data to show how a more complete phonetic analysis can be conducted See the Resources tab (below) for an audio example