English Phonology

This textbook introduces the main units and concepts you require to describe speech sounds accurately. By working through the book and the various exercises included, you will come to understand the need for a dedicated system of description and transcription for speech sounds, and for a degree of phonological abstraction to support our understanding of the behaviour of sounds in particular languages and varieties. You will learn to carry out elementary, broad phonetic transcription, and be able to establish contrastive vowel and consonant systems for your own varieties and to express simple generalisations reflecting the productive and predictable patterns of English sounds. At the end of the book there is a section guiding you through some of the exercises and there is also a detailed glossary which will be useful for assignments or revision during exams.

This is a general discussion of the phonology of English within the frameworks of lexical, metrical, and prosodic phonology. It not only presents a synthesis of current approaches but also reconciles their discrepancies and presents critical commentary. There is a discussion of current theories, segment and syllable structure, stress, and prosodic categories and their role in determining the application of segmental rules. Two chapters discuss lexical phonology as divided into a cyclic and a postcyclic stratum, while the final chapter discusses postlexical phonology and some other approaches. The book includes exercises and can be used as an undergraduate or graduate textbook; at the same time, it is a valuable research tool for phonologists.

This introduction to the phonology of present-day English offers a systematic and detailed discussion of the features shared by three varieties of English: "General American," Southern British "Received Pronunciation" and "Scottish Standard English".

Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students. Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings – all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible ‘two-dimensional’ structure is built around four sections – Introduction, Development, Exploration and Extension – which offer self-contained stages for study. Revised and updated throughout, this fourth edition of Practical English Phonetics and Phonology: presents the essentials of the subject and their day-to-day applications in an engaging and accessible manner; covers all the core concepts of phonetics and phonology, such as the phoneme, syllable structure, production of speech, vowel and consonant possibilities, glottal settings, stress, rhythm, intonation and the surprises of connected speech; incorporates classic readings from key names in the discipline; outlines the sound systems of six key languages from around the world (Spanish, French, Italian, German, Polish and Japanese); is accompanied by a brand-new companion website which hosts a collection of samples provided by genuine speakers of 25 accent varieties from Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore and West Africa, as well as transcriptions, further study questions, answer keys, links to further reading and numerous recordings to accompany activities in the book. This edition has been completely reorganised and new features include: updated descriptions of the sounds of modern English and the adoption of the term General British (GB); considerable expansion of the treatment of intonation, including new recordings; and two new readings by David Crystal and John Wells. Written by authors who are experienced teachers and researchers, this best-selling textbook will appeal to all students of English language and linguistics and those training for a certificate in TEFL.

This is an attempt to view historical phonological change as an ongoing, recurrent process. The author sees like events occurring at all periods, a phenomenon which he considers is disguised by too great a reliance upon certain characteristics of the scholarly tradition. Thus he argues that those innovations arrived at by speakers of the English language many years ago are not in principle unlike those that can be seen to be happening today. Phonological mutations are, on the whole, not to be regarded as unique, novel, once only events. Speakers appear to present to speech sound materials, a limited set of evaluative and decoding perceptions, together with what would seem to be a finite number of innovation producing stratagems in response to their interpretation. It is stressed that this interpretation may itself be a direct product of the kinds of data selected for presentation in traditional handbooks and Jones notes the fact that phonological change is often "messy" and responsive to a highly tuned ability to perceive fine phonetic detail of a type which, by definition, rarely has the opportunity to surface in historical data sources.

This book aims to provide a clear description of key aspects of English phonology in order to help teachers diagnose and prioritize problem areas in pronunciation. It also aims to develop an awareness of current issues and relevant research in the field to inform teachers decisions, not only about what to teach, but how to teach pronunciation, particularly in EIL contexts. Specifically, it aims to enable readers to: * Understand key terms and concepts in phonology and phonetics * Become aware of current issues and debates in research and apply these to pronunciation teaching, particularly in EIL contexts * Conduct phonological analysis of learner language, including phonemic transcription * Diagnose and assess learner's pronunciation difficulties and needs * Plan a structured pronunciation syllabus The book assumes no prior knowledge and is a key resource for both newcomers and experienced practitioners in the fields of English Language Teaching as well as students of applied linguistics.

This book covers the historical development of the English phonological system from its earliest reconstructed and recorded forms to its most recent variations.

Now fully updated with the latest research and references, the third edition of Applied English Phonology provides a detailed,accessible introduction to the English sound system. Discusses the fundamental concepts of English phonology, from phonetic elements, phonemics, and allophonic rules of English consonants and vowels to phonotactics, stress, and intonation Includes new coverage of waveform analysis, bilingual phonology, code-switching, and loan phonology Expands discussions of L1 contrastive phonological structures and markedness Supports students and instructors with sound files for transcription exercises and an instructor’s manual, available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/yavas3e