Phonetics and Phonology: Theory and Practice

Book excerpt: This theory and practice book is aimed at first-year students of Phonetics and Phonology. It is designed for use on twelve- or fourteen-week course on English Phonetics and Phonology of sort taught in the first year of many English Language and Linguistics degree. Students on such courses can struggle with English Phonetics and Phonology. This book attempts to show students why we need to know about Phonetics and Phonology, if we are interested in language and our knowledge of it, as well as introducing the main units and concepts we require to describe speech sounds accurately. It is based on a book I wrote which was published in the previous year. The book, which had the title Fluency in English Pronunciation has now been revised and updated. Since I feel that this book still has some use, I have taken many great works from many experts in (English) Phonetics and Phonology, and hope that it will be useful to students in getting to grips with all matters in English Phonetics and Phonology.