Discovering Phonetics and Phonology

Book excerpt: Written in a lively and engaging style, this brand new textbook provides students with a friendly yet authoritative introduction to the sounds of language. Divided into six thematic parts, it unpicks the relationship between sound and spelling before showing you how to describe and classify sounds. It then explains how sounds are combined into syllables, morphemes and words, and looks at stress, tone and duration, collectively known as prosody. It concludes with a discussion of a range of phonological features, processes and theories, including Generative Phonology, Optimality Theory and Feature Geometry. Quizzes prompt students to reflect on what they already know about the subject, and end-of-chapter exercises enable them to consolidate their knowledge before moving on. This book will be essential reading for undergraduates studying phonetics and phonology as part of an English language or linguistics degree.