This book describes all the known ways in which the sounds of the world's languages differ. Encapsulating the work of two leading figures in the field, it will be a standard work of reference for researchers in phonetics, linguistics and speech science for many years to come. The scope of the book is truly global, with data drawn from nearly 400 languages, many of them investigated at first hand by the authors.

The Sounds of Language is an introductory guide to the linguistic study of speech sounds, which provides uniquely balanced coverage of both phonology and phonetics. Features exercises and problem sets, as well as supporting online resources at www.wiley.com/go/zsiga, including additional discussion questions and exercises, as well as links to further resources such as sound files, video files, and useful websites Creates opportunities for students to practice data analysis and hypothesis testing Integrates data on sociolinguistic variation, first language acquisition, and second language learning Explores diverse topics ranging from the practical, such as how to make good digital recordings, make a palatogram, solve a phoneme/allophone problem, or read a spectrogram; to the theoretical, including the role of markedness in linguistic theory, the necessity of abstraction, features and formal notation, issues in speech perception as distinct from hearing, and modelling sociolinguistic and other variations Organized specifically to fit the needs of undergraduate students of phonetics and phonology, and is structured in a way which enables instructors to use the text both for a single semester phonetics and phonology course or for a two-course sequence

Reading this volume transported me back to Harvard and MIT lecture halls of the 1960s, where weekly Roman Jakobson would spellbind his audience (this reviewer included), developing his vision of language through impassioned exposition, deft and devastating allusions to critical literature, anecdotes with the force of parables, metaphors of mythic imagery, and above all else overriding verbal artistry: truly in his own phrase, 'In the poetry of grammar'. The Sound Shape of Language, his collaboration with Linda R. Waugh, a scholar who has devoted considerable attention to an exposition and elaboration of Jakobsonian views, fortunately has preserved in print the authoritative lectorial voice. Michael Silverstein in Journal of Communication

The Sounds of Language is an introductory guide to the linguistic study of speech sounds, which provides uniquely balanced coverage of both phonology and phonetics. Features exercises and problem sets, as well as supporting online resources at www.wiley.com/go/zsiga, including additional discussion questions and exercises, as well as links to further resources such as sound files, video files, and useful websites Creates opportunities for students to practice data analysis and hypothesis testing Integrates data on sociolinguistic variation, first language acquisition, and second language learning Explores diverse topics ranging from the practical, such as how to make good digital recordings, make a palatogram, solve a phoneme/allophone problem, or read a spectrogram; to the theoretical, including the role of markedness in linguistic theory, the necessity of abstraction, features and formal notation, issues in speech perception as distinct from hearing, and modelling sociolinguistic and other variations Organized specifically to fit the needs of undergraduate students of phonetics and phonology, and is structured in a way which enables instructors to use the text both for a single semester phonetics and phonology course or for a two-course sequence

Phonetics is the scientific study of sounds used in language- how the sounds are produced, how they are transferred from the speaker to the hearer and how they are heard and perceived. The Sounds of Language provides an accessible, general introduction to phonetics with a special emphasis on English. Focusing on the phonetics of English, the first section allows students to get an overall view of the subject. Two standard accents of English are presented- RP (Received Pronunciation), the standard accent of England, and GA (General American), the standard accent throughout much of North America. The discussion is arranged so that students can read only the RP or GA portions, if desired. Sixteen additional accents of English spoken around the world are also covered to provide students with wider international coverage. The author then moves on to introduce acoustics phonetics in an accessible manner for those without a science background. The last section of the book provides a detailed discussion of all aspects of speech with extensive examples from languages around the world. Containing student-friendly features such as extensive exercises for practising the sounds covered in each chapter; a glossary of technical terms; instructions on how to write phonetic symbols; the latest International Phonetic Alphabet chart and a detailed list of English consonantal variants, The Sounds of Language provides an excellent introduction to phonetics to students of linguistics and speech pathology and students of English as a second language.

Comprehensive Articulatory Phonetics teaches how to recognize, record, and reproduce the sounds of any language.Phonetics is the study of sounds. Specifically, it is the study of human speech sounds. A person who only speaks one language may not realize that there are hundreds of different consonants and vowels spoken by humans in different parts of the world. This book will introduce the reader to almost every sound spoken by man.Since the English alphabet is inadequate to represent every speech sound known to man, the reader will be taught the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This is a special alphabet containing numerous symbols that represent sounds for all languages. Charts are included in the back of this book that list many of the symbols used in the IPA. Some IPA symbols will look quite familiar, but others are from foreign languages or were invented specially for the IPA. Learning these symbols and their corresponding sounds is the foundation to accurately learning the sound system of a language.The reader should also be aware of the fact that not all linguists follow the IPA conventions. Though this book generally follows the standard IPA, alternative symbols and notations will be explained throughout the text.This book is intended for speakers of American English because many of the sounds are compared to the English language. Speakers of other dialects or languages may need to adjust their pronunciation accordingly.Table of Contents:Lesson 1: Introduction to SoundsLesson 2: Fricatives and VoicingLesson 3: Pitch VariationsLesson 4: Stops and Voice Onset TimeLesson 5: Facial DiagramsLesson 6: Progressive Pitch ControlLesson 7: Aspiration and Glottal StopsLesson 8: Advanced IntonationLesson 9: AffricatesLesson 10: Introduction to VowelsLesson 11: Characteristics of SyllablesLesson 12: Vowel GlidesLesson 13: Fronting, Retroflexion, and SibilantsLesson 14: Back VowelsLesson 15: NasalsLesson 16: Front VowelsLesson 17: LateralsLesson 18: Open Vowels and LengthLesson 19: Flaps and TrillsLesson 20: Central Vowels and ApproximantsLesson 21: Alveopalatal StopsLesson 22: Vowel and Glide ClustersLesson 23: Palatal and Uvular ConsonantsLesson 24: Nasalized VowelsLesson 25: Double Articulations and PrenasalizationLesson 26: Front Rounded and Back Unrounded VowelsLesson 27: Transition and ReleaseLesson 28: States of the GlottisLesson 29: ImplosivesLesson 30: Breathy Consonants and Consonant ClustersLesson 31: EjectivesLesson 32: Tongue Root PlacementLesson 33: Secondary ArticulationsLesson 34: Fortis and Lenis ArticulationLesson 35: ClicksLesson 36: Speech StylesAppendix

Phonetics is the scientific study of sounds used in language- how the sounds are produced, how they are transferred from the speaker to the hearer and how they are heard and perceived. The Sounds of Language provides an accessible, general introduction to phonetics with a special emphasis on English. Focusing on the phonetics of English, the first section allows students to get an overall view of the subject. Two standard accents of English are presented- RP (Received Pronunciation), the standard accent of England, and GA (General American), the standard accent throughout much of North America. The discussion is arranged so that students can read only the RP or GA portions, if desired. Sixteen additional accents of English spoken around the world are also covered to provide students with wider international coverage. The author then moves on to introduce acoustics phonetics in an accessible manner for those without a science background. The last section of the book provides a detailed discussion of all aspects of speech with extensive examples from languages around the world. Containing student-friendly features such as extensive exercises for practising the sounds covered in each chapter; a glossary of technical terms; instructions on how to write phonetic symbols; the latest International Phonetic Alphabet chart and a detailed list of English consonantal variants, The Sounds of Language provides an excellent introduction to phonetics to students of linguistics and speech pathology and students of English as a second language.

This popular and accessible introduction to phonetics is now available in a fully updated second edition. Peter Ladefoged describes how languages use a variety of different sounds, many of them quite unlike any that occur in well-known languages. Important topics covered in Vowels and Consonants include: * The main forces operating on the sounds of languages * The acoustic components of speech and speech synthesis * Computers and Text-To-Speech systems and speech recognition systems * Descriptions of the sounds of a wide variety of languages that are reproduced on the accompanying CD. This revised edition includes a new chapter on how we listen to speech and the greatly expanded CD now contains data on 100 languages to reinforce learning and bring the descriptions to life.