An Introduction to English Phonology 2nd edition: 2nd edition (Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language)

A student’s introduction to the sounds of English * Ten discrete chapters map on to an introductory course on English phonology * Expanded coverage of different accents and varieties of modern World Englishes * New coverage of intonation * Theory-neutral and clear explanation of concepts central to the practice of phonology * New exercises, discussion questions and a glossary * Over 80 diagrams and examples clearly demonstrate key concepts, data and ideas 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. Contents To students To colleagues 1 Sounds, spellings and symbols 2 The phoneme: the same but different 3 Describing English consonants 4 Defining distributions: consonant allophones 5 Criteria for contrast: the phoneme system 6 Describing vowels 7 Vowel phonemes 8 Variation between accents 9 Syllables 10 The word and above Glossary Discussion of the exercises References Index This volume introduces the basic tools and concepts necessary for the outline description of English phonological systems and processes. The book takes an essentially theory-neutral approach, and contains numerous exercises