- Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students

Editorial Reviews
Review
Practical Phonetics and Phonology gathers together a far wider range of topics than other books on English phonetics. Many more accents of English are discussed, and we really learn about English as a world language. Experienced teachers of English and beginning students will all profit from this book.
–Peter Ladefoged, University of California Los Angeles

[This book] genuinely delivers what many introductions only promise: enviably clear explanations of phonetic and phonological frameworks, wide-ranging accounts of segmental and suprasegmental features and, most importantly, reasons why speech variation matters. The emphasis on the practicalities and applications of studying speech makes this book an essential resource for both newcomers to the subject and established disciples.
–Joan Rahilly, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland

An excellent and original book, written in a clear and accessible style and containing much well-informed discussion of varieties of English.
–Philip Carr, Université Paul Valéry, France

The general impression upon reading the book from cover to cover is that it truly gives what many introductions only promise.
–Biljana Cubrovic, University of Belgrade, The European English Messenger, Fall 2004



Product Description
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-way' structure is built around four sections - introduction, development, exploration and extension - which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained.

Practical Phonetics and Phonology:
*is a wide-ranging introduction to practical aspects of English phonetics and phonology
*covers step by step the core concepts: production of speech, classification of vowels and consonants, phoneme, syllable structure, features of connected speech, stress and intonation
*includes discussion of regional and social accent variation, language change in progress, application of phonetics to language teaching and learning
*provides classic readings by the key names in the discipline: Ladefoged, Abercrombie, Fry, Crystal, Pinker and Daniel Jones
*is backed up by an accompanying free audio CD with samples of genuine speakers of 20 accent varieties from Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, West Africa.

- SPEAK E-Z CHINESE In Phonetic English

I have bought a few books and an audio course in order to learn some Chinese for fun and also because I wanted to communicate better while visiting China. If I had my pick of just one resource, this awesome, efficient little reference would be it. The best part about it is the pronunciation key for us Westerners to pronounce pinyin, it helps enormously. The book starts with the pronunciation guide and the four tones, then moves on to the essential phrases in every contexts, such as transportation, currency, time and calendar, and restaurants. It teaches both words and short phrases and sentences that introduce you to sentence construction. At the end there's a 130-page dictionary that is surprisingly complete, and includes a pronunciation key for every word. Most of the times I want to know how to say something out of the blue, it's there.

As an added bonus, there's a *lot* of interesting things here that you are unlikely to learn from any other source. I am not sure why they are there but there they are, some are pretty funny. If you want to tell someone she's cute or sexy or that you love her, if you want to curse, call somebody an idiot or crazy or odd, how to call BS, how to say Chicago or California or Spain, how to say general or female/male body parts, how to say football or basketball, how to say honey (both as the sweet liquid and as a term of endearment), how to say "I'm stuffed", how to say so-so, and a bunch of other things, look no further: it's all here.

You can also download an audio version of the book for free from their website, I have not tried it yet but I definitely will. I took this book everywhere I went to in China. Highly recommended.

- English Phonetics and Phonology

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Recognised as the most practical and comprehensive text in the field of phonetics, this third edition of English Phonetics and Phonology includes revised transcriptions, a wider discussion of different varieties of English and an updated treatment of intonation.

Book Description
English Phonetics and Phonology bridges the gap between pronunciation handbooks and technical phonetics and phonology textbooks.

- English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course

Book Description
English Phonetics and Phonology bridges the gap between pronunciation handbooks and technical phonetics and phonology textbooks.

All in all, this is a good book. The explanations are clear and the chapters are short; it's a good introduction to phonetics and phonology. People who are interested in American-English pronunciation should be warned that the book is based on British-English--what the author calls "BBC pronunciation" or "received pronunciation". The phoneme set is somewhat different than that of American-English. Still a worthwhile read.

- English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction

Description
This volume is perfect for introductory level students of English phonetics and phonology. Presupposing no previous knowledge of either phonetics or phonology, it presents the subject with a minimum of technical terminology.

Editorial Reviews
Review
"Philip Carr's book provides an approachable overview of English sound structure, from consonant to and vowel articulation through phonemes, syllable structure and word stress to rhythm, connected speech and intonation. The excellent range of exercises will allow students to make steady progress from segment to sentence, while a final chapter and appendix provide a well-illustrated survey of accent variation." April McMahon, Times Higher Education Supplement