Describing Spoken English: An Introduction

by Kreidler,Charles W.

• ISBN13: 9780415150941
• ISBN10: 0415150949
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-05
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Describing Spoken Englishprovides a practical introduction to the pronunciation of contemporary English. Requiring no prior knowledge of phonetics or phonology, the book examines the main varieties of English, focusing on the elements common to all native-speaker varieties and presents the differences as minor variations on a theme. The book is divided into twelve chapters which cover speech production, principles of phonological analysis, consonants, the vowel systems of different varieties of the language, syllable structure, strong and weak syllables, phonological processes in connected speech, stress in simple words and compounds, tone units and utterances, the role of accent in discourse, and the interrelations of morphology and phonology. Presented in an accessible jargon-free style,Describing Spoken Englishwill be essential for all students of the English language and linguistics.

Author Biography

Charles W. Kreidler is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Symbols and typographic conventions
The pronunciation of English	p. 1
Speech	p. 13
The structure of language	p. 33
English consonants	p. 49
English vowels	p. 65
Syllables	p. 85
Strong and weak syllables	p. 101
Word stress	p. 123
Stress in compound words and phrases	p. 143
The role of accent in discourse	p. 161
Intonation	p. 177
Morphemes that vary in form	p. 195
Feedback on exercises	p. 212
Bibliography	p. 225
Index	p. 231
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