Pronunciation plays a crucial role in learning English as an international language, yet often remains marginalised by educators due to a lack of required phonetic and phonological knowledge. Pronunciation for English as an International Language bridges the gap between phonetics, phonology and pronunciation and provides the reader with a research based guide on how best to teach the English language. The book follows an easy to follow format which ensures the reader will have a comprehensive grasp of each given topic by the end of the chapter. Key ideas explored include: * Articulation of English speech sounds and basic transcription * Connected speech processes * Current issues in English language pronunciation teaching * Multimedia in English language pronunciation practice * Using speech analysis to investigate pronunciation features Using the latest research, Pronunciation for English as an International Language will facilitate effective teaching and learning for any individual involved in teaching English as a second, foreign or international language.

What is the role of prosody in the generation of sentence structure? A standard notion holds that prosody results from mapping a hierarchical syntactic structure onto a linear sequence of words. A radically different view conceives of certain intonational features as integral components of the syntactic structure. Yet another conception maintains that prosody and syntax are parallel systems that mutually constrain each other to yield surface sentential form. The different viewpoints reflect the various functions prosody may have: On the one hand, prosody is a signal to syntax, marking e.g. constituent boundaries. On the other hand, prosodic or intonational features convey meaning; the concept "intonational morpheme" (as e.g. an exponent of information structural notions like topic or focus) puts prosody and intonation squarely into the syntactic representation. The proposals collected in this book tackle the intricate relationship of syntax and prosody in the encoding of sentences. The contributions build their cases on the basis of solid empirical evidence, adducing data from experiments or from the careful analysis of natural speech. The volume thus represents a state of the art survey of research on the syntax-phonology interface.

Raymond Harris-Northall uses the distinctive features of generative phonology to present synchronic and diachronic rules, but exploits the evidence of the history of the Spanish sound system to show that the 'simplicity' required by the generativists often obscures rather than illuminates the way in which changes develop from small beginnings. Instead, he illustrates the essential need to recognise the relevance of syllable structure constraints, which, allied with a complex but justified and helpful presentation of the relevant strength hierarchies, allow him not only to describe but to explain how changes began in the most suitable phonetic environments and then spread to subsequent items on the hierarchy over time. The result is the most serious and detailed application of strength hierarchy theory that has yet been made to a coherent body of historical data from two millennia of attestations, data that is interesting in its own right, and amenable to the theory.

The scholar-editors and eight accomplished colleagues together offer views of phonological research on American Spanish.

This book investigates the nature of the relationship between phonology and syntax and proposes a theory of Minimal Indirect Reference that solves many classic problems relating to the topic.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This study provides an illuminating and ground-breaking account of the complex interaction of intonational phenomena, semantics and pragmatics. Based on examples from German and English, and centred on an analysis of the fall-rise intonation contour, a semantic interpretation for two different pitch accents - Focus and Topic - is developed. The cross-sentence, as well as the sentence internal semantic effects of these accents, follow from the given treatment. The account is based on Montogovian possible world semantics and Chomskian generative syntax.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Portuguese is a Romance language bearing close links with Spanish and Catalan. In this book, the authors provide an accurate description of the phonological system of Portuguese, comparing the main phenomena of the two most widely extended varieties of the languageDSEuropean Portuguese and Brazilian PortugueseDSwithin the light of current phonological theories. This book's importance and interest lie in the unique characteristics that give Portuguese a special place among the Romance languages.

In this highly readable and thought-provoking book, Delia Chiaro explores the pragmatics of word play, using frameworks normally adopted in descriptive linguistics. Using examples from personally recorded conversations, she examines the structure of jokes, quips, riddles and asides. Chiaro explores degrees of conformity to and deviation from established conventions; the `tellability' of jokes, and the interpretative role of the listener; the creative use of puns, word play and discourse. The emphasis in her analysis is on sociocultural contexts for the production and reception of jokes, and she examines the extent to which jokes are both universal in their appeal, and specific to a particular culture.

In this classic edition of their ground-breaking work, Usha Goswami and Peter Bryant revisit their influential theory about how phonological skills support the development of literacy. The book describes three causal factors which can account for children's reading and spelling development: pre-school phonological knowledge of rhyme and alliteration the impact of alphabetic instruction on knowledge about phonemes links between early spelling and later reading. This classic edition includes a new introduction from the authors which evaluates research from the past 25 years. Examining new evidence from auditory neuroscience, statistical modelling and orthographic database analyses, as well as new data from cognitive developmental psychology and educational studies, the authors consider how well their original ideas have stood up to the test of time. Phonological Skills and Learning to Read will continue to be essential reading for students and researchers in language and literacy development, and those involved in teaching children to read.

This study is the first book-length examination of ejectives and their phonological patterning, deepening the empirical understanding of ejectives and contributing to both phonological theory and to typologies of sound change.

This book is a detailed examination of the phonetics and phonology of consonant strength, drawing data from parallel acoustic and articulatory studies of English and Spanish, as well as a cross linguistic survey of lenition and fortition.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Written for students of linguistics, applied linguistics and speech therapy, this dictionary covers over 2,000 terms in phonetics and phonology. In addition to providing a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to an enormous number of individual terms, it also includes an explanation of the most important theoretical approaches to phonology. Its usefulness as a reference tool is further enhanced by the inclusion of pronunciations, notational devices and symbols, earliest sources of terms, suggestions for further reading, and advice with regard to usage. The wide range of topics explained include: * Classical phonology, including American Structuralism and the Prague School * Contemporary approaches, including Autosegmental Phonology, Metrical Phonology, Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology and Lexical Phonology * Prosodic ideas in phonology, both traditional and contemporary ^ * * historical phonology * Intonation and tonology This dictionary devotes space to the various theoretical approaches in proportion to their importance, but it concentrates most heavily on non-theory-bound descriptive terminology. It will remain a definitive reference for years to come.

This enhanced edition of French Phonetics is intended for college-level instruction, for self-study and for reference purposes. The text, including Cahier d'Exercices, helps the student to become proficient in the pronunciation of French by explaining the characteristics of the French sound system clearly and systematically and by giving precise rules of pronunciation throughout. After introducing the learner to the International Phonetic Alphabet, the manual proceeds to a thorough examination of every sound in the French language in relation to its spelling and its phonological surroundings. If the book is used as a reference tool, the reader will be able to verify the pronunciation of many difficult verb forms and names not found in a dictionary. Students will be able to phonetically transcribe French words, to read a phonetically transcribed text, and most importantly to pronounce correctly any French word that they encounter, even if they have never seen it before. Cassettes or CD's for French Phonetics and the Cahier d'Exercices are available by contacting the author at [email protected]; Please cc her alternate e-mail address in your request: [email protected]

Data from a variety of languages are offered in support of the claim that although there are several processes by which languages commonly add to an already existing stock of long vowels, there is only one mechanism by which a language without a distinction of vocalic length commonly introduces such a distinction. This mechanism is the coalescence of vowel sequences, typically after loss of intervocalic consonants. This book examines vowels lengths, their differences and their effects on language.

This book presents a description of the phonology and morphology of the nominal class system in Fula, a dialect which displays 21 nominal classes. These are identified by suffixes, which can attach to nominal, verbal and adjectival stems. The main objective of this work is to show, through a lexical analysis, that there are only two monomorphemic marker variants, and that the distribution of these variants is predictable.

Those working on the description of disordered speech are bound to be also involved with clinical phonology to some extent. This is because interpreting the speech signal is only the first step to an analysis. Describing the organization and function of a speech system is the next step. However, it is here that phonologists differ in their descriptions, as there are many current approaches in modern linguistics to undertaking phonological analyses of both normal and disordered speech. Much of the work in theoretical phonology of the last fifty years or so is of little use in either describing disordered speech or explaining it. This is because the dominant theoretical approach in linguists as a whole attempts elegant descriptions of linguistic data, not a psycholinguistic model of what speakers do when they speak. The latter is what is needed in clinical phonology. In this text, Martin J. Ball addresses these issues in an investigation of what principles should underlie a clinical phonology. This is not, however, simply another manual on how to do phonological analyses of disordered speech data, though examples of the application of various models of phonology to such data are provided. Nor is this a guide on how to do therapy, though a chapter on applications is included. Rather, this is an exploration of what theoretical underpinnings are best suited to describing, classifying, and treating the wide range of developmental and acquired speech disorders encountered in the speech-language pathology clinic.

Those working on the description of disordered speech are bound to be also involved with clinical phonology to some extent. This is because interpreting the speech signal is only the first step to an analysis. Describing the organization and function of a speech system is the next step. However, it is here that phonologists differ in their descriptions, as there are many current approaches in modern linguistics to undertaking phonological analyses of both normal and disordered speech. Much of the work in theoretical phonology of the last fifty years or so is of little use in either describing disordered speech or explaining it. This is because the dominant theoretical approach in linguists as a whole attempts elegant descriptions of linguistic data, not a psycholinguistic model of what speakers do when they speak. The latter is what is needed in clinical phonology. In this text, Martin J. Ball addresses these issues in an investigation of what principles should underlie a clinical phonology. This is not, however, simply another manual on how to do phonological analyses of disordered speech data, though examples of the application of various models of phonology to such data are provided. Nor is this a guide on how to do therapy, though a chapter on applications is included. Rather, this is an exploration of what theoretical underpinnings are best suited to describing, classifying, and treating the wide range of developmental and acquired speech disorders encountered in the speech-language pathology clinic.

This book, first published in 1933, examines the dialect of the people of Byers Green in County Durham. Orton explores the possible reasons behind why the dialect has signs of external influences, and the ways in which it differs to the dialects of other populations in County Durham. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

This dissertation, first published in 1980, is concerned with the role of the syllable in generative grammar. Kahn argues that the syllable is a necessary element in phonological descriptions by identifying aspects of phonology that seem to call for analysis in terms of syllabic structure and demonstrating the superiority of syllabic analyses over possible alternative solutions. This title will be of interest to students of English language and linguistics.

This work, first published in 1980, was a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. This study concerns certain aspects of the relationship between syntax and phonology in English and French. In particular, it represents an investigation of the universal conventions and language-particular readjustment rules which create the proper surface structure input to the phonological rules operating beyond the level of the word in French and English, and it offers a description of those phonological rules. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

Variations in speech melody (intonation) can be used to express different meanings (e.g. question vs. statement, friendliness). Yet, intonational information is hardly used in presentday linguistic models. When intonational information is used, it is mostly based on introspection rather than on empirical investigation; almost exclusively, a one-to-one relation between accent types and semantic function is assumed. This book focuses on an empirical investigation of thematic contrast in German. Thematic contrast has received considerable attention in semantics because sentences with contrastive themes can be used to imply propositions of various kinds without saying them explicitly. In this book, first an acoustic comparison between sentences produced in contrastive and non-contrastive contexts is described. Intonational realisation is quantified in terms of the height and position of tonal targets. The perceptual reality of different productions and the relevance of different accoustic cues are tested by means of rating experiments. Finally, the data are prosodically annotated by a group of linguists to explore the validity and explanatory power of different accent categories for contrastive and non-contrastive themes in German.

This volume is a selection of papers presented at the 9th International Conference on Middle English held at Wyzsza Szkola Filologiczna (Philological School of Higher Education) in Wroclaw, Poland, from April 30 to May 3, 2015. The contributors cover a wide range of topics in the area of language and literature. The linguistic papers constitute the majority of contributions and focus on problems from phonology to grammar, semantics and pragmatics. The literary contributions discuss various aspects of Middle English texts.