American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice

American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice provides an accessible introduction to basic articulatory phonetics for students of American English. Built around an extensive collection of practice materials, this book teaches the pronunciation of modern standard American English to intermediate and advanced learners worldwide.

This book:

? provides an up-to-date description of the pronunciation of modern American English;

? demonstrates the use of each English phoneme with a selection of high-frequency words,

both alone and in context in sentences, idiomatic phrases and dialogues;

? provides examples and practice material on commonly confused sounds, including illustrative pronunciation diagrams;

? is supported by a companion website featuring complete audio recordings of practice material to check your pronunciation against;

? can be used not only for studying pronunciation in the classroom but also for independent practice.

American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice is essential reading for any student studying this topic.

English phonemic transcription key

Phonetic symbols and diacritics

The International Phonetic Alphabet

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 Basic concepts

2 Consonants

3 Practice: individual consonants

4 Practice: consonant contrasts

5 Vowels

6 Practice: individual vowels

7 Practice: vowel contrasts

8 Weak vowels and weak forms

9 Practice: weak vowels and weak forms

10 Consonant clusters

11 Practice: consonant clusters

12 Connected speech

Suggested reading

Index

Paul Carley is Lecturer in English at Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah, and has held posts at the University of Leicester, the University of Bedfordshire, and at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. He is a regular lecturer at the UCL Summer Course in English Phonetics.

Inger M. Mees is Associate Professor in the Department of Management, Society and Communication at the Copenhagen Business School. She has formerly held lectureships at the universities of Leiden and Copenhagen. She is on the academic staff of the UCL Summer Course in English Phonetics.