Investigating Spoken English: A Practical Guide to Phonetics and Phonology Using Praat

by Stefan Benus

Overview

Combining coverage of the key concepts and tools within phonetics and phonology with a systematic introduction to Praat, this textbook provides a lively and engaging 'way in' to the discipline. The author first covers the fundamentals of the articulatory and acoustic aspects of speech and introduces Praat as the main tool for examining and visualising speech. Next, the unit of analysis is gradually expanded (from syllables to words to turns and dialogues) and excerpts of real dialogues exemplify the core concepts for discovering how speech works. The final part of the book brings all the concepts and notions together with commentaries to the transcription of several short excerpts of dialogues. This book will be essential reading for students on undergraduate courses in phonetics and phonology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030543488
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	04/18/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2021
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Štefan Beňuš is Assistant Professor at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia. He completed his PhD at New York University and has previously worked at Columbia University and Brown University, USA.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Fundamental Concepts.- Chapter 3: Articulation.- Chapter 4: Acoustics & Introduction to Praat.- Chapter 5: English Vowels.- Chapter 6: English Consonants.- Chapter 7: Allophonic Variation in English.- Chapter 8: Syllables.- Chapter 9: Word Stress.- Chapter 10: Connected Speech.- Chapter 11: Prosody I: Basics.- Chapter 12: Prosody II: Intonation.- Chapter 13: Prosody III: Beyond the Intonational Phrase.- Chapter 14: Exemplifying the Book Material in Real Interviews.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The book brings a practical approach to understanding spoken English in a compelling

and lucid way. It is filled with simple, hands-on suggestions for engaging with your own

speech and testing a wide range of ideas in phonetics and phonology. Its presentation

of intonation and prosody is exciting and masterful. A must for any students wishing to

gain a rapid, broad-ranging and very accessible understanding of how sounds are put to

use in speech communication.” (Jonathan Harrington, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany)

“Praat is today the most widely used program for the automatic analysis of speech.

The software is extensively documented but does not provide the basic knowledge of

phonetics and phonology needed to use it efficiently. The first book in English to cover

both Praat and the fields of phonetics and phonology, this will be an extremely valuable

resource for the many thousands of Praat-users who do not have a solid background in

speech sciences.” (Daniel Hirst, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

& Aix-Marseille University, France)

“A wealth of practical hands-on activities and follow-up commentaries guide the reader toward their own discoveries and understanding the foundations that provide for our ability to communicate in English in its true form as a spoken language. The phonetic analyses make the book valuable for anyone interested in speech and its relation to language in general. This includes all speakers of English! Moreover, the book appears to be excellent also for self-guided and distance-based learning.” (Martti Vainio, University of Helsinki, Finland)

Editorial Reviews

This book should be a very welcome addition to the library of any language teacher who is interested in broadening their knowledge of phonetics and phonology in a very practical manner. The book should be especially appealing to teachers who would like to introduce or expand the use of freeware such as Praat in their classrooms.” (Ian Wilson, JALT Journal, Vol. 44 (2), November, 2022)

From the Publisher