Phonetics: Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception

Phonetics: Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception is a comprehensive introduction to the study of speech and sound. The authors expertly guide readers through major issues in the field, including: Phonetic transcription: how the sounds of speech are written Speech production: how sounds are produced Acoustics: speech sounds and their acoustic characteristics Speech perception: how speech is perceived by listeners The textbook also offers uniquely thorough coverage of related relevant areas, including vocal fold vibration and the working of the ear, creating an engagingly flexible work for instructors. Exercises at the end of each chapter give students the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice, and a companion website at www.blackwellpublishing.com/phonetics offers a range of sound files that vividly illustrate the text. Reetz and Jongman have created a work which designed for undergraduates in linguistics as well as students in related fields like speech sciences and applied linguistics.

Preface. 1. About this book. Phonetics in a nutshell. The structure of this book. Terminology. Demonstrations and exercises. 2. Articulatory Phonetics. Phonation at the larynx. Basic articulatory terms. The articulation of consonants. The articulation of vowels. 3. Phonetic Transcription. Consonants. Vowels. Diacritics and other symbols. Transcription of General American English. 4. Place and Manner of Articulation of Consonants and Vowels. Consonants. Additional manners of articulation. Vowels. Secondary articulations. 5. Physiology of the Vocal Apparatus. The subglottal system: lungs, bronchi, and trachea. Structure and function of the larynx. Vocal tract. 6. Airstream Mechanisms and Phonation Types. Airstream mechanisms. Phonation types. Voicing, voicelessness, and aspiration in plosives. Common and rare sounds. 7. Basic Acoustics. Sound waves. Measuring sound waves. Acoustic dimensions and their units of measurement. 8. Analysis Methods for Speech Sounds. Digitizing acoustic signals. Types of acoustic signals. Analyzing acoustic signals. 9. The Source–filter Theory of Speech Production. Resonance. Damping. Filters. Source and filter of the vocal apparatus. Formants. 10. Acoustic Characteristics of Speech Sounds. Vowels. Consonants. Summary. Variability and invariance. 11. Syllables and Suprasegmentals. Syllables. Stress. Length. Tone and Intonation. 12. Physiology and Psychophysics of Hearing. The external ear. The middle ear. The inner ear. The structure of the basilar membrane. Sound localization. Auditory frequency scales. Auditory loudness scales. Auditory time scales. 13. Speech Perception. Vowels. Consonants. Contributions of the Motor Theory of Speech Perception. The role of linguistic experience in speech perception. Summary. A.1 Mass, force, and pressure. A.2 Energy, power, and intensity. A.3 The decibel (dB). B.1 Physical terminology. B.2 Mathematical notations. C.1 Formant values. C.2 Fundamental frequency values. Glossary. References. Index

Henning Reetz is a Professor at the Institute for Phonetics and Phonology at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Allard Jongman is a Professor in the Linguistics Department of the University of Kansas, and Co–Director of the University of Kansas Phonetics and Psycholinguistics Laboratory (KUPPL). Dr Jongman has published extensively on acoustic and auditory phonetics in a variety of languages.

"I would say that the strength of this book lies in the technical chapters." ( The Linguist, June 2010) “I have taught speech science and phonetics courses for over 35 years, always using my own individually designed course packet — now I finally can adopt a textbook that meets all my needs. This book provides an in–depth, up–to–date, and reader friendly treatment of how human speech is produced, acoustically shaped, analyzed, and perceived.” Harvey M. Sussman, University of Texas at Austin "Reetz and Jongman′s textbook should be required reading for anyone interested in learning about and understanding phonetics. Phonetics is a rich but challenging field of study since it covers such a broad range of areas (speech production, acoustics, speech perception) across a number of disciplines (physics, physiology, linguistics, psychology, biology). Reetz and Jongman provide a masterful and rich introduction that is probably the most comprehensive of any current or even past textbook by combining articulatory phonetics and phonetic transcription with acoustic phonetics and speech perception. As a consequence, the student will not only learn each of these critical areas but ultimately how they may inform each other. The approach of this book is importantly conceptual, introducing the student to the principles underlying speech. Technical concepts are introduced in a clear manner, examples are plentiful, exercises and demonstrations on the book′s website provide hands–on and interactive opportunities that will enhance and enrich the learning process." Sheila E. Blumstein, Brown University