Phonetics (eBook)

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

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 andVowels.

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

"I would say that the strength of this book lies in the technicalchapters." (The Linguist, June 2010)

"I have taught speech science and phonetics courses for over35 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 friendlytreatment of how human speech is produced, acoustically shaped,analyzed, and perceived." Harvey M. Sussman, University ofTexas at Austin

"Reetz and Jongman's textbook should be required reading foranyone interested in learning about and understanding phonetics.Phonetics is a rich but challenging field of study since it coverssuch a broad range of areas (speech production, acoustics, speechperception) across a number of disciplines (physics, physiology,linguistics, psychology, biology). Reetz and Jongman provide amasterful and rich introduction that is probably the mostcomprehensive of any current or even past textbook by combiningarticulatory phonetics and phonetic transcription with acousticphonetics and speech perception. As a consequence, the student willnot only learn each of these critical areas but ultimately how theymay inform each other. The approach of this book is importantlyconceptual, introducing the student to the principles underlyingspeech. Technical concepts are introduced in a clear manner,examples are plentiful, exercises and demonstrations on the book'swebsite provide hands-on and interactive opportunities that willenhance and enrich the learning process." Sheila E. Blumstein,Brown University