本书是语音学的入门教材，不包括音系学理论的内容。书中的重点是发音语音学，同时也着重介绍了如何在探讨发音的过程中融人声学语音学和感知语音学方面的考察。本书在讲解中力图做到语言简单、直截了当，适合初学者学习，但在阅读过程中还会发现有些地方仍有些晦涩，需要仔细琢磨才行。对于只对英语语音有兴趣的读者来说，可以只学习1至5章，而对于研究语言比较、语言类型学的读者来说，需要学习本书的全部内容，以便获得更广泛的语音描述知识。

本书是国际著名语音学大师Peter Ladefoged教授撰写的语音学入门教材，重点介绍发音语音学，同时也着重介绍了如何在探讨发音的过程中入声学语音学和感知语音学方面的考察。本书自1975年初版面世以来，已历经4个版次的修订，成为使用最广、影响最大的语音学基础教材之一，此次出版的即为2006年最新修订版。书中的讲解力求简明扼要、直截了当，非常适合初学者学习。

本书配有一张多媒体光盘，里面有使用本书所需的各种图表、录音、录像以及国际音标表中所有符号的发音。光盘里还包括本书的姊妹篇Vowelsand Consonants一书的光盘内容，可供使用时参考。

Preface

PART Ⅰ INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS

 CHAPTER 1 ARTICULATION AND ACOUSTICS

Speech Production

Sound Waves 5

Places of Articulatory Gestures

The Oro-Nasal Process

Manners of Articulation

The Waveforms of Consonants

The Articulation of Vowel Sounds

The Sounds of Vowels

Suprasegmentals

Exercises

 CHAPTER 2 PHONOLOGY AND PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION

The Transcription of Consonants

The Transcription of Vowels

Consonant and Vowel Charts

Phonology

Exercises

Performance Exercises

PART Ⅱ: ENGLISH PHONETICS

 CHAPTER 3 THE CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH

Stop Consonants

Fricatives

Affricates

Nasals

Approximants

Overlapping Gestures

Rules for English Consonant Allophones

Diacritics

Exercises

Performance Exercises

 CHAPTER 4 ENGLISH VOWELS

Transcription and Phonetic Dictionaries

Vowel Quality

Unstressed Syllables

Tense and Lax Vowels

Rules for English Vowel Allophones

Exercises

Performance Exerses

 CHAPTER 5 SENGLISH WORDS AND SENTENCES

Words in Connected Speech

Stress

Degrees of Stress

Sentence Stress

Intonation

Target Tones

Exercises

Performance Exercises

PART Ⅲ: GENERAL PHONETICS

 CHAPTER 6 AIRSTREAM MECHANISMS AND PHONATION TYPES

Airstream Mechanisms

States of the Glottis

Voice Onset Time

Summary of Actions of the Glottis

Exercises

Performance Exercises

 CHAPTER 7 CONSONANTAL GESTURES

Articulatory Targets

Types of Articulatory Gestures

Summary of Manners of Articulation

Exercises

Performance Exercises

 CHAPTER 8 ACOUSTIC PHONETICS

Formants

Acoustic Analysis

Acoustics of Consonants

Interpreting Spectrograms

Individual Differences

Exercises

 CHAPTER 9 VOWELS AND VOWEL-LIKE ARTICULATIONS

Cardinal Vowels

Secondary Cardinal Vowels

Vowels in Other Accents of English

Vowels in Other Languages

Advanced Tongue Root (ATR)

Rhotacized Vowels

Nasalization

Summary of Vowel Quality

Semivowels

Secondary Articulatory Gestures

Exercises

Performance Exercises

 CHAPTER 10 SYLLABLES AND SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

Syllables

Stress

Length

Rhythm

Intonation and Tone

Stress, Tone, and Pitch Accent Languages

Exercises

Performance Exercises

 CHAPTER 11 LINGUISTIC PHONETICS

Controlling Articulatory Movements

The Balance between Phonetic Forces

The International Phonetic Alphabet

Feature Hierarchy

Phonological Features

Performance Exercises

Further Reading

Additional Resources

Glossary

Sources

Index