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Sounds appealing, the passionate story of English pronunciation, David Crystal

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-283) and index

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index present

non fiction

Sounds appealing

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David Crystal

the passionate story of English pronunciation

It's not what you say, it's the way that you say it. There have long been debates about 'correct' pronunciation in the English language, and Britain's most distinguished linguistic expert, David Crystal, is here to set the record straight. Sounds Appealing tells us exactly why, and how, we pronounce words as we do. Pronunciation is integral to communication, and is tailored to meet the demands of the two main forces behind language: intelligibility and identity. Equipping his readers with knowledge of phonetics, linguistics and physiology with examples ranging from Eliza Doolittle to Winston Churchill, David Crystal explores the origins of regional accents, how they are influenced by class and education, and how their peculiarities have changed over time

1. Always there -- 2. The phoneticians -- 3. The basic system -- 4. How sounds are made -- 5.'Tain't what we say... -- 6. High and low -- 7. Loud and soft -- 8. Fast and slow -- 9. Strong and weak -- 10. Filled and unfilled -- 11. The value of vowels -- 12. One quality or two? -- 13. Long or short? -- 14. Spread or rounded? -- 15. Close or open? Front or back? -- 16. The plosive family -- 17. The fricative family -- 18. The affricate family -- 19. The nasal family -- 20. The approximant family -- 21. Words of one syllable -- 22. Speaking with your mouth full -- 23. Connecting words -- 24. Accents welcome -- 25. Being accommodating -- 26. Where are you from, robot? -- 27. Which century are you from? -- 28. Where is English pronunciation going? -- 29. Pronouncing Purcell (and others) -- 30. Never heard of it -- 31. Using phonetics

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