The Physics of Speech (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) - Softcover

Fry, D. B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521293790 ISBN 13: 9780521293792

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1979

Synopsis

The mechanism of speech is a very complex one and in order to undertake any analysis of language it is important to understand the processes that go to make up the message that a speaker transmits and a listener receives. Professor Fry therefore first takes the reader through the various stages of the speech chain: from language units to nerve impulses to muscle movements to sound waves, and vice versa as the message is received and decoded. He then explains the basic physical principles involved in the generation and propagation of sound energy and in the phenomenon of resonance. These principles are then applied to the speech mechanism itself and to the particular kinds of sound which constitute speech. There is a fully illustrated account of the use of the sound spectrograph in acoustic analysis and chapters dealing with the acoustic features of English sounds and with the way we recognise speech sounds by the acoustic cues inherent in a particular language. Professor Fry gave courses on the physics of speech to students of applied as well as theoretical linguistics and to speech therapists, and his clear account will therefore provide a basic textbook for such courses as well as being of interest to people working in departments of speech and in communications generally.

About this title

Book Description

A clear account of the physical process of speech production and communication, which will be of interest to psycholinguists as well as phoneticians.

From the Back Cover

Professor Fry first takes the reader through the various stages of the speech chain: from language units to nerve impulses to muscle movements to sound waves, and vice versa as the message is received and decoded. He then explains the basic physical principles involved in the generation and propagation of sound energy and in the phenomenon of resonance.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0521293790
• ISBN 13: 9780521293792
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 156