Vowels And Consonants: An Introduction To The Sounds Of Languages - Softcover

Ladefoged, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405124598 ISBN 13: 9781405124591

Publisher: Blackwell Pub, 2005

Synopsis

This popular and accessible introduction to phonetics is now available in a fully updated second edition. Peter Ladefoged describes how languages use a variety of different sounds, many of them quite unlike any that occur in well-known languages.

Important topics covered in Vowels and Consonants include:

* The main forces operating on the sounds of languages

* The acoustic components of speech and speech synthesis

* Computers and Text-To-Speech systems and speech recognition systems

* Descriptions of the sounds of a wide variety of languages that are reproduced on the accompanying CD.

This revised edition includes a new chapter on how we listen to speech and the greatly expanded CD now contains data on 100 languages to reinforce learning and bring the descriptions to life.

About this title

Book Description

This superb introduction to phonetics is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about the sounds of languages. Peter Ladefoged, one of the world's leading phoneticians, describes how languages use a variety of different sounds, many of them quite unlike any that occur in well-known languages. Several of these unusual sounds are reproduced on the accompanying CD. The book opens with a brief introduction to the main forces affecting the sounds of languages. Using basic terms, it outlines the acoustic components of speech and demonstrates speech synthesis. Subsequent chapters on computers and speech describe text-to-speech systems, and show how speech recognition systems work. The last part of the book describes the sounds of a wide variety of languages, introducing them to readers largely by means of the CD and by reference to the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. The contents of the CD are available on Peter Ladefoged's phonetics site (www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/), which includes an online version of the CD as well as other useful phonetics links. This revised second edition includes a new chapter on how we listen to speech and an updated CD that contains data on 100 languages.

About the Author

Peter Ladefoged, UCLA Research Phonetician and Professor of Phonetics Emeritus, was Director of the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory from 1962 to 1991. He is author of numerous books, including A Course in Phonetics (fourth edition, 2001) and Phonetic Data Analysis (Blackwell, 2004).

Edition details

• Publisher: Blackwell Pub
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1405124598
• ISBN 13: 9781405124591
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 206