16.2292, Review: Phonetics/Textbooks: Ashby & Maidment (2005)

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-2292. Fri Jul 29 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.2292, Review: Phonetics/Textbooks: Ashby & Maidment (2005)

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1)
Date: 29-Jul-2005
From: Rita Mathur < ritamathur at yahoo.com >
Subject: Introducing Phonetic Science 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 22:00:44
From: Rita Mathur < ritamathur at yahoo.com >
Subject: Introducing Phonetic Science 
 

AUTHORS: Ashby, Michael; Maidment, John
TITLE: Introducing Phonetic Science
SERIES: Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2005
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-1275.html


Rita Mathur, visiting scholar, Mumbai

This new textbook is ideal for undergraduate students of linguistics. Its 
aim is to introduce the rudiments of phonetics including the acoustic 
properties of sounds. Thus, the book introduces speech articulation and 
deals with other aspects of language that are associated with speech. 
Functional aspects of phonetics are also introduced, including how sound 
segments along with supra-segments function in different languages of the 
world, how these segments can be analyzed under theoretical frameworks, 
and how general rules can be formulated. The book also addresses the 
written aspect of language and introduces various types of writing 
systems. Each chapter is followed by exercises and a further reading list. 
Solutions to the exercises are given at the end. A glossary of the 
linguistic terms is also provided, which is a handy guide for students. 
The book is not only good for the student of linguistics but also useful 
for speech scientists and speech pathologists working in the area of 
hearing impairment. 

SUMMARY 

1: Introduction to speech. The first chapter introduces the wide horizon 
of languages and the ways they are written and spoken. It also talks about 
the units of speech: syllables, vowels and consonants. Transcription using 
the IPA chart is introduced. Finally, the chapter introduces the notions 
of normal and pathological speech. 

2: Voice. This chapter covers the basic anatomy of the larynx and its 
function, and brings out the basic articulatory and acoustic differences 
between voiced and voiceless sounds. The also discusses various measuring 
devices, including the laryngograph and stroboscopic devices for measuring 
and filming vocal fold vibrations. 

3: Place of Articulation. This chapter includes an anatomical description 
of the vocal tract and describes the principal places of articulation of 
consonant sounds. It covers active and passive articulators and their 
function in complex articulation, and goes on to discuss primary and 
secondary articulation. It includes a brief overview of the methods and 
techniques by which place of articulation can be experimentally 
determined, including electropalatography, x-ray photography and magnetic 
resonance imaging. 

4: Manner of articulation. This chapter elaborates the various manners of 
articulation focusing on the distinction between obstruent and sonorant 
sounds. It also describes how manners of articulation are used in the 
languages of the world. 

5: Vowels. This chapter focuses on the basic concepts for the 
classification and description of vowel sounds, describing the vowel 
quadrilateral and cardinal vowels. It also introduces the acoustic 
properties of vowels, including vowel spectra and formants, acoustic 
resonance, excitation resonance and filtering by resonance; it also 
describes the relationship between vowel articulation and acoustic 
properties. 

6: Voice II. This chapter deals with aspiration, and specifically with 
aspiration and devoicing in English, and also the use of aspiration in the 
languages of the world. Various phonation types are introduced. The 
chapter concludes with a discussion of the laryngeal waveform, and of 
voice onset time and how to measure it. 

7: Air Stream mechanisms. This chapter introduces various air-stream 
mechanisms necessary for speech articulation, including direction of the 
airflow (egressive and ingressive). It mentions particularly the 
nonpulmonic sounds used in the world's languages and deals with the 
acoustic and auditory properties of these sounds. 

8: Speech sounds and speech movements. This chapter deals with speech 
articulation involving more than one place of articulation and focuses on 
how sounds influence their neighboring sounds, overlapping articulation 
and variation in segment duration. Estimated movement of the articulators 
is diagrammed. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the 
different ways to obtain acoustic and physiological data concerning the 
flow of speech. 

9: Basic phonological concepts. This chapter introduces basic phonological 
concepts, including the phoneme and the notion of sound patterns in 
language. It deals with how sounds can be grouped into syllables, the 
phonological processes, features, and how phonological rules can be 
formulated. 

10: Suprasegmentals. This chapter covers the notions of fundamental 
frequency and suprasegmentals, including stress, tone, intonation. It also 
deals with paralinguistic features and their use in conveying speaker 
attitude. 

11: Speaker and hearer. The final chapter sheds light on the hearing 
mechanism, on speech perception and the use of visual cues in speech 
perception. Finally it deals with speech development in normal children 
and in children with hearing impairment. 

EVALUATION

The book covers the basic concepts and experimental techniques of both 
articulatory and acoustic phonetics, and provide an excellent overall view 
of the subject. The authors' approach, in my opinion, is not only good for 
students but for teachers as well. The book fulfils its purpose of 
teaching phonetics, as well as igniting the desire to learn more about it. 
The authors have provided relevant references for further reading after 
each chapter. 

In the very beginning of the book, a transcribed paragraph introduces the 
basic concept of transcription, making clear the basic difference between 
orthography and transcription. I agree with the authors that this 
distinction is very important. As a teacher, the first question I face 
from students is "what is relation between speech and writing?" The 
authors go on to discuss various sorts of writing systems (alphabetic, 
syllabic and logographic, though very briefly. 

Another useful feature of this book is its introduction to hearing and 
speech perception. These domains are introduced from a communicative 
perspective. From the text, students are able to learn what acoustic 
events are necessary for perceiving a particular speech sound.

The most positive feature of the book is that it provides a solid 
foundation in articulatory phonetics, with the help of diagrams and 
charts. Such notions as the constriction of the air stream to different 
degrees, the position of soft palate, and the speed of the articulatory 
gesture are all well introduced. Although the treatment of acoustic 
phonetic concepts is less extensive, I consider this to be an excellent 
textbook, sufficient for beginning students of phonetic science. The 
exercises at the end of each chapter, and the solutions complement the 
text well. 

REFERENCES

Ladefoged, P. (2001) A Course in Phonetics. Thompson Learning.

Laver. John. (1994) Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge University Press. 

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

The reviewer is a visiting faculty member in various university 
departments of linguistics in Mumbai, India. She is also visiting linguist 
in a speech and hearing institute in Mumbai. Her research interest is in 
phonetics. Currently she is working on acoustic cues for the perception of 
sounds in children.





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