35.1748, Review: The Sounds of English Around the World: Hansen Edwards (2023)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-1748. Wed Jun 12 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.1748, Review: The Sounds of English Around the World: Hansen Edwards (2023)

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Date: 12-Jun-2024
From: Asmaa Shehata [asm.shehata at gmail.com]
Subject: Phonetics: Hansen Edwards (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35.290

AUTHOR: Jette G. Hansen Edwards
TITLE: The Sounds of English Around the World
SUBTITLE: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Asmaa Shehata

SUMMARY

“The Sounds of English Around the World” is a new book by Jette G.
Hansen Edwards about the English language. The main objective is to
provide students with an exhaustive overview of the sounds of English
by offering the phonetic and phonological characteristics of many
English varieties, such as American, British, Irish, Australian, New
Zealand, African, and Asian Englishes. The book includes nine main
chapters plus appendices and a glossary.

In the introductory chapter, Hansen Edwards starts by clarifying the
differences between three main terms: accent, dialect, and variety.
While accent is defined as the way speech sounds are produced, a
dialect is referred to as a broader term that encompasses more than
just pronunciation; it also includes other aspects of language like
grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. However, a variety is defined as a
language spoken in a particular country or region such as Japanese
English in Japan. The purpose of the book is then introduced, which is
to provide readers with training in English phonology and phonetics,
expose them to different English varieties, and raise their awareness
of their own English accents. Next, the book's salient features are
discussed, such as its acoustic description of speech sounds and its
offering of a vast database of English speech samples from speakers
worldwide on the accompanying website. To assist readers in gauging
their level of understanding, the author included comprehension
questions at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 2, “The History and Spread of English Worldwide”, presents the
emergence and development of the English language at the beginning of
the chapter. The origins of English are traced back to Indo-European,
followed by the development of Old English, the Middle English period,
which emphasizes the influence of Anglo-Norman French on Middle
English, as well as the development of English literature, with a
focus on Chaucer's writings. Next, the spread of the English language
throughout the world is then addressed. The chapter concludes with a
summary of the terms that define the varieties of English that will be
covered in the volume.
Chapter 3, “The Vowels of English”, initially describes the phonetic
traits that distinguish vowels from consonants, including height,
advancement, and rounding. Then, vowel inventories in many languages
that influence English variations are examined, such as Spanish and
Cantonese, which impact Puerto Rican English and Hong Kong English,
respectively. The concepts of phoneme, allophone, and phone are next
explained in order to clarify the term phonology and the phonological
laws governing it within English varieties;  the types of vowels in
various English vernaculars are also presented.

Chapter 4, “Rhoticity in Varieties of English”, focuses on examining
rhoticity that is one of the main phonological characteristics
distinguishing different varieties of English including American,
British, Australian and New Zealand English. The purpose is to shed
light on rhoticity — the production of the ‘r’ sound after a vowel in
English words — explaining how it is produced and measured. The
chapter describes the various ways that rhoticity is articulated in
different English vernaculars, including bunched /r/, alveolar trill,
postalveolar approximant, alveolar tap or flap, and uvular fricative.
A detailed discussion of rhoticity throughout English language history
is provided as well.

In the same vein, Chapter 5, “The Consonants of English”, addresses
how different varieties of English have different consonant
inventories. The features of consonants are covered first, with an
emphasis on how consonant sounds are categorized according to their
place of articulation, manner, and voicing. Through cross-linguistic
inventory examination, the chapter also assists readers in
comprehending which sounds, and consonant traits are most prevalent
across languages. After that, the author introduces the consonant
phonemes shared by several English dialects, discussing any variations
in these inventories that are pertinent to the topic of English
consonants. Additionally included is a quick synopsis of how English
consonants are spelled nowadays. The phonological principles governing
consonant variation in English variants are then examined.  In the
chapter's last portion, readers are led through tasks that aim to
assess their comprehension of the chapter's material and provide an
examination of their personal English consonant inventory.

Chapter 6, “English Syllable Structure” shifts from individual vowel
and consonant sounds to suprasegmentals, or sound units above the
segment level. Initially, a syllable is presented as a structural unit
for a sound sequence consisting of three elements: an onset, a
nucleus, and a coda. After that, syllable inventories across languages
are examined, with an emphasis on the languages that impact English
variations. Next, the chapter looks at syllable inventories from
several languages, paying particular attention to those that have an
impact on English dialects. The syllable structure of English is then
briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on the ways in which different
varieties of English differ from one another. In the last part,
readers are directed through tasks meant to assess their comprehension
of the chapter's material and assess their personal inventory of
English syllables.

In Chapter 7, “English Stress and Rhythm”, we learn about the terms of
rhythm and stress in connection to languages and various English
varieties. First, the term stress is defined both acoustically and
articulatorily. Next, stress is examined at the syllable level in
various English dialects, with a particular emphasis on strong and
weak English syllables and the link between stress and strong and weak
syllables. Following an analysis of stress-and syllable-timing in
several languages as well as English varieties, the topic of word
stress in English variations is discussed. Rhythm and pitch accent are
next introduced. To assist readers to comprehend the numerous stress
and rhythm patterns that occur throughout English variations, the
author then presents information about the role of pitch accent and
stress in several substrate languages for different variants of
English, such as Spanish and Malay. Readers are invited to work
through activities in the chapter's last part to see how well they
comprehend the material.

Chapter 8, “Intonation in Varieties of English”, begins with a
definition of intonation both acoustically and articulatorily,
emphasizing its relationship to pitch and tone. After that, it gives a
general review of intonation analysis techniques, such as acoustic
analysis and the commonly used tone and break index system. The
sentence intonation and pitch accent patterns of Standard Southern
British English (SSBE) and General American English (GAmE) are then
analyzed, together with the international systems in several English
varieties, to give a foundation for examining additional English
variations. The intonation and pitch accent patterns from many English
types are also explored, along with the pitch range of each variety.
This chapter delves deeper into two worldwide phenomena: creaky voice
and the High Rising Terminal on declarative statements or uptake.
Exercises to test understanding of the content are included to help
readers gain a deeper understanding of the variety of English accent
patterns and intonation.

The focus of Chapter 9, “Investigating English Phonetics and
Phonology”, is on the definition of accent and how it has evolved and
been applied historically and geographically. A selection of websites
and databases featuring audio samples, films, and television shows
that introduce viewers to various English dialects are offered
alongside resources for a deeper exploration of English and phonology.
The chapter also covers factors to consider when gathering data, such
as recording and analyzing speech using free tools like Audacity and
Praat. The advantages and disadvantages of using word lists, reading
passages, and conversational data—among the several forms of data that
can be gathered for phonetic and phonological analysis—are
highlighted. Exercises designed to assess comprehension of the
material are included in the last section.

EVALUATION

This textbook is incredibly knowledgeable on the phonology and
phonetics of the English language and its variants. Anyone interested
in linguistics, especially those interested in the phonological
development of English historically, will find the author's treatment
of these subjects to be extremely deep and intricate. The general
audience and language adherents may understand the style, despite the
intellectual nature of the content. Along with its obvious academic
value, this makes the book enjoyable to read because the author takes
the reader on a journey of discovery regarding English pronunciation.
In addition to providing significant historical context about the
language's vowels, consonants, syllable structure, stress, rhythm, and
intonation, the book comprises an abundance of illustrative materials,
such as exercises, pictures, and audios, that display the language's
global diversity.

Apart from its extensive theoretical coverage, each chapter includes
additional material with questions for pre-reading and chapter-ending
tasks, such as discussion questions and analytical questions for
pronunciation, which guides readers through a revision of the
chapter's content. Although not specifically addressed in the book,
cross-linguistic analysis of the variety of World Englishes could be
beneficial for some future research. Many audio recordings featuring
speakers of various accents are included with the book. Through these
recordings, readers/listeners can compare their own speech patterns
with those of others and become familiar with accents that may be
unfamiliar to them.

You can read the book cover to cover or just parts of it, depending on
your needs and areas of interest in research. In this sense, the index
at the end of the book offers valuable guidance. The chapters in the
book might become stand-alone reading assignments, and the book itself
might be required reading for teacher preparation courses that
concentrate on English instruction. Overall, this is an interesting
read and a much-needed addition to the field.

REFERENCES

Braber, N. and Robinson, J. (2018). East Midlands English. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter.
Crystal, D. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eherhard, D. M., Simons, G. F., and Fenning, C. D. (2020). Ethnologue:
languages of the world (23rd ed.): www.ethnologue.com.
Esposito, C., and Khan, S. U. D. (2020). The cross-linguistic patterns
of phonation types. Language and Linguistics Compass, 14(12), 1-26.
Gussenhoven, C. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of language prosody.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Asmaa Shehata is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern
Languages at the University of Mississippi. Her research interests
include second language phonology with a particular focus on
cross-language speech perception and production.



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