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Fundamentals of Phonetics: A Practical Guide for Students, 6th edition

Published by Pearson (August 8, 2024) © 2025

  • Larry H. Small
  • Chao-Yang Lee Ohio University

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In this eTextbook — More ways to learn

  • More flexible. Start learning right away, on any device.
  • More supportive. Get AI explanations and practice questions (select titles).
  • More interactive. Bring learning to life with audio, videos, and diagrams.
  • More memorable. Make concepts stick with highlights, search, notes, and flashcards.
  • More understandable. Translate text into 100+ languages with one tap.

In this eTextbook — More ways to learn

  • More flexible. Start learning right away, on any device.
  • More supportive. Get AI explanations and practice questions (select titles).
  • More interactive. Bring learning to life with audio, videos, and diagrams.
  • More memorable. Make concepts stick with highlights, search, notes, and flashcards.
  • More understandable. Translate text into 100+ languages with one tap.

Title overview

Fundamentals of Phonetics is a systematic, easy-to-understand introduction to phonetics principles and transcription. It uses in-text exercises to teach the practical skills necessary to successfully perform phonetic transcription of individuals using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). You'll learn about the transcription of consonants and vowels, connected speech, and individuals with speech sound disorders. A chapter on speech acoustics introduces spectrograms and the acoustic characteristics of speech sounds. You will also learn how to transcribe individuals who display regional and ethnic dialectal variations of speech, including those who have learned to speak English as a second language.

The 6th Edition is updated with new material on key concepts in phonetic transcription, current census data, and more.

Table of contents

  1. Phonetics: A “Sound” Science
  2. Phonetic Transcription of English
  3. Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech Mechanism
  4. Vowels
  5. Consonants
  6. Acoustic Characteristics of Vowels and Consonants
  7. Connected Speech
  8. Transcription of Speech Sound Disorders
  9. Dialectical Variation

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