A Course in Phonetics

by Peter Ladefoged

Master linguistics with A COURSE IN PHONETICS with accompanying CD-ROM The hallmark text for the study of linguistics, A COURSE IN PHONETICS provides a broad overview of the branches of phonetics for students with no prior knowledge. Practicing what you have learned is easy with the CD-ROM that contains more than 4,000 audio files, including recordings of speech from southern and northern U.S. cities, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, New Zealand, other forms of English, and scores of other languages.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, Science, Academic

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ladefoged's "A Course in Phonetics" is one of the most well-known and best phonetics books around. It is an excellent volume covering just about every element one must know to have a solid base in phonetics. The breakdown favors native English speakers, (and American ones in the US edition, at least) first providing a clear description of the phonetics of English including prosodic features, consonants, and vowels before moving on to all other sound systems. It is fantastically complete given the size.

One of the strengths of the volume lies in the insightful walkthroughs on producing some of the more difficult sounds, using such hints as how to determine which method of articulation one uses to produce the American English "R." To determine whether one bunch the tongue or curl the tip up, carefully insert a toothpick between one's teeth and judging by the point of contact on the surface or bottom of the tongue, it is easy to figure out. Other techniques, such as sucking in air to feel exposed areas for laterals, all provide extremely helpful ways of both identifying and articulating nearly all sounds. Furthermore, each chapter end includes a bevvy of performance exercises one can use to practice and alternate between sounds, getting down the rhythm of expression.

One of the only real weaknesses to the volume is in the CD portion. While immensely helpful, the CD was not updated between the 5th and 6th edition (even though it has "6th" printed on it). The exercises on the CD therefore do not match those in the book, yet it is really only a different order so still usable. On that point, I really noticed no differences between the 5th and 6th edition other than the exercises, which pisses me off to the classic tune of the publisher's release of a new edition for no legitimate reason. Especially given this book is expensive as sin (I paid around $120 for a new edition).

Those bureaucratic complaints aside, this book is the best there is currently for phonetics from of the most important people to have worked in the field. The illustrations and charts are extremely helpful for driving home points, the aforementioned descriptions are useful, and the glossary in the end is excellent. If you want to study some phonetics, get this.

[Ne. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally the structure of this book is as same as those desighned 2 teach a special course proprely. Phonetics is concered with describing the speech sounds which occur in all lgs spoken in the world. It begins by explaining how speech sounds r made, in 1st chapter, & finally considers utterances in a lg that can be taken in2 account both speaker`s point of view & listener`s, in last 1.
1ce more I decided 2 start studying Phonetics thorough Ladefoged view & surely it is the best spot 2...

[Zhanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably in my personal TOP 5 introductions of university readings.
Written in an approachable way it excellent for complete beginners who are dealing with Phonetics for the first time.
On the edition, I can only say that its format is passable to an everyday bag (approximately 10'' laptop) and light to carry around with you.
It is definitely worth every penny and I am grateful the library has several copies of them to enjoy for a month.

[Yao-Zhen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every word in this book is so important! I love reading this book when I first get into the field of linguistics. It gives me lots of inspiration (about deciding to study linguistics) and helps me use a precise way to describe the sound I hear. If you also love the speech sounds in the world, you must read this masterpiece.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb little textbook! There's a ton of information jam packed in here, but more importantly, the authors provide so many amazing exercises that are aimed towards getting you used to producing speech sounds that are not native to English.

It's also very easy to read & digest. Overall, super happy with it!

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a ideal course book for those who have a degree in Linguistics. Ladefoged is a expert in description of sound especially in fieldwork of linguistics. This book, which is republished for five times gives the readers the basic the pattern of the world's languages.

[Sybil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to phonetics for beginners.

[Unpil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Chapters 1-2, along with the textbook's accompanying website and the interactive IPA chart here, to learn the IPA symbols. ɪt wʌz fʌn tu lɜrn ˌfoʊnəˈlɑʤɪkəl dɪˈteɪlz nɑt ˈoʊnli bɪˈhaɪnd ˈɪŋglɪʃ bʌt ˈɔlsoʊ bɪˈhaɪnd ˈʌðər ˈlæŋgwəʤəz æz wɛl!

[Pixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tahle knížka mi pomohla k tomu, abych mohla předstírat, že vím něco o fonetice (když nepočítám ty naprosté základy z japonštiny).

[Yordan Grigorov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily digestable. Good illustrations.

[Karolína · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moje trauma

[Kev Nickells · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is literaly a course in phonetics. It's pretty academic. It's pretty much exactly the book I wanted to read on the subject, even if I only really want to be able to read IPA and am not terribly fussed by vowel position. Wish I'd read it sooner. It kind of does one thing - it's a course in phonetics - but it does it clearly and carefully. I've not got anything to compare it to but if you wanted to read about phonetics, this'd probably be the book to read innit.

[Nmba]

Must read!
Master linguistics with A COURSE IN PHONETICS with accompanying CD-ROM! The hallmark text for the study of linguistics, A COURSE IN PHONETICS provides a broad overview of the branches of phonetics for students with no prior knowledge. Practicing what you have learned is easy with the CD-ROM that contains more than 4,000 audio files, including recordings of speech from southern and northern U.S. cities, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, New Zealand, other forms of English, and scores of other languages.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

'A course in phonetics' is a seminally comprehensive book, in which Ladefoged masterfully, if not diligently, presents the core concepts of temporary phonological theory in a digestible and easy-to-handle approach. The book is theoretically balanced in its structure; however, its comprehensiveness may make it a bit difficult for those who do not possess prior familiarity with some of the basic concepts in the field of phonetics.

[Sara]

Just as its summary describes it, the book takes an easy-to-understand approach that begins with the basics. This is part of my crash course before graduate school. Will need to revisit a couple of chapters, maybe that on manners of articulation, specifically sounds that are not in English, and that on spectograms.

[Jeana · Rating 4 out of 5]

very comprehensible textbook, and the companion CD actually added value to the class. plus, prof. jeff says it's "the" authority on phonetics, so it was worth the $3 million it cost to buy the new edition!

[Alvis Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting read. I actually read it to supplement a course on linguistics on the Internet. It was insightful and useful for people learning to speak English as a second/foreign language.

Will pick it up again to finish it when I have more free time...

[Reuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A read this for my sabbatical project to develop curriculum for two new ESL pronunciation courses.

[Christopher Cotrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best textbook I have ever owned.

[Melody Violine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thx Peter!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're going to read a phonetics textbook (big IF) then this is a good one. Learned a ton.

[Munira]

help! how do I get to read the book?