A Practical Introduction to Phonetics

Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics

by J.C. Catford

Now in a new edition, this unique interactive introduction to the study of phonetics shows students how to examine the entire range of human sounds through a series of 124 introspective experiments carried out in their own vocal tracts. It systematically covers all types of speech modification (breath, voice, whisper, creak), articulation (the ways in which the air stream is finally modulated to generate specific types of sound), and prosodic features (stress, syllable, tone, intonation). This text also includes a chapter on sound systems--the ways in which particular languages utilize and systematize the universal sound-producing potential of humans. By actually articulating sounds and attending to the motor sensations they produce, readers acquire a deep, personal awareness of the principles of phonetic analysis and classification.
This second edition of A Practical Introduction to Phonetics features a new format and text design; updated use of phonetic symbols in line with the latest International Phonetic Alphabet Chart (1996); a revised further reading section that includes recent publications; and additional references to several important new publications. Informed throughout by recent research in aerodynamics and acoustics, this highly practical text is ideal for courses in introduction to phonetics and will be of interest to a wide range of students and teachers of languages, linguistics, speech therapy, and anthropology.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference

248 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 1988

About the author

(From back flap of "A Practicaln Introduction to Phonetics"):

J.C. Catford is widely regarded as the leading practical phonetician of our time, and is currently (1988) Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. He has wide and varied teaching experience, having worked for several years for the British Council in Greece, Egypt, and Palestine, and subsequently in the Universities of Edinburgh and Michigan. Through extensive travel, he has developed a special knowledge of exotic languages. He is author of numerous influential articles in phonetics, and of "A Linguistic Theory of Translation" (1965) and "Fundamental Problems in Phonetics" (1977)

Reviews

[Phin Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not technically finish this book (I stopped before reading the last chapter, because it wasn't required for class—hey, life is busy sometimes) but what I did read was really good and I would probably recommend it to anyone looking for a good guide to the sounds of human language and how to produce them. For pretty much every sound in human language, it has experiments that will help you to produce the sound and understand exactly what is going on in your vocal tract. There are a lot of sounds that I make without being conscious of the mechanical aspects, and a lot of sounds I've wanted to make and only been able to reach a rough approximation. This book helps with both. It isn't perfect, although my complaints are pretty limited: some of the experiments are difficult to pull off or confusing without an instructor, and the section on vowels was really difficult to know if I was doing correctly.

[Emma Lindhagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book with a very practical approach. Don't do the exercises in public though, you'll get some looks!

Though the book was still to an extent English-focused when it came to the finer details, it was nice that it held a wider view in the more general areas and drew examples from many different languages.

[Dawid Łaziński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the nices thing about “A Practical Introduction to Phonetics” by J.C. Catford is that it delivers on both promises you can find in its title. You need virtually no prior knowledge about the subject and the practical aspects of phonetics indeed play an important part in it.

Carford starts with a fairly detailed sketch of the voice apparatus and processes that play a part in voice production. That creates a baseline which the author then uses to tell us about different sounds we utter. Their complexity grows with each chapter which gives Carford an opportunity to introduce new theoretical elements without getting us bogged down with too much theory at once.

What I find to be the book’s biggest advantage is that every new sound it describes is immediately followed by several practical tasks. Carford demonstrates step-by-step how to use our body to achieve the effect we’ve jest read about. He does that using a simple language and by offering various “check points” we can feel or hear to make sure we’re on the right track.

The author doesn’t limit himself to the English sounds and similarly covers those from other languages, although it must be said that the Europeans will find the examples more relatable. Even though in theory the book should be perfectly understandable by someone new to the world of phonetics the author doesn’t try to market his field of interest and simply jumps to the task of teaching us a things or two about it. With that in mind I’d recommend the book to those who have already found some interest in the subject.

A solid job - a solid 4.

[Only a Casual Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know that this was exactly the book I wanted to read until I started to do so!

[Matthew Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped a lot

[Silvester]

Good book

[Ester · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent undergraduate-level introduction to phonetics. The organisation and layout of the book is very helpful, the diagrams are great, and where this textbooks obviously stands out is in its practical approach by way of teaching correct pronunciations so that students have first-hand, introspective knowledge of the sounds they study. Most of the examples are very clear and easy to follow, others less so, although I wonder whether the problem is in me and not the instructions. I also loved the fact that Catford draws examples from a variety of languages, not just English, although English is the predominant language of interest. But it's nice to read about other languages too. Last but certainly not least I'm growing increasingly impatient with textbooks that don't have wide margins to write in and/or where the paper is too glossy to write on properly. My edition of this textbook was neither of those things. The margins are very wide and the paper quality is perfect for writing notes in pencil. Highly recommended.

[Bahareh Sharifi · Rating 4 out of 5]

بسیار کتاب جذابی بود. همیشه از مبحث فونتیک فراری بودم چون پر بود از اصطلاعات و علائمی که جز حفظ کردن راهی دیگری برای به ذهن سپاری شان سراغ نداشتم ولی این کتاب دانسته های تئوریک درس فونتیک را برایم به صورت عملی در آورد. درست مثل اینکه تا امروز تنها درباره دوچرخه سواری کتاب خوانده باشم و از امروز به بعد یاد گرفتم چطور به طور عملی دوچرخه سواری کنم. یا به عبارتی فونتیک سواری.

[Itsbecka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I no longer want to sound like a complete idiot when trying to speak another language. This is an excellent introduction; however, there is no CD associated with the book.

[Michael C Sorrentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful in learning all the possible sounds the human vocal system can produce.