Introducing Phonetics

Phonetics as a subject continues to be a puzzle for majority of learners of English in India. At the same time, the growing relevance of communication skills in different walks of life has turned it into an indispensable subject that has the potential to equip individuals with ennobling features, like elegance in speech, sophistication in behaviour and grace in personality. With a view to inculcating these attributes in the readers, the book introduces the elements of English Phonetics, the awareness of which really smartens individuals who wish to groom themselves to come up with flying colours in today’s highly competitive global environment. The contents have been scientifically presented in a very lucid and compact language with adequate illustrations, diagrams and charts. Keeping in view the requirements of Indian learners of English, the book discusses sufficiently the problems encountered by them and evolves the ways to overcome the challenges in pronunciation in the most effective manner within the shortest possible time. It will be very useful for all the students of English and Linguistics studying at UG and PG levels. It will also be a very handy tool for those who want to speak globally intelligible English.

Prof. S.S. Haider has taught English in Ranchi University, Jharkhand, for nearly 40 years that includes five years of his teaching abroad. He has many publications to his credit in this long stint of four decades as a university teaching professional. He has been widely acknowledged as a potential resource person, especially for English language teaching. He has guided many research scholars at doctoral level.

Dr. Raj Kumar Sharma has been teaching English and Linguistics for more than 18 years in India and abroad. He is a permanent faculty of Ranchi University, Jharkhand. Presently, he is heading the English Department of Simdega College, Simdega. He has authored four books and several research papers which are published in reputed international journals. He keeps on delivering lectures as a resource person in different universities. He is frequently invited for chairing sessions in seminars and conferences. He supervises doctoral research and evaluates theses.

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1. All about Phonetics and Phonology
• 2. Articulation of Speech Sounds
• 3. Phoneme and Allophone
• 4. The Speech Sounds
• 5. The Sounds of English
• 6. Syllable
• 7. Supra-segmental Features
• 8. Intonation
• 9. Features of Connected Speech
• 10. Varieties of English Pronunciation and the Need for a Model
• Exercise
• Bibliography