Experimental Phonetics

Traditionally, investigations into speech and pronounciation have relied on the unaided skills of the phonetician in recognising and reproducing speech sounds. But many practicioners are now using instruments to gain a greater understanding of speech and to be able to analyse speech patterns in situations when speaking and hearing would otherwise be inaccessible without the use of these instruments. This new book looks at how this form of investigation has developed, and considers the types of data that can be used and which questions can be solved using experimental phonetics. <p>1. Introduction: impressionistic phonetics and experimental phonetics 2. The nature of sound 3. Analysing sound: the spectograph 4. The acoustics of speech production 5. Perception and hearing 6. The acoustic description of vowels 7. The acoustic description of consonants 8. Speech production Appendix: An overview of impressionistic-phonetic classification BibliographyIndex</p>