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  • Pronouncing English: A Stress-Based Approach with CD-ROM
  • Marion Chang
Teschner, R.V., & Whitely, M.S. (2004). Pronouncing English: A Stress-Based Approach with CD-ROM. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Pp. 296, $39.95 US.

Three features set this linguistics text apart from previous work: placement of stress and other prosodic features as central to English phonology, recognition of applied linguists as its primary readership, and the use of corpus analysis to illustrate aspects of English pronunciation [End Page 589] and orthography. As the title suggests, it views stress, rhythm, and intonation as foundational rather than peripheral. It also addresses applied linguists who seek to understand the language from a teaching and learning perspective while arming themselves with the necessary linguistic knowledge. An added feature is a CD-ROM providing recordings of exercises and word lists stemming from statistical analysis of the complete contents of a dictionary.

Chapters carefully build on one another. The first lays out the rhythmic nature of English, its metric patterns and the reasons behind them. The second goes into detail on types of stress, stress tendencies in words of different syllable length, and influencing factors. Intonation is the subject of the third chapter, in which pitch's stress role for words, phrases, and sentences is developed. Once the groundwork has been laid, the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters address segments by covering orthography, vowels, and consonants respectively. By ordering the content in this way, the authors ensure that vowels and consonants are not neglected but, rather, are placed within the framework of metrical patterns and stress rules. Since segments are affected by stress, it makes sense to take this approach in order to explain the cause before presenting its effects on individual sounds. The book ends with a return to sounds in context through examination of changes due to stress, grammar, and linking in speech.

Within the chapters, each phonological form is introduced and followed by abundant examples. Practice is frequently interspersed after each point is presented. The exercises are effective in their choice and scope of tasks, although course instructors using Pronouncing English as a text may choose to limit the amount of practice to suit different levels of expertise. Oral recordings of examples and exercises are given at a swift, natural pace; however, with one exception, the voices are all male.

Each chapter concludes with a brief passage on teaching the content to ESOL students, although, as the authors plainly state, these sections are meant to present linguistic concepts to students rather than to address language development. It is unlikely that all the content in each chapter would be taught to even the most advanced ESL learner; but it is left to the reader to decide the degree of detail his or her students need. There are few suggestions as to how much or which aspects of the material would best fit different levels. This is plainly not a methodology text but a supplement to literature such as Celce-Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwin (1996) or Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994), both of which are frequently referenced. [End Page 590]

Pronouncing English assumes no previous linguistic experience on the part of the reader and is therefore well suited both to teachers in training and to those already teaching who have had little or no study of phonetics. It introduces the basics, such as the IPA system, and also reduces confusion for those familiar with the subject by laying out and comparing the many terms and notation systems used to describe English phonology. For example, seven ways of representing intonation are given and explained, with the strengths and limitations of each.

One of the challenges of writing a linguistics text for non-linguists is to present a large amount of detailed material while keeping the reader motivated to continue reading. The style of Pronouncing English is accessible, and the authors use humour to spice up what could otherwise become a seemingly endless list of dry facts. Unexpected smiles occur in examples such as 'Lower Junkyard County Reform School' (p. 83) and subtitles such as 'the shiftless, stress-free life of the pre-fix' (p. 40), which uses double-entendre to both entertain...

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