Comprehensive Articulatory Phonetics: A Tool for Mastering the World's Languages

Comprehensive Articulatory Phonetics teaches how to recognize, record, and reproduce the sounds of any language.

Note: The audio files can be downloaded from this link: bit.ly/1lCb0Ly

Phonetics is the study of sounds. Specifically, it is the study of human speech sounds. A person who only speaks one language may not realize that there are hundreds of different consonants and vowels spoken by humans in different parts of the world. This book will introduce the reader to almost every sound spoken by man.

Since the English alphabet is inadequate to represent every speech sound known to man, the reader will be taught the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This is a special alphabet containing numerous symbols that represent sounds for all languages. Charts are included in the back of this book that list many of the symbols used in the IPA. Some IPA symbols will look quite familiar, but others are from foreign languages or were invented specially for the IPA. Learning these symbols and their corresponding sounds is the foundation to accurately learning the sound system of a language.

The reader should also be aware of the fact that not all linguists follow the IPA conventions. Though this book generally follows the standard IPA, alternative symbols and notations will be explained throughout the text.

This book is intended for speakers of American English because many of the sounds are compared to the English language. Speakers of other dialects or languages may need to adjust their pronunciation accordingly.

Table of Contents:
Lesson 1: Introduction to Sounds
Lesson 2: Fricatives and Voicing
Lesson 3: Pitch Variations
Lesson 4: Stops and Voice Onset Time
Lesson 5: Facial Diagrams
Lesson 6: Progressive Pitch Control
Lesson 7: Aspiration and Glottal Stops
Lesson 8: Advanced Intonation
Lesson 9: Affricates
Lesson 10: Introduction to Vowels
Lesson 11: Characteristics of Syllables
Lesson 12: Vowel Glides
Lesson 13: Fronting, Retroflexion, and Sibilants
Lesson 14: Back Vowels
Lesson 15: Nasals
Lesson 16: Front Vowels
Lesson 17: Laterals
Lesson 18: Open Vowels and Length
Lesson 19: Flaps and Trills
Lesson 20: Central Vowels and Approximants
Lesson 21: Alveopalatal Stops
Lesson 22: Vowel and Glide Clusters
Lesson 23: Palatal and Uvular Consonants
Lesson 24: Nasalized Vowels
Lesson 25: Double Articulations and Prenasalization
Lesson 26: Front Rounded and Back Unrounded Vowels
Lesson 27: Transition and Release
Lesson 28: States of the Glottis
Lesson 29: Implosives
Lesson 30: Breathy Consonants and Consonant Clusters
Lesson 31: Ejectives
Lesson 32: Tongue Root Placement
Lesson 33: Secondary Articulations
Lesson 34: Fortis and Lenis Articulation
Lesson 35: Clicks
Lesson 36: Speech Styles
Appendix