The dictionary, intended primarily for teachers and students of phonetics, contains almost 2,000 terms used in the field of phonetics. Areas covered include articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual phonetics, classical and generative phonology, distinctive features, the phonology of English, and phonological change and variation. Terminology is…

Adult English language learners in the United States approach the learning of English pronunciation from a wide variety of native language backgrounds. They may speak languages with sound systems that vary a great deal from that of English. The pronunciation goals and needs of adult English language learners are diverse. These goals and needs…

Specific tools and techniques to help students of English as a Second Language overcome pronunciation problems are presented. The selection of problems addressed is based on the frequency and seriousness of errors that many native Chinese-speaking learners produce. Ways to resolve various problems (e.g., missing final consonants, misplaced stress…

Two surveys of Parisian French mid-vowel articulation and preference, performed in 1986 and 1988, are reviewed and compared. Informants were 21 male teacher trainees (study 1) and 60 male local transportation workers, aged 20 to 60 (study 2). Conclusions are drawn concerning mid-vowel opposition, anteriorization, and vowel harmony. Emphasis is…

The text covers the phonology and grammar of the variety of Inupiaq, an Eskimo language, spoken in northwestern Alaska. A introductory section explains and maps the geographic distribution of Inupiaq dialects. Subsequent chapters address these topics: pronunciation; phonological processes in Inupiaq; Inupiaq morphology; intransitive verbs;…

Metrical phonology, a linguistic process of phonological stress assessment and diagrammatic simplification of sentence and word stress, is discussed as it is found in the English language with the intention that it may be used in second language instruction. Stress is defined by its physical and acoustical correlates, and the principles of…

Both aural-oral practice with the sounds of English and formal rules are important in pronunciation instruction, and have a role to play in interlanguage development. Formal rules provide self-evaluation for purposes of self-correction, a process which allows learners to judge or self-correct their own utterances against rule-generated predictions…

The importance of training second language learners in the patterns of occurrence of certain phonemes is discussed, focusing on the use of spelling as a primary predictor of pronunciation. Four different pronunciations of "ng" in English (as in "engaging, singer, changing, dangle") are used to illustrate this principle. A review of pronunciation…

Provides an inventory of traditional techniques used in the teaching of pronunciation of English as a second language. Most of the techniques are production-oriented, for their purpose is to improve production of spoken English. (CB)

A study examines two major types of vowel systems in languages, centripetal and centrifugal. English is associated with the centripetal system, in which vowel quality and quantity (rhythm) are heavily influenced by stress. In this system, vowels have a strong tendency to move toward the center of the vowel area. Spanish is associated with the…

This guide is designed to help college-level teachers of English as a Second Language address the particular linguistic characteristics and instructional needs of native Chinese-speaking students. The first chapter profiles four Chinese students at the City College of New York, focusing on their basic literacy in Chinese, immigration issues,…

The sound system of English is described in all its complexity, from the relationship between spelling and pronunciation to the rules of connected speech, focusing on the methods and rationale of teaching pronunciation of English, particularly to English as a second language learners. (CB)

Reviews common pronunciation problems experienced by learners of English as a second language who are native speakers of Vietnamese, Cantonese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Greek, and Punjabi. (CB)

This teacher's manual for Sakalava, a dialect of Malagasy, is designed for the specific language instruction needs of Peace Corps personnel in Madagascar. It is written primarily in French and Sakalava, with some titles in English. It consists of 29 topical lessons, each geared to a specific domain and competency and containing information on…

The textbook in introductory and intermediate Moroccan Arabic is designed for the language and cultural training of Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco and is intended for both teacher and student use. The contents and design are based on a competency-based curriculum model. An introductory section presents general principles for use of Arabic…