This book is designed to provide a foundation for independent research in the phonetic study of speech. Eight sections address the following: (1) introductory ideas, semiotics, the relationship between phonetics and phonology, and the concepts of accent, dialect, and language; (2) the phonetic analysis of speech and the architecture of phonetic classification; (3) airstream mechanisms and phonation; (4) linear segmental analysis, including stop, fricative, resonant, and multiple articulations; (5) articulatory coordination and phonetic settings; (6) temporal, prosodic, and metrical analysis; (7) principles of transcription; and (8) the evaluation of general phonetic theory. Two appendixes provide the phonetic alphabet of the International Phonetic Association and an index of languages. (Contains approximately 1,180 references.) (MDM)