Frequent or contextually predictable words are often phonetically reduced, i.e. shortened and produced with articulatory undershoot. Explanations for phonetic reduction of predictable forms tend to take one of two approaches: Intelligibility-based accounts hold that talkers maximize intelligibility of words that might otherwise be difficult to…

When Roger Brown selected Adam, Eve and Sarah to be the first three participants in the modern study of child language, one of the criteria was the intelligibility of their speech (Brown, 1973). According to the prevailing view at the time, accuracy of pronunciation was a peripheral phenomenon that had nothing to do with the development of…

The connectionist triangle model of reading aloud proposes that semantic activation of phonology is particularly important for correct pronunciation of low-frequency exception words. Our consideration of this issue (Woollams, Lambon Ralph, Plaut, & Patterson, 2007) (see record 2007-05396-004) reported computational simulations demonstrating that…

At the turn of the twentieth century, the sound of presidential address changed from an orotund style to an instructional style. The orotund style had featured the careful pronunciation of consonants, elongated vowels, trilled r's and repeated declamations. The instructional style, on the other hand, mimicked the conversational lectures of the…

The stereotypical view of English spelling as an awesome mess is no longer widely held by linguists. That view assumes that spelling should represent pronunciation directly and simply. Instead, spelling is currently understood as representing a more abstract level of language as well as reflecting etymology. Examples from a middle school spelling…

Examples are presented of schwa elisions from the sequence /r/-plus-consonant that are typical of contemporary general British pronunciation of English. This occurs often in lexical pronunciations and very often in syllables in proclitic or enclitic prosodic situations. (SW)

This article examines some phonological explanations for pronunciation difficulties experienced by learners of English and Chinese. Rules of accommodation, rules of distribution and alternation, voicing, and morphophonemic rules are examined. (Contains six references.) (JL)

This article discusses the importance of the teaching of phonetics to students of English as a Second Language (ESL) and describes the place of phonetics in a course for Iraqi students of English at the University of Mosul, Iraq. (CFM)

This article argues that British Received Pronunciation (RP) is inconsistently defined, arbitrary, and anachronistic, and that it should be replaced as an instructional concept by British Pronunciation (BP), which would be based on an actual and adequate descriptive phonetics, called here "Realphonetik." Contains 77 references. (MDM)

Responds to Gussenhoven's essay (1983) which endorses the deterministic view in description of English stress and accent. Argues that accents respond to the speaker's sensation of interest in what he/she is saying plus a general desire to impress and that stress is part of the morphology of words. (SED)

Investigates two questions: (1) Will Russian lose its well-developed distinction between hard and soft consonants? (2) What would be the consequences of such a loss for comprehension of sustained discourse in the language? (EKN)

Discusses attitude and motivation as macro aspects of second-language learning and empathy and personality as the micro level. Believes learner's attitude, motivation, and personality are as important as intelligence but have nothing to do with capacity to learn. (Author/BK)

Critiques Fleming's proposed alternative to Rubenstein's evidence for phonemic encoding. This reanalysis strengthens the evidence for phonemic encoding and suggests that Fleming's "alternative" should be considered as another source of variance affecting recognition, not as a mutually exclusive alternative to phonemic encoding. (HOD)

An analysis is made of research focusing on how speaking and listening activities are relevant to the language classroom. Current thinking is reviewed on spoken language, with a focus on pronunciation, as a medium of information transfer and of interpersonal exchange. (66 references) (GLR)

Argues for the relevance of the schema theoretic approach to the acquisition of first- and second-language phonology. (42 references) (JL)