An Introduction to Phonetic Theory

Aimed at graduate students studying phonetics and phonology, An Introduction to Phonetic Theory establishes firm theoretical foundations in speech production, acoustics, and perception and then presents case studies which refer to results in all three areas. Some of the case studies concern issues that might be considered purely phonetic, such as debates about what the objects of speech perception are, but they are primarily concerned with the relationship between phonetics and phonology. For example, there are many examples of phonetic explanations of phonological patterns and of the mapping between phonological representations and phonetic realizations. The book includes a thorough consideration of recent work on the functional phonetic explanation of phonological patterning, as well as case studies on areas such as the structure of vowel inventories; there are also sections on models of speech production and models of lexical access.

An Introduction to Phonetic Theory provides a well-rounded, example-oriented introduction to the phonetics/phonology interface, a crucial area of study for anyone interested in investigating the science of speech sounds in depth.