Connected English Speech [antikvár]

CONNECTED ENGLISH SPEECH A Pronunciation Course from Intermediate to Advanced Level1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI began teaching English Pronunciation over 20 years ago. At that time, Professor Gimson's An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, first published in 1962, was the leading work in the field distinguished not only by the thoroughness of its scholarship but also by its descriptive actuality, which has been maintained in the latest revised edition (IQSQ^).In the meantime I have had long experience of the problems of foreign learners, including Hungarians, with the pronunciation of English; I also 'keep my ears open' when at home in England (the London area) in order to detect, for example, differences in pronunciation between the older and the younger generation, and this has of course led me to form opinions of my own. Gimson's magnum opus remains, however, my main reference book for detailed information as well as for general approach, concentrating as it does on observational accuracy rather than tendentious theorising. More recent publications have been remarkably divergent, especially on Rhythm and Intonation, weight of theory and counter-theory being matched by paucity of observed data. My influence has been Gimson's descriptive approach, and I should like to acknowledge my debt to it here.A further influence has been my former teacher at Reading University, Peter Roach, whose admirable English Phonetics and Phonology (1991^) I shall often refer to.I should also like to thank Tony Addison, Maria Durham, Miklós Kontra, Péter Siptár and Malgorzata Suszczynska for their help during the fmal stages of preparation of this book; David Starr and Etelka Szőnyi for the American English recordings and for the illustrations respectively; also my students at Göttingen and Szeged for their encouragement; finally, Sabine Günther and Heike Leupold for their good humour, tolerance and professional abilities with word processing.Inevitably, I have expressed a number of controversial opinions in this book. For these, and for any deficiencies or errors, the responsibility is mine alone.