#86, Book Review: ‘Phonetics’ Reviewed by Rana Faqir Muhammad Aslam

Phonetics
Peter Roach

ISBN 194372391, Printed in Spain by Unigraf, S. L., PP 116

Reviewed by
Rana Faqir Muhammad Aslam

The study of language has always been a matter of great interest for man. Due to man’s inquisitive nature, he has tried to explore language on micro as well as macro levels. During the last two centuries, linguists have paid systematic attention to the study of language. The spoken language, being the focus, attracted the attention of the linguists and as a result Phonetics (the study of human speech sounds) evolved.

Sir William Jones expressed great interest in the problems of Phonetic transcription of Asiatic languages. His work was studied by A. J. Ellis. He, in collaboration with Sir Isaac Pitman brought alphabetic reform which ultimately led to the establishment of International Phonetics Association. IPA devised special marks or symbols to represent each sound used in the world languages.

Professor Henry Widdowson, the editor, is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of London, and has also been Professor of Applied Linguistics at Essex University and Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vienna. He is an internationally acclaimed authority in applied linguistics and language teaching. His many books, articles, and lectures have been decisive in this field.

Peter Roach, the writer, worked at the University of Leeds as Senior Lecturer in Phonetics. He is interested in the phonetics of English. His publications include English Phonetics and Phonology (C.U.P.) and The English Pronouncing Dictionary, (16th Edition). Phonetics (Oxford University Press) is his latest book. He has research interests in speech perception and in the computer analysis of speech. On his retirement in September 2003, the University of Reading has awarded him the position of Emeritus Professor.

Peter Roach’s “Phonetics” is published in a series of books. This series follows the natural order of introducing a subject. The series is primarily designed to ease the understanding for the novices. Some of the books in this series include Rod Ellis’ Second Language Acquisition, Claire Kramsch’s Language and Culture, Thomas Schovel’s Psycholinguistics, Bernard spolsky’s Sociolinguistics and Goarge Yule’s Pragmatics.

The present book “Phonetics” is also intended for the reader who is new to the study of language. Like other books in the series, this is also divided into four parts – Survey, Readings, References and Glossary. The specifically designed parts offer different groups of readers to focus on their particular part according to their interest.

Survey is an up-to-date over view of the area concerned. It comprises of nine chapters. The first chapter is an introductory one, where the process of speech chain is analysed in the simplest possible manner. The new reader finds detailed elaboration of three processes – production, transmission and perception. This chapter focuses on the segmental level of Phonetics i.e. Phoneme, Allophone, Vowels and Consonants. The whole IPA chart, containing all 110 symbols of Phonemes used in world languages, along with Diacritics and Tones & Word accents, is included.

The second chapter is highly technical in nature. Here the reader finds the physiological aspects of speech. The vocal organs discussed with diagrams provide the novice with an easy understanding of the process of production. In the third chapter, the focus is on the production of Phoneme with its allophonetic variations. The reader finds the criteria for description of vowels and consonants with their place and manner of articulation. Then the air stream mechanism is discussed with pulmonic and non-pulmonic (glottalic, velaric) air stream and the direction of air stream i.e. egressive and ingressive.

Then the writer takes the reader to the supra-segmental aspects of speech. In fourth and fifth chapters, the writer gives detail of tone, stress, intonation and rhythm – the essential features of language, in such a comprehensive yet easy to understand way that the new learner can get wonderful training.

The sixth chapter deals with the physical properties of language. It is again highly technical in nature. It is the detailed elaboration that makes it rather easy for the new learner to get the idea of Acoustic waveforms. The writer has used pictures and figures to give the details objectively and scientifically. The next two chapters of this part deal with the production of speech in connection. The features of connected speech i.e. assimilation, elision etc. are elaborately described.

The writer’s focus in the ninth chapter is on the social variation of language. Different types of accents are discussed. How the speech varies due to the different factors like Region, Occupation, Age and Sex. The concluding chapter sums up the whole discussion. It enhances the need to study this subject in detail. Human speech is dynamic and new scientific techniques have evolved to study language in more objective manner.

Readings, the second section of the book, recommends further reading on a specific topic. This is that part of the book that interests the advanced learner. He can find books and their analysis which guide him to read more in the subject of his interest. This part is more scholarly and the editor mentions the major works of the renowned Phoneticians like W. H. Freeman, J. D. O’ Conner, Peter Ladefoged, David Abbercrombie, John Clark, Collin Yallop and many more. The purpose of these readings is to get the focus on the specifics of what is said.

Reference is the third section of the book. This section has its own importance. The editor of the book has marked references with different levels ranging from introductory level to more advanced & technical and leading to specialized and very demanding level.

In the fourth section, Glossary, the editor has tried to enlist the terms and concepts used in the book along with their definitions. It is a sort of cross-reference to the first section. The section enables the readers to locate the term and find the explanation in detail.

Being introductory in nature, it does not have much attraction for an expert. The book may become more useful if detailed description of all IPA sounds is also included. Although there are some references made to other languages but the major focus is English language. Forty-four phonemes of English find detailed description. The examples of supra-segmental features also come mainly from English speech.

On the whole this book is good for the students who want to take up the course of Phonetics at the graduate level. It covers whole range of Phonetic features a graduate requires. Its importance for the beginner in the field of language studies can hardly be over emphasized.

At the same time Phonetics by Peter Roach is a useful book for general people who are interested in the language studies. It gives them basic terminology and provides them precise information about the sound system of English in an objective and scientific manner. These people may recognize the importance of this book more than an advanced learner does.

Rana Faqir M. Aslam is a PhD Scholar in English Linguistics at the Department of English, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan. He earned his M.Phil degree in English Linguistics from the same university in 2008. He has twenty years experience of teaching English language and literature at different levels. Areas of his research interest include: ‘Electronic communication’, ‘Phonetics and Phonology’, ‘New Literacy Studies’, English Language Teaching’, and ‘Lexicography’.