The pronunciation and intonation of 12 languages are described in this book: English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, and Esperanto. They are dealt with (in such a precise manner as never seen before) by applying natural phonetics (i.e. articulatory, auditory, and functional) thoroughly dealt with in the twin volume, A Handbook of Phonetics.

Many figures clearly show the peculiarities of vowels, consonants, intonation, and tones, whereas very accurate and faithful transcriptions help to "see the sounds" of several languages. There are about 350 phones in this book, treated with the rigor and effectiveness of the phonetic method.

Neutral (or "standard") pronunciations are described, including the American variants of English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Each chapter comprises: Generalities, Vowels, Consonants, Structures, and Text. In addition, about thirty native accents (with variants) are dealt with, including American and British "mediatic" English (used in radio and television broadcastings; the British variant is often called "Estuary English"), besides "international", Canadian, Australian (with its well-known 4 variants), New-Zealand, traditional-British and Cockney English.

For French, we also have "international", "mediatic" Parisian, banlieu Parisian, Marseilles and Canadian French. For German, besides neutral pronunciation, the variants of the former West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol are also given. For Italian, the traditional pronunciation is added and a couple of "mediatic" variants (from Milan and Rome) as well. Also for Russian and Chinese, some variants are given, which are useful for descriptive and teaching purposes.

The author was trained in the British phonetic tradition and teaches Phonetics and phonology at the University of Venice, Italy.

Contents:

Foreword

1. Prelude A synthesis of Phonetics and Tonetics Transcriptions The contents of the Handbook Observations on phonetic terminology Guide to the figures Guide to different types of transcriptions Transcribing by hand Generic symbols (for phonetic categories) The official IPA chart

2. Italian

3. English (American & British)

4. French

5. German

6. Spanish (Iberian & American)

7. Portuguese (Brazilian & Lusitanian)

8. Russian

9. Arabic

10. Hindi

11. Chinese (Mandarin)

12. Japanese

13. Esperanto

Utilizable bibliography Index Language index