'An excellent introductory guide to the field of contemporary theoretical and experimental phonetics.' Professor Chris Code, University of Exeter

'Encourages students to think about the issues themselves, to understand why different theories arose and how they have relevance today.' Dr Mark Huckvale, University College London

What roles do the speaker and the listener play in communication processes? Providing an overall system view, this innovative textbook explains how those working in the area think about speech.

Emphasising contextual and environmental perspectives, Tatham and Morton lead you through classical and modern phonetics alongside discussion of cognitive and biological aspects of speech. In explaining speech production-for-perception and the relationship between phonology and phonetics, this book shows the possible applications (such as language teaching, clinical practice, and speech technology) and how these are relevant to other disciplines, including sociolinguistics, cognitive neuroscience, psychology and speech acoustics.

Key Features *Definition and Explanation boxes throughout the text to help you understand key terms and concepts *Tutorial sections in each chapter provide opportunities for you to expand or reinforce your learning *Encourages you to develop understanding of theoretical applications through explanation of traditional and contemporary theories *Evaluation sections enable you to compare the pros and cons of competing theories

Mark Tatham is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. Katherine Morton has been Fellow in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex.