Articulatory Phonetics 1st Edition

This a much-awaited book, in that nothing like it has ever been published. It covers up to date findings and technology about articulation, presented in an easy-to understand way. The figures are especially well done, very clear and very well annotated. The chapter on co-articulation is very interesting, clearly showing examples of how, for instance, tongue articulation of schwa changes when preceded by a /w/ consonant. The book is a very good educational tool, for students as well as teachers, since it presents articulatory data in a way that often is not easily available. There are also good, easy to make models of the larynx (using paper) and the tongue (using clay). And, each chapter ends with some questions for the students to think about, as well as an online assignment. I teach classes in English pronunciation and English as a Second Language and I look forward to using this as a text book.

I took Bryan Gick's class at UBC, and this was the book he wrote with colleagues for this class (named Ling 314 as of 2014).The class and book worked so well together because each chapter moved up logically through the speech system starting with the lungs, and ending with the lips, tying it all together as you go along. The chapters roughly corresponded to the number of weeks in the semester, so it was a good pace to go at and the assignments at the end of each chapter really help you try the stuff you are learning about in a physical or applied way. I think this really aids in retention and helps learning, making it more fun, engaging and memorable. The chapter assignments were great and interesting and challenging but fun. There were a variety of tasks so the book introduces you to many tools used by phoneticians and speech scientists in the profession.Taken alone, I'm sure this is a wonderful book and will help any student get up to speed on articulatory phonetics. Taken as a course (whether you take his course at UBC or make a course of your own textbook but doing the assignments at the end of each chapter and practising the sufficient jargon and short-answer questions each chapter, you can also use resources online like videos and suggested articles) would probably be the most ideal method of undertaking this topic. I would suggest reading it in order even if you are in one of those annoying classes where the prof assigns the readings in the textbook all out of order (why do they have to do that? ugh).

I ordered this textbook because I was in the authors' class when they were writing it, so I got a preview of the straight-forward explanations, diagrams, and activities found within. There are so many illustrations and the authors also took every opportunity to share interesting anecdotes that make the subject matter really relevant for almost anyone.

This book is great, and touches on some really up-and-coming material in phonetics.It's great for future speech pathologists, and includes some fun hands-on exercises.