1st Edition

Studies in the Pronunciation of English A Commemorative Volume in Honour of A.C. Gimson

Edited By Susan Ramsaran Copyright 1990
    384 Pages
    by Routledge

    388 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1990, this collection celebrates the life and work of Professor A. C. Gimson, four years after his untimely death in 1985. A. C. Gimson, Professor of Phonetics at University College London, 1966-83, was the most distinguished and influential phonetician of his day, concentrating specifically on English speech. This collection of essays on phonetics and phonology of English- written by linguists from all over the world – celebrates his life and work.

    The work is divided into five sections: prosody; phonology and phonetic description; accents of English and RP; other accents of English (focusing on those non-native speakers); and phonostylistics. The twenty-eight chapters cover a very wide range of topics and the contributors offer a stimulating variety of approaches, with the emphasis on data-based objectivity. Balancing description and theory with application, this volume provides a serious and coherent contribution to the academic study of English pronunciation.

    1. A.C. Gimson and the pronunciation of English Susan Ramsaran

    Section I: Prosody

    2. Nucleus placement and three classes of exception Alan Cruttenden

    3. Focus and tone in English intonation J.A. Maidment

    4. Tonal association domains and the prosodic hierarchy in English Carlos Gussenhoven

    5. Intonation structures and pragmatic interpretation Jill House

    6. Some notes on rhythm in english J.R. Baldwin

    Section II: Phonology and phonetic description of segmental aspects of English

    7. Old English short voweld before nasals Niels Davidsen-Neilsen

    8. Syllabification and allophony J.C. Wells

    9. Derived phonological contrasts John Harris

    10. Quantity and quality in British and American vowel systems Geoff Lindsey

    11. Some vowel systems in American English William G. Moulton

    12. The development of pronunciation in English language dictionaries Arthur J. Bronstein

    Section III: Accents of English: RP

    13. ‘Inverted v’ in contemporary English André Martinet

    14. HappY land reconnoitred: the unstressed word-final –y vowel in General British pronunciation J. Windsor Lewis

    15. Generalisations on RP consonant clusters Michael G. Ashby and Patricia D.S. Ashby

    16. RP: fact and fiction Susan Ramsaran

    17. The social meaning of RP: and intergenerational perspective Howard giles, Nikolas Coupland, JKaren Henwood, Jim Harriman and Justine Coupland

    18. Acceptable models for TEFL (with special reference to Nigeria) Titilayo Ufomata

    Section IV: Accents of English: native and non-native

    19. The pronunciation of English in India R.K. Bansal

    20. The pronunciation of English vowels by Shona speakers: problems and causes Alec J.C. Pongweni

    21. Stress and intonation and the intelligibility of South African black English L.W. Lanham

    22. Missingsch + English = Minglish (a North German variety of English) Hiltrud Martens

    23. A ‘standard’ South African vowel system Roger Lass

    24. Some rhythem, resonance and quality variations in urban Tyneside speech John Local

    Section V: Phonostylistics

    25. The description of connected speech processes Francis Nolan and Paul E. Kerswill

    26. An example of phonological reduction in english Wolf-Dietrich Bald

    27. Pre-processing of anomalous text-strings in an automatic text-to-speech system John Laver, Mike McAllister and Jan McAllister

    28. Phonotactics and phonæsthesia: the power of folk lexicology Katie Wales

    References

    Biography

    Susan Ramsaran