American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice

Revised throughout, the second edition of American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice provides a unique introduction to articulatory phonetics for students of English. Taking a practical approach, this book teaches the pronunciation of modern standard American English to intermediate and advanced learners worldwide. Now fully updated and restructured, this new edition features: - An up-to-date description of the pronunciation of modern American English. - Comprehensive pronunciation practice for all the consonants and vowels of American English. - Complete online audio for all pronunciation practice materials. - An updated and more accessible structure with a greater number of concise and reader-friendly chapters. - New chapters on plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, approximants, short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs. - Expanded theory sections incorporating extensive exemplification for a more equal balance of theory and practice. - Newly added transcriptions for all practice material. Ideal for studying pronunciation in the classroom or for independent student practice, American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice is essential reading for any student of pronunciation and phonetics.

Paul Carley is an English pronunciation coach and has held posts at the University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, and the universities of Bedfordshire and Leicester. He has been a regular lecturer on the UCL Summer Course in English Phonetics and is co-author of Practical English Phonetics and Phonology, Fifth Edition (Routledge, 2025) and English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice, Second Edition (Routledge, 2024). Inger M. Mees is Associate Professor Emerita at the Copenhagen Business School. She has formerly held lectureships at the universities of Leiden and Copenhagen and is co-author of Practical English Phonetics and Phonology, Fifth Edition (Routledge, 2025) and English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice, Second Edition (Routledge, 2024).

Transcription symbols The International Phonetic Alphabet Preface 1 Basic concepts 2 Introduction to consonants 3 Plosives 1 4 Plosives 2 5 Plosives: practice 6 Fricatives 7 Fricatives: practice 8 Affricates 9 Affricates: practice 10 Nasals 11 Nasals: practice 12 Approximants 13 Approximants: practice 14 Introduction to vowels 1 15 Introduction to vowels 2 16 Short vowels 17 Short vowels: practice 18 Long vowels 19 Long vowels: practice 20 Diphthongs 21 Diphthongs: practice 22 Syllabic consonants 23 Syllabic consonants: practice 24 Weak forms 1 25 Weak forms 2 26 Weak forms: practice 27 Consonant clusters 28 Consonant clusters: practic e29 Connected speech 1 30 Connected speech 2 Suggested reading Index