For those who are familiar with the first edition, it will be convenient to have some indication of where the main changes lie. Chapter one has been largely rewritten to give an outline of current approaches to a model of comprehension of spoken language. Chapter two has a new initial section but otherwise remains as it was. Chapter three incorporates a new section on "pause" and how this interacts with rhythm, and rather more on the function of stress. Chapter four has an extended initial section but otherwise remains largely as it was. Chapter five on intonation contains several sections which have been rewritten to varying extents. Chapter six of the first edition has disappeared: in 1977, very little work had been published on "fillers" and it seemed worthwhile incorporating a chapter that sat rather oddly with the phonetic/phonological interests of the rest of the book. Not that there is a great industry of descriptions of the forms and functions of these and similar phenomena there seems no reason to retain this early but admittedly primitive account. The chapter on "paralinguistic vocal features", now chapter six, has some rewriting in the early part but considerable rewriting in the last sections. The final chapter on "teaching listening comprehension" has grown greatly in length. It still incorporates some material from the original chapter but most of it is completely rewritten.

The theory of neutralization and the archiphoneme is well known to have been expounded by the Prague School. It is now being fully accepted and practised by A. Martinet and his associates, to whom Akamatsu refers as the neo-Prague School. The objective is to propose a maximally functionalist theory of neutralization and the archiphoneme by submitting to critical discussion from a functional point of view all the principal notions pertaining to this theory in its traditionally professed form. The author comes up with a theory of neutralization and the archiphoneme which is fundamentally based on but is clearly different from that which is normally associated with the Prague School and the neo-Prague School.