This book presents an experimental-phonetic approach to the study of intonation, defined as the ensemble of pitch variations in speech. It gives a detailed explication of the analysis of intonation by means of the stylization method: studying the perceptual consequences of deliberate simplifications of speech melody makes it possible to give a description in terms of perceptually relevant, discrete events. Theoretical insights and the acoustic, perceptual, and physiological experimental evidence that supports them are amply discussed. Phoneticians and speech scientists will find the innovative, unique features of this book of interest.

Publisher Description

An intelligibility-based approach to teaching that presents pronunciation as critical, yet neglected, in communicative language teaching.

The Handbook of Speech Perception is a collection of forward-looking articles that offer a summary of the technical and theoretical accomplishments in this vital area of research on language. Now available in paperback, this uniquely comprehensive companion brings together in one volume the latest research conducted in speech perception Contains original contributions by leading researchers in the field Illustrates technical and theoretical accomplishments and challenges across the field of research and language Adds to a growing understanding of the far-reaching relevance of speech perception in the fields of phonetics, audiology and speech science, cognitive science, experimental psychology, behavioral neuroscience, computer science, and electrical engineering, among others.

Summary: "Intonation in the Grammar of English is written for scholars who are interested in language, but not necessarily linguists or phoneticians. The introduction covers speech sound, locating it in relation to other phenomena and disciplines, discusses its representation and interpretation, and introduces the systems and strata which frame its analysis in terms of systemic functional linguistics. The three kinds of meaning - textual meaning (relating language to its ever changing context), interpersonal meaning (allowing us to enact our social exchanges with others) and ideational meaning (construing the logic through which we represent the world we live in) - are each achieved in part through intonation. We make these meanings through choices: in terms of locating the main rise or fall in an intonation contour; in terms of fitting an intonation contour to part of a clause, to a whole clause, or to more than a clause; and in terms of the shape of the intonation contour. A CD-ROM integrated with the book provides examples as the systems of intonational choices are presented, and also gives examples of these systems being drawn on in different dialects of English, and in the many different exchange situations in which speakers find themselves in the course of a day."--Publisher description.