This seventh edition has been revised throughout, with particular emphasis on those areas which have seen rapid change in recent years. A new Introduction gives an overview of phonetics, examines the notion of a standard English accent and outlines key concepts in the learning of English as a first language and as an additional language. All the central chapters have been updated, notably by the inclusion of revised articulatory diagrams based on recent MRI scans.
This new edition considers the developing status of English as an international language and discusses the current debate about the idea of a global pronunciation standard as an alternative to Received Pronunciation and General American.
The layout of the book is now more user-friendly with the use of text boxes to summarise key information and an accompanying website, www.hodderplus.com/linguistics, contains exercises for learners; fMRI scans of English phrases, including all the vowels and consonants; and recordings by the author of part of the book.
Since its first publication, Gimson's Pronunciation of English has been the essential reference book for anyone studying or teaching the phonetics of English. It includes comprehensive coverage of individual vowels and consonants together with their variation and history; their articulation and acoustics, their rhythm and intonation, and how they develop in young children and foreign learners. All this ensures that Gimson's Pronunciation of English will remain the most authoritative introduction to English phonetics for many years to come.