This book has now been supplemented by a volume of Specimens of English, in which I have given, in the phonetic transcription, a number of passages ranging in style from the careful and elevated to the colloquial and familiar.

W. R.

December 1910.

CONTENTS

SECT.PAGE
Introduction[1]
1.Purpose of the Book[1]
2.Different Ways of Approaching the Subject of Spoken English[2]
3.Standard Speech[3]
The Organs of Speech[6]
4.Breathing[6]
5.Good Air[7]
6.The Vocal Chords[9]
7.Voice[12]
8.The Velum; Nasalising[14]
9.The Mouth Passage; Vowel and Consonant[16]
10.Continuants[17]
11.Stops[17]
12.Place of Closure or Narrowing[18]
13.The Epiglottis[18]
14.Good Hearing[19]
15.Shouting[20]
16.The Representation of Speech Sounds[20]
17.The Inadequacy of the Spelling; its Causes[21]
18.Spelling Reform[23]
19.The Need of a Phonetic Alphabet[24]
20.The Sounds of Standard English[24]
The Sounds considered Separately[28]
21.Stops[28]
22.Lip Stops[29]
23.The Tongue and its Parts[30]
24.Teeth Stops[31]
25.Front and Back Stops[32]
26.Continuants; Lip Continuants[35]
27.Lip Teeth Continuants[36]
28.Teeth Continuants[37]
29.The Hushing Sounds[38]
30.The Hissing Sounds[40]
31.The Lisping Sounds[42]
32.The Liquids; the r Sounds[43]
33.The l Sounds[46]
34.Front and Back Continuants[48]
35.The h Sounds[50]
36.Vowels[53]
37.The a Sounds[53]
38.a and ə[55]
39.The Front Vowels, æ and ɛ[57]
40.ai and au[59]
41.Middle and Close e[60]
42.The i Sounds[61]
43.The Back Vowels; Open o[63]
44.Middle and Close o[67]
45.The u Sounds[68]
46.Sounds in Connected Speech[72]
47.Strong and Weak Forms[72]
48.Unstressed Lax i[74]
49.Assimilation[74]
50.Simplification of Consonant Groups[77]
51.Stress of the Word[80]
52.Sonority; the Syllable[83]
53.Stress of the Sentence; Scanning[85]
54.Stress[87]
55.Pitch[88]
Conclusion[89]
56.Importance of Ear-Training[89]
57.Public Speaking[90]
Appendices—
I.Exercises[93]
II.Lists of Words with Phonetic Transcription[97]
A. General[98]
B. Proper Names[111]
III.On the Teaching of Reading[120]
IV.Diagrams[121]

INTRODUCTION