ABSTRACT
If you have never studied phonetics before, it is likely that your view of the spoken language is partly conditioned by your experience of the written language. Written language has the advantage that it is permanent, so that it can be studied conveniently and at leisure. Spoken language, however familiar it might be, is more elusive. Until the invention of the record player – or perhaps more importantly the tape recorder – speech was uttered and gone for ever. So, although you will have developed an understanding of the workings of the written language in the course of your education, you are less likely to have a corresponding awareness of speech. For this reason I shall take as little as possible for granted about the nature of speech, and where appropriate relate spoken language to the more familiar written form.
