PART ONE 1
1．The Purpose of This Book 3
2．Sounds and Symbols：A Preliminary View of the Sounds of English and the Phonetic Symbols Representing Them 5
Observations on＂silent letters＂in English 6
Stressing and unstressing 13
Summary of the sounds of English：Key words 24
3．Production and Classification of Speech Sounds 33
The need for a special nomenclature 49
Consonant，vowel，and phoneme defined 65
4．Detailed View of the Sounds of English Speech 81
RéSumé 81
English vowels 90
English diphthongs 95
Unstressing in sentences 110
Some stressed and unstressed pairs of vowels 115
Duration of stressed vowels in English 117
English consonants 120
Observations on distinguishing between voiced and voiceless plosives 123
An observation on the vocal component of voiced consonants 123
The glottal stop and its functions 127
Nasals 128
5．Sound Change 146
Physiological causes of sound change 151
Psychological causes of sound change 152
Sociological causes of sound change 152
Specific sound changes 152
Special cases of assimilation 155
PART TWO 169
6．Speech Regions of America 171
7．General American English：Standard and Substandard 182
Standard General American English 183
Deviations from standard General American speech 189
Southern-General American Border substandard pronunciation 192
Urban substandard speech 193
Deviations from standard General American，Southern，and Eastern speech 193
8．Southern American English：Standard and Substandard 205
Standard Southern speech 205
Deviations from standard Southern American speech 212
Miscellaneous substandard pronunciations 220
9．Eastern American English：Standard and Substandard 221
Standard Eastern speech 222
Deviations from standard Eastern speech 233
Urban substandardisms 235
10．Standard Southern British：＂Stage Speech＂ 239
Plays requiring or permitting stage speech for the grammatically accurate portions 239
Sound system of Southern British (stage) speech 240