How do we produce the sounds that make up the English language? What happens when we link those sounds together in connected speech? Why doesn't English spelling reflect the way we say words? Why do some people make every sentence sound like a question? What is happening to the pronunciation of British English? Necessary Noises attempts to answer these and other questions in a style that aims to be at all times clear and accessible to the reader approaching the subject of phonology for the first time. No attempt is made to deny the existence of technical terminology (which would be a futile...