This insightful study proposes a unified theory of speech through which conflicting ideas about language might be understood. It is founded on a number of key points, such as the continuum of linguistic behaviour, extensive variation in language features, the importance of regional and social proximity to shared linguistic production, and differential frequency as a key factor in linguistic production both in regional and social groups and in text corpora. The study shows how this new linguistics of speech does not reject rules in favour of language use, or reject language use in favour of...

The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English is the most up-to-date record of the pronunciation of British and American English. Based on research by a joint UK and US team of linguistics experts, this is a unique survey of how English is really spoken in the twenty-first century. This second edition has been fully revised to include:

• a full reappraisal of the pronunciation models for modern British and American English;
• 2,000 new entries, including new words from the last decade, encyclopedic terms and proper names;
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Presents a beginner's introduction to the history of the English language, incorporating complex systems, the scientific model behind human speech.