Unfolding Linguistics

of the vocal tract. When not working with a teacher, the best book for self-help is no doubt the recent one by J.C. Catford (2001). He leads the student step by step through the production of a wide gamut of speech sounds. For phonetic transcription the widely used alphabet of the International Phonetic Association (1999) is preferred, although others exist. Occasional additions to its International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. A problem facing the would-be practical phonetician today is that very few academic departments of linguistics offer the necessary training. Rather, the emphasis is on phonology, the study of principles leading to rather abstract sound systems of languages. Thus, the field linguist will use the phonetic details obtained from native speakers of a language as raw material for testing hypotheses on the system of abstract units that serve best to differentiate morphemes and words. A word of warning: No matter how elegantly logical, formal, systematic, and efficient the linguist’s phonology a