| The Sounds of Chinese with Audio CD [With CD] Contributor(s): Lin, Yen-Hwei (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521603986 ISBN-13: 9780521603980 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $66.49 Product Type: Paperback Published: December 2007 Annotation: This accessible textbook provides a clear introduction to the sounds of Standard Chinese, designed for English-speaking students with no prior knowledge of linguistics. It explains from scratch the fundamentals of articulatory phonetics (the study of how speech sounds are produced) and phonology (the study of sound systems), and clearly applies them to the phonetic and phonological properties of Chinese. Topics covered include consonants, vowels, syllable structure, tone, stress, intonation, loan words and different varieties of Standard Chinese. Clear comparisons with English sounds are given wherever relevant, along with practical pronunciation advice. All the sounds described are demonstrated by native speakers on the audio CD (included) and over fifty graded exercises are provided, encouraging students to put their knowledge into practice. Building a solid understanding of how Chinese sounds work, this text will be invaluable to students of Chinese wishing to improve their pronunciation, their teachers, and students of Chinese linguistics. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Foreign Language Study | Chinese |
| Dewey: 495.115 |
| LCCN: 2007006788 |
| Physical Information: 0.77" H x 7.13" W x 9.8" (1.53 lbs) 328 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Chinese |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This accessible textbook provides a clear introduction to the sounds of Standard Chinese, designed for English-speaking students with no prior knowledge of linguistics. It explains from scratch the fundamentals of articulatory phonetics (the study of how speech sounds are produced) and phonology (the study of sound systems), and clearly applies them to the phonetic and phonological properties of Chinese. Topics covered include consonants, vowels, syllable structure, tone, stress, intonation, loan words and different varieties of Standard Chinese. Clear comparisons with English sounds are given wherever relevant, along with practical pronunciation advice. All the sounds described are demonstrated by native speakers in a set of web-based audio files, and over fifty graded exercises are provided, encouraging students to put their knowledge into practice. Building a solid understanding of how Chinese sounds work, this text will be invaluable to students of Chinese wishing to improve their pronunciation, their teachers, and students of Chinese linguistics. |
Contributor Bio(s): Lin, Yen-Hwei: - Yen-Hwei Lin is Professor of Linguistics at Michigan State University. She is editor of Special Issue on Phonetics and Phonology (Language and Linguistics 5.4, 2004) and Proceedings of the Fifteenth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (2004). |
