The fourth edition of Practical English Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students is here to mark yet another decisive transition in its course. Since the first edition, by Collins & Mees (Reference Collins and Mees2003), this important manual has been feeding students of phonetics with all the requisite information while also boasting of novelty, succinctness, user-friendliness, and reliability. In the long path down almost twenty years of successful presence in an increasingly competitive marketplace, this textbook, time and again, adapts and continues being a preferred choice among instructors and students of phonetics. Several feedback cycles by experts in the field and the users of the book (students, instructors, etc.) led to revisions that addressed original weaknesses, filled in gaps, tackled challenges along the way, and brought the book up to match the requirements of the latest state of affairs in the instruction of phonetics. As a backbone to such endeavors, the textbook’s longevity is also owed to upholding the editors’ original objective, i.e. being faithful to a ‘practical pedagogical approach to English phonetics and pronunciation teaching’ (Preface to the fourth edition, p. xx), as clearly affirmed by its title. Undertaking a critical review of such a long-standing volume is challenging in the sense that one expects to find little space that licenses improvement of this already tested and thriving formula.

Paul Carley joins Collins and Mees in the authorship of the present edition, having already been a long-standing collaborator (Mees et al. Reference Mees, Beverley and Carley2013, Carley et al. Reference Carley, Mees and Collins2017, Carley & Mees Reference Carley and Mees2019). The volume is on the speech sound system of English and manages to keep the vital bond between phonetics and phonology alive and at the forefront of the reader’s consideration. David Crystal reported in Reference Crystal2003 that ‘the new millennium would see over 1,000 million people learning English’ (Crystal Reference Crystal2003: 113). Such an increasing trend is still corroborated today by findings of the British Council (2020) showing that the ratio of second (L2) to first language (L1) speakers of English is 4:1. This sets the volume under review in a milieu where an abundance of competing textbooks on English phonetics and phonology exist. Main competitors diverge in that some are more theoretical in nature (Davenport & Hannahs Reference Davenport and Hannahs2010), dedicate longer sections on anatomy and acoustics (e.g. ibid., Johnson Reference Johnson2020), specialize or incorporate a section on clinical aspects (Ball & Müller Reference Ball and Müller2005, Shriberg & Kent Reference Shriberg and Kent2012, Small Reference Small2020), while the majority (Roach Reference Roach2009, Catford Reference Catford2010, Small Reference Small2020) explicitly uphold that phonetics should be considered a practical science, a notion initially advanced by the British School of phonetics (Mees et al. Reference Mees, Beverley and Carley2013). As a result, these practically-minded competing volumes discuss connected speech, the sound systems of different languages, as well as English dialects to variable extents (Roach Reference Roach2009, Catford Reference Catford2010, Small Reference Small2020), but only two include English as L2: Carr (Reference Carr2019) is looking at theoretical postulations of first/second language acquisition, a topic less extensively covered in Small (Reference Small2020).

The present volume stands out among these in that all major English varieties (dialects, world Englishes, foreign accents) are addressed here with the spirit of lingua franca in mind, demarcating differences among them with clarity and detail, and informing on the phonotactics and segmental inventories of other major languages. Critically pondering on the volume, the following aspects significantly characterize its outlook, setting it apart among other textbooks: (i) globalization trends and the internet provide ongoing diverse input to learners of English and its phonetics, and (ii)

The 2019 edition addresses these points better than any other available textbook of the kind without compromises to its compact size. As Ladefoged has stated, ‘a far wider range of topics than other books on English phonetics’ is gathered in the volume at hand (Praise for the first edition, p. iii). This holds true not only for volumes (mentioned earlier) tackling British English but also those with an emphasis on American English (e.g. Edwards Reference Edwards2002, Carley & Mees Reference Carley and Mees2019, Johnson Reference Johnson2020).

The main focus of this volume is, thus, on General British (GB) English, that has its roots in the prestigious Received Pronunciation (RP) but has developed to ‘the present-day range of variation to be heard from educated middle- and younger-generation speakers … who have a pronunciation that is not specific to a particular area’ (p. 4).

The revised edition reflects today’s society in England in that it veers away from the national fascination with Received Pronunciation, by replacing the term ‘RP’ with ‘GB’. This echoes in changes throughout the manual including the omission of David Abercrombie’s contribution ‘RP – R.I.P?’ from the final chapter of the book with advanced readings by renowned British linguists. The manual does have a distinct British accent that is admittedly pleasant, familiar and welcomed by the British-educated reviewer herself, also a bilingual speaker who acquired English studying British textbooks in a European instructional setting. This along with evidence cited earlier justifies the authors’ statement that ‘a British model of English is what is most commonly taught to students learning English as a second language in Europe, Africa, India and much of Asia’ (p. 6).

The book is structured in four chapters as per expectations in the Routledge series. Chapters ‘A–Introduction’ and ‘B–Development’ are mandatory reading that builds the knowledge required to cope with the more advanced subsequent chapters ‘C–Exploration’ and ‘D–Extension’. The decreasing page distribution per chapters reflects this, A: 110 pages, B: 96, C: 45, and D: 28. These main chapters are surrounded by supplementary material providing equally useful information, in this order: how to use the book, contents, figure and table captions, a list of accompanying audio recordings, prefaces to all editions, a table of phonetic symbols used, a phonemic transcription key, [Chapters A–D], glossary of terms used, suggestions for further reading, references, index, and the latest International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). ‘Prefaces to all editions’ is overarching in scope, rather than integral, and may have served the book better if it appeared after the section entitled ‘How to use the book’. There are two features here that diverge from previous editions. The Praise for the first edition by Peter Ladefoged appears in subsequent editions but not in the first, and the Praise for the third edition is distinctly briefer, honorably establishing its continuing presence. A feature of the first edition, missing subsequently, is a cross-referenced mapping of contents with likely practical usefulness for learning styles showing preference to two-dimensional visualization. Overall, the manual’s structure complies with its pedagogical objectives and serves it well.

The volume’s thematic content is outlined next, critically comparing it with previous editions. Though the four main chapters remain intact, sections in A and B were relocated to better facilitate implementation of the intended gradual build-up of knowledge.

‘A–Introduction’ introduces the essentials of English language phonetics and phonology. Core concepts are defined in an appropriately divided layout of sections and paragraphs: dialect/accent, cross-linguistic variation, connected speech, the speech production mechanism, segments, phonemic/phonetic inventory, syllable structure, stress, rhythm and intonation. The sections on consonants and vowels, under ‘B–Development’ in previous editions, have been appropriately moved to the introduction expanding the related discussion. The fragment on orthography (originally in B) was also moved to the end of the introduction, emphasizing that reading and writing are integrally connected to metaphonology.

‘B–Development’ is substantially expanded with more in-depth coverage that aims to connect abstract phonological theory with applications of English phonetics. In particular, the phoneme and syllable are revisited to elaborate on pronunciation variation with respect to the standard (GB), its dialects, and L2 English. Phonological theory is represented with emphasis on complementary distribution, free variation, phoneme neutralization, dialectal variation of vowels, and sonority. Also, phonological processes operative in connected speech are described in substantial detail here.

Lastly, a sizeable part of ‘B–Development’ covers stress, rhythm, and intonation substantially expanding this thematic component when compared to previous editions and to match competing textbooks (Roach Reference Roach2009, Catford Reference Catford2010, Katz Reference Katz2013, Small Reference Small2020). These aspects of prosody are comprehensively presented defining relevant indicators. The discussion on stress comprises an account of intensity, pitch variation, vowel quality and duration, word and sentence stress, and the relationship between stress and rhythm. The discussion in the chapter ‘Speech melody’ contains an account of the following: pitch movement, tone languages, intonation variation and English patterns, and the function of intonation in English statements, commands, and different types of questions. Another novel feature of this edition is the inclusion of several exercises related to this topic, which are incorporated as part of the text rather marked separately as ‘Activities’.

The substantial final part of ‘B–Development’ is split into two themes tackling phonetics and phonology in terms of (i) pronunciation as evidence of historical language change, and (ii) the role of pronunciation in the learning of a foreign language. First, the chronological variation of English speech habits is documented in a historical procession of English pronunciation change that begins with Old English, continues with Middle English, Elizabethan English, the early modern period, and finishes with a discussion of pronunciation changes in recent times till currently. Specific sections are attributed to reports on pronunciation change in terms of segments, supra-segmentals, spelling shifts, and place names. Such an attribute to historical roots is a propos, not only for the need to connect the past with the future, but also because it demonstrates that language is a living, changeable entity, that only seems constant when viewed through the lenses of ‘here and now’.

Learning and teaching foreign pronunciation, originally a single topic under ‘C–Exploration’, is moved to ‘B–Development’ in this edition and is presented in two separate sections: teaching and learning. The phonetics/phonology of several major world languages is introduced here. The section starts with a broad hierarchy of L2 English errors by native speakers of Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, India/S. Asia, Italian, Japanese, Malay/Bahasa, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish/Norwegian, Turkish, and West African. Table B6.1, comprehensively surveying L2 English realizations across languages, is one of the most succinct available. Chapter B ends with specific instruction on teaching and learning foreign pronunciation. Specifically, phonetic inventories, connected speech patterns, and the role of orthography is outlined for six major languages: Spanish, French, Italian, German, Polish, and Japanese. Should authors wish to expand this very useful section with more languages, Greek would be a welcome addition among the represented Indo-European languages.

‘C–Exploration’ maintains the manual’s thematic premise with a hands-on approach to English dialectal variability. It begins by comparing British and American English, and it then surveys the English and Celtic varieties in the British Isles. English in the world at large is represented by North American accents: Canada, New York (missing from the first edition), Southern USA (Texas, Kentucky), and elsewhere by Australian and New Zealand English. L2 varieties and Creole-influenced speech are represented next by Indian and Singapore English, and English spoken in the Caribbean and Sierra Leone respectively. Similarly to changes elsewhere, ‘World accent varieties’ is revised here, split into three sections that represent different geographical regions: North American, the Southern Hemisphere, and L2, Creole-influenced English speech. No other substantial changes are noted in this section of the revised volume.

Finally, ‘D–Extension’ serves as further readings that enable the consolidation and expansion of acquired knowledge on phonetics, also instigating further exploration with key texts by influential writers in the field. The five sections with reprinted texts fall under three major thematic categories: the first two on pronunciation teaching and the influence of orthography are more practical, whereas the last one on syllabification and allophony is theoretically inclined. The readings are grouped into topics that do or do not coincide with the original titles of the texts in the following order: ‘Attitudes to accent’ (D1, by Daniel Jones), ‘Preliminaries to teaching pronunciation’ (D2, by Peter Avery & Susan Elrich), ‘English accents and their implications for spelling reform’ (D3, by J. C. Wells), ‘Teaching the pronunciation of English’ (D4, by David Crystal), and finally ‘Syllabification and allophony’ (D5, by J. C. Wells). Because D4 is thematically linked closer to D1 and D2, it may be beneficial that it is moved before D3, so that the section ends with D5 preceded by the current D3. The 2019 volume has been considerably updated for a more general audience to exclude several readings present in previous editions, i.e. on RP (Abercrombie), pronunciation worries (Crystal), teaching the deaf (Fry), computer talk (Ladefoged), forensic phonetics (Varney), and upspeak (Bradford). Nevertheless, it is a pity that ‘secrets of speech sounds’ (Pinker) has also been omitted, given that its spontaneous narrative is captivating and, thus, pedagogically appealing to novices in phonetics.

A vital component of this pedagogical resource, not represented in the preliminaries, is the numerous activities appropriately interspersed alongside the text. There are 12 passages for transcription practice offered in the manual and an additional 25 on the companion website (https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9781138591509/resources.php). This fourth edition contains 116 activities in a sequential layout that mirrors the decreasing shift in detail and focus, as already mentioned, from opening to subsequent sections of the manual. There are 81 activities in Section A: A2(9), A3(3), A4 (22), A5 (23), A6 (10), A7 (8), A8 (5), A9(1); 30 activities in B: B1(5), B2 (5), B3(6), B4(7), B5(7), B6(none), B7(none); five activities in C, and no activities in D. Section B4, entitled ‘Speech melody’, includes a number of new exercises that are not, however, highlighted as activities. It is not clear why these have been differentiated. These activities that thoughtfully and efficiently assess the reader’s understanding of material have been ‘used in teaching with great success’ (Wells 2013/2020: Praise for the third & fourth edition, p. ii). Listing the activities/exercises following the preliminary section ‘Audio recordings (on companion website)’ (p. xv–xvii) would be of practical use. Another minor, but practical revision in the new edition entails the numbering of activities that are now presented in shorter (and more manageable) incremental sequences per section rather than cumulatively across the entire book. This change would make the inclusion of a list of activities in the preliminary section of the volume very easy to navigate through.

Despite the practical nature of the topics discussed in its second and third chapters, the manual lacks activities under B6 and B7 on teaching and learning of a foreign language, and under C4, C5 on world accent varieties. Students of the pronunciation of English varieties or of other languages represented in the manual, as well as those teaching pronunciation to speakers of these non-English languages, would likely benefit from practicing via relevant activities and from reflecting further on these topics. Interestingly, the fourth edition has fewer activities (if one excludes the exercises) when compared to the first and third editions, with a difference of five and nine activities, respectively. Given the pedagogical nature of the textbook under review, this trend towards diminution in the active engagement of the reader/student has not been justified by the authors in the preface to the new, 2019 edition. Lastly, answers and keys to transcription passages are freely available on the companion website as a great resource, but this may inadvertently limit the extent to which the range of available materials to instructors can be useful for reliably assessing student progress.

A remaining comment is with regard to Sections B6 and B7, where the inclusion of audio recordings sampling second language (i.e. ‘foreign accented’) English would considerably increase their pedagogical grasp. These audio files could be incorporated in the companion website together with all other recordings (aptly renamed so instead of the term ‘tracks’ used in previous editions) that accompany the textbook. These recordings could follow the relevant audio files per language, e.g. the audio files demonstrating Spanish-accented English could follow the recording demonstrating native Spanish sounds. Another possibility would be to provide in-text references to website links that provide such audio samples freely as, for instance, the second-language speech samples of the Speech Accent Archive (Weinberger Reference Weinberger2015, https://accent.gmu.edu/). By and large, the very presence of the recordings on the companion website, rather than in an accompanying CD, is a brilliant, practical, and cost-effective, innovative step that enables easier sharing of audio files between instructors and students, as well as trouble-free demonstrations in the classroom.

In conclusion, the new edition of Practical English Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students continues doing what it first set out to do in 2003, that is, meeting its goal to provide an easy, accessible, dependable, informative and all-inclusive textbook for students of English phonetics and phonology that is adequately grounded in theory, while also being applied, practical, and practicable in its inclusion of impeccable tables and illustrations and useful cross-references between topics and sections.

Like ‘a series of interesting lectures’, in Taniguchi’s words (p. vi, Praise for the third edition), this manual is bound to stay competitive and remain an imperative companion resource for experts and non-experts alike maintaining the knack to grow on those who think that [fəʊˈnɛtɪks] ~ [foʊˈnɛtɪks] ~ [fəˈnɛtɪks] ~ [foˈnɛtiks] really is more than just about $\varphi\omega v\acute{\eta}$ [foˈni] ‘voice’.

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