A problem-based introduction to phonetics, featuring over three hundred integrated exercises to help students discover and practice the subject interactively. It assumes no previous knowledge of phonetics; concepts are introduced gradually and frequent cross-referencing means that students will see how the subject fits together and how later concepts build on earlier ones.

This bestselling text by Charles Barber, with updating contributions from Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw, recounts the history of the English language from its remote ancestry to the present day.