Customer Reviews

Accents of English: Volume 2

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Accents and dialectology can be pursued as a gigantic sequence of unrelated facts. Wells knows his facts, all right, probably better than anyone else, but what really distinguishes this book (the first of a three-volume series) is how Wells rigorously integrates his facts into a systematic pattern, based on the history of the English dialects and their descent from a common ancestor. He also covers synchrony--the linguistic system of the individual at any given time--with great insight.

A delight to study and consult, for any professional linguist or serious amateur. ....

I am a Chilean student of English Phonetics and I bought the first volume of this book (Introduction). On its pages, you could read 'An illustrative cassette accompanies volume 1'. The cassette didn't come with the book and I got a little disappointed. But I learnt a lot with volumes 1 and 2 anyway. In volume 2, You can see about the pronunciation of English in the British Isles. The information is very clear but for people like me, with a Spanish speaking background, is a bit difficult to imagine the way words are pronounced sometimes, even though I have training in Phonetics. That's way these books needed illustrative cassettes. All of them.

I enjoyed reading it and I think I'll buy volume 3 ASAP.

An absolutely fundamental book in any study of the phonology of English. What is unique about Wells is that he systematically covers _all_ the different accents of English found in the world. Most other works focus either on North America or Southern England, with everything else treated as an afterthought at best. Wells shows how the historical differences in accents came about, and will give the reader a far more complete understanding of the how, the when, and the what of differences between different accents.

I learnt a lot from the book, but the vowel charts in the book are not shown in a clear manner.

If your alter ego is Henry Higgins, or if you ARE Henry Higgins, this book is definitely for you. Excruciatingly detailed and technical discussions, all in phonetic terminology and notation, of niggly distinctions between various localized dialects' idiosyncracies and their various pronunciations. If you are, like the aforementioned Higgings (of "My Fair Lady"), an "expert dialectician and grammarian," buy this book and its predecessor; you'l find it fascinating (I think). If, however, you are a stage and voice actor looking for detailed guidance on affecting
various authentic-sounding accents in order to better practice your craft, look elsewhere.