Customer Reviews

Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English

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If you are looking for a pronunciation dictionary that is current, lists variants, discusses variants that have equal numbers of adherents, makes suggestions for preferred pronunciations, gives data about what percentage of people prefer such and such a pronunciation, and is attractively printed, do not get this one. This is plainly packaged, has very little explanatory information (Longman's has over 200 charts and many explanatory notes), gives no data as to who prefers what or how many, gives little direction, etc. A dull affair all around. The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary is multicolored, informative, and fascinating to read. When there are dramatic variants, Longman explains the issues clearly. Longman also includes a removable phonetics chart so you do not need to keep flipping to the key in the front of the book. I am a speech therapist and I find myself going to Longman on a daily basis while the Oxford dictionary sits on the shelf.

The market for this type of dictionary is traditionally dominated by the umpteenths re-editions of Daniel Jones' dictionary, so much so that university phonetics instructors often seem not to know that there are others...Well, they should have a look at this one. Compared to the other new (and great) pronunciation dictionary, that of John Wells [published by Longman's], Clive Upton's dictionary does not have the articles, polls about variants, and other useful add-ons of John Wells' dictionary: what we have here is a basic (but comprehensive) dictionary with the pronunciation of each word given in British and American English. And that is all, but the transcription system is probably the most accurate of the three dictionaries. If you are a serious student of English phonetics, I would recommend having both John Wells' and Clive Upton 's dictionaries - Clive Upton's for immediate reference andd John Wells' if you want to go further. They complete each other nicely. You can safely forget about Daniel Jones' - even it is still recommended by most university instructors, who would be well-advised to update their reading lists at least once a century.