Ta(l)king English Phonetics Across Frontiers

Book excerpt: Highlighting some interesting and intriguing aspects of English phonetics and phonology from a variety of perspectives, this book brings up a number of empirical questions in order to emphasize the necessity of taking a very broad view of what spoken English means in today's socio-cultural context. English has become a truly global means of communication, used as a first, second, or additional language by millions and millions of diverse speakers, in a multitude of different communicative contexts, so that the very notions of native and non-native seem to have changed profoundly, as have the notions of central/ peripheral and standard/ non-standard with regard to English varieties spoken around the globe. Therefore, today more than ever before, in studying English phonetics many small research steps need to be taken to provide diverse and broad empirical data from as many different standpoints as possible. This collection indeed looks at English phonetics from a wide spectrum of perspectives, including those of native or EFL speakers, language varieties, L2 language teaching and learning, as well as language contact, development, and change.