April McMahon is Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students at the University of Manchester, and Professor in the Department of Linguistics and English Language. Her previous books include Understanding Language Change, Lexical Phonology and the History of English and Change, Chance, and Optimality.

• To students; To colleagues 1. Sounds, spellings and symbols 1.1 Phonetics and phonology 1.2 Variation 1.3 The International Phonetic Alphabet Exercises and topics for discussionRecommendations for reading 2 The phoneme: the same but different 2.1 Variation and when to ignore it 2.2 Conditioned variation in written language 2.3 The phoneme 2.4 Some further examples 2.5 The reality of the phoneme Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 3 Describing English consonants 3.1 What’s inside a phonetic symbol? 3.2 Consonant classification 3.3 The anatomy of a consonant Exercises Recommendations for reading 4 Defining distributions: consonant allophones 4.1 Phonemes revisited 4.2 Making generalisations 4.3 Making statements more precise 4.4 A more economical feature system 4.5 Natural classes 4.6 A warning note on phonological rules Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 5 Criteria for contrast: the phoneme system 5.1 Minimal pairs and beyond 5.2 Phonetic similarity and defective distributions 5.3 Free variation 5.4 Neutralisation 5.5 Phonology and morphology 5.6 Rules and constraints 5.7 The phoneme system Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 6 Describing vowels 6.1 Vowels versus consonants 6.2 The anatomy of a vowel 6.3 Vowel classification Exercises Recommendations for reading 7 Vowel phonemes 7.1 The same but different again 7.2 Establishing vowel contrasts 7.3 Vowel features and allophonic rules 7.4 Phonetic similarity and defective distribution 7.5 Free variation, neutralisation and morphophonemics Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 8 Variation between accents 8.1 The importance of accent 8.2 Systemic differences 8.3 Realisational differences 8.4 Distributional differences8.5 New accents – language contact and World Englishes Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 9 Syllables 9.1 Phonology above the segment 9.2 The syllable 9.3 Constituents of the syllable 9.4 The grammar of syllables: patterns of acceptability 9.5 Justifying the constituents Exercises and topics for discussion Recommendations for reading 10 The word and above 10.1 Phonological units above the syllable 10.2 Stress 10.3 The foot 10.4 Segmental phonology of the phrase and word10.5 Intonation Exercises and topics for discussionRecommendations for reading Glossary; Discussion of the exercises; References; Index

All in all, An Introduction to English Phonology gives an excellent, concise overview of the subject and is a must for all teachers and students involved in the teaching of English in higher education.