This is an introduction to the phonology of present-day English. It deals principally with three varieties of English: 'General American', Southern British 'Received Pronunciation' and 'Scottish Standard English'. It offers a systematic and detailed discussion of the features shared by these major accents, and explains some major differences. Other varieties of English - Australian and New Zealand English, South African English and Hiberno-English - are also discussed briefly. Without focusing on current phonological theory and its evolution, the author demonstrates the importance of 'theory', in whatever shape or form, in phonological argumentation. The book also includes a helpful introductory section on speech sounds and their production, and detailed suggestions for further reading follow each chapter. This clear and helpful textbook will be welcomed by all students of English language and linguistics.

"...Giegerich's book combines a wealth of data with extensive discussion (within this narrow framework) and provides enough reference to the counterexamples to phonemic analysis to make most readers want to see what kind of additional insights (and additional problems) can be found in a less restrictive generative analysis of the same facts." John T. Jensen, Canadian Journal of Linguistics