In the general study of speech and phonetics, vowels have stood in second place to consonants. But what vowels are, how they differ from one another, how they vary among speakers, and how they are subject to disorder, are questions that require a closer examination.

This Handbook presents a comprehensive, cogent, and up-to-date analysis of the vowel, including its typical development in children's speech, description by perceptual and instrumental methods, cross-linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects, and disorders of its production and use. It approaches the problems of vowel production and perception from the viewpoints of physiology, physics, psychology, linguistics, phonetics, phonology, and speech-language pathology. The chapters are logically complementary, and the major sections of the book are like key dimensions of understanding, each adding a perspective and base of knowledge on vowels. The sum total of the chapters is a synthesis of information on vowels that has no precedent.

Contents

M.M. Hodge, The Development of the Vowel Space in Children: Anatomical and Acoustic Aspects. P. Donegan, Normal Vowel Development. S. Howard, B. Heselwood, The Contribution of Phonetics to the Study of Vowel Development and Disorders. V. Ciocca, T. Whitehill, The Acoustic Measurement of Vowels. A. Lee, N. Zharkova, F. Gibbon, Vowel Imaging. M. Kiefte, T. Nearey, P. Assman, Vowel Perception in Normal Speakers. I. Papakyritsis, A. Granese, Cross-linguistic Study of Vowel Systems. D. Watt, Sociolinguistic Variation in Vowels. J. Reynolds, Recurring Patterns and Idiosyncratic Systems in some English Children with Vowel Disorder. K.E. Pollock, Memphis Vowel Project: Vowel Errors in Children With and Without Phonological Disorders. S.A.R. Bates, J.M.M. Watson, J.M. Scobbie, Context Conditioned Error Patterns in Disordered Systems. A. Jacks, T.P. Marquardt, B.L. Davis, Vowel Production in Childhood and Acquired Apraxia of Speech. R. Perkins, J. Ryalls, Vowels in Foreign Accent Syndrome. ly, Vowels in Hearing Impairment. J.L. Gilbert, D.B. Pisoni, Vowel Perception in Listeners with Cochlear Implants. M.J. Ball, Clinical Phonology of Vowel Disorders. F. Gibbon, Therapy for Abnormal Vowels in Children with Speech Disorders.

Author Bio

Martin J. Ball is Hawthorne-BoRSF Endowed Professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is co-editor of the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics (Taylor & Francis), and the book series Communication Disorders Across Languages (Multilingual Matters). His main research interests include sociolinguistics, clinical phonetics and phonology, and the linguistics of Welsh. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Fiona Gibbon is a Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at University College Cork, Ireland. Her research focuses on new developments in instrumentation to improve diagnosis and treatments for children with speech d...