The following is a
good introduction to descriptive phonetics, covering a wide
variety of languages:
Ladefoged, Peter, and Ian Maddieson. 1996.
The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.
Modern phonology is a dauntingly abstract
formal discipline, but if you're interested in a layman-friendly
introduction to the most fashionable current theories, John Hutton, an English
friend of mine (and a silent member of this list) maintains an excellent website
where he tries to explain the hard stuff.
If you are interested in sound change and
historical phonology, you can find the essentials in any good handbook of
historical linguistics, e.g.
Anttila, Raimo. 1972. An Introduction to
Historical and Comparative Linguistics. New York: Macmillan.
Hock, Hans Heinrich. 1986. Principles of
Historical Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lass, Roger. 1997. Historical Linguistics
and Language Change. Cambridge: CUP.
Trask, R.L. 1996. Historical Linguistics.
London: Arnold.
Any questions concerning general phonetics
and phonology are welcome on the phoNet group:
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2000 3:39 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: /s/ to /x/ sound change
Can you recommend something good to read as an introduction
to
phonology? (printed or on the web)