Handbook of the International Phonetic Association : A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet

This is a very good resource for anyone interested in linguistics. The phonetic descriptions of various languages is particularly helpful. I definitely recommend this book.

I have taken up linguistics as a hobby and I am finding the IPA Handbook a very useful guide to the phonetic alphabet and phonetic transcription. The best part is a phonetic guide to 28 languages such as Cantonese, American English and Arabic. The sound examples can be downloaded and the IPA charts are included in a form that allows easy duplication and enlargement. There is a succinct introduction to phonetics and phonology. All in all this would probably be a handy reference for people on any level.

HANDBOOK OF THE IPA is a guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the standard manner of transcribing speech in all of the world's languages. This is not a textbook of phonetics, one is expected to already know something of the subject, and definitions of phonetic terminology are given only to clarify certain aspects of the alphabet. There are also no criticisms of the IPA; the handbook aims to be entirely practical and avoid theoretical matters.

The opening section of the book introduces the symbols of the IPA and gives some example transcriptions of individual words from various languages. The bulk of the book is dedicated to transcriptions of a translated text in the IPA and twenty-nine languages in all are represented, though unfortunately most are Indo-European. American English is used instead of Received Pronunciation, which I felt would have been more appropriate.

The work has five appendicies. The first, "Principles of the International Phonetic Association", is really a discussion of the principles of the alphabet and does not mention other aspects of the association's work. The second is an explanation of computer coding of IPA symbols. Much space is dedicated to SGML entities, but this can be seen as historically superseded with the inclusion of the IPA within the Unicode Standard. The third appendix discusses the ExtIPA extentions to the IPA, which I found most interesting. These extensions, intended for the transcription of disordered speech, is one aspect of the IPA which one will not normally encounter in linguistics textbooks. The fourth appendix discusses the history and work of the International Phonetic Association, giving the by-laws and information on how to join.

The most useful, and really the only vital portion of the Handbook comes at the end in the fifth appendix: the four reference charts of the IPA. These are set up in such a fashion to explain the IPA in themselves.

The HANDBOOK will probably be of limited use to most linguists unless they have a particular love for the IPA. The charts in the back of the book are vital, but they are also provided gratis by the assocation. So, since the book tells the linguist what he has already been trained in through other materials, it is difficult to recommend the HANDBOOK.

Personally I think that this is a MUST HAVE BOOK for any linguist, or self-proclaimed linguists and linguist-wannabes.

I have used this book many times as an excellent reference on many occasions while attaining my Bachelor's degree in Linguistics. Now, a year later, I still see myself referring back to it for helpful information.
One need not be a linguist to enjoy it, but I highly recommend it as it would significantly aid in ones better understanding if one were to know what a voiceless velar fricative is, per example.

This book is exactly what one would expect it to be: a thorough explanation of the International Phonetic Alphabet. It has a beginning section on the description of consonant and vowel sounds and thier places of articulation. The best part about the book is it analyzes the phonetic alphabet of most of the world's languages including many lesser used ones such as Bulgarian, Catalan, and Igbo, for example. The back has a description of each of the symbols so one can figure out what sound an unfamiliar symbol represents. This is a good reference book for all linguistics.