Applied Phonetics (Singular Textbook)

I'm very happy with how fast this product was shipped to me. I ordered it and the very next day it was shipped. I recieved it in less than 5 business days!

This is a reference book rather than a textbook. Theoretical questions are covered very scarcely, definitions of major phonetic and phonological concepts are inadequate for the students of linguistics. Suprasegmental phonetics is not dealt with at all (a brief chapter at the end of the book is not counted as a coverage of suprasegmentals). The book does not explain things. I do not recommend it as a major textbook for the students. Because of the fact that this book is featured as a textbook, I give it three stars. It is not very good to be used as a major textbook, but still the book is worth having as a guide into phonemic inventory of American English.
As a general reference guide to phonemic inventory of American English this book is unraveled. I have never come across a book containing that much info on each phoneme, including allophonic variations, acoustic parameters and some auditory peculiarities of main allophones, spelling-pronunciations conversions, frequency data, etc.
A workbook with CDs can be used as a nice tool to practice American English transcription on basic level, with some rare exercises on transcribing disordered and accented speech. There are loads of exercises, but they are not very advanced. the author follows the principle by going from easy tasks to more difficult ones, but he does not go very far into details. Transcription exercises in Roach's Phonetics and Phonology (one of the best PRACTICAL phonetics books for beginners, British English) are better, although there are much fewer of them. This workbook can provide additional exercises (please watch the differences between British and American English if you combine) and for some practice in disordered and accented speech.

This is a great book but I would recommend getting the second edition (this edition has the subtitle "the sound of American English"). I compared the second and third editions and found that the contents do not differ between the two editions. However, spectrorgams and diagrams are sharper and easier to see in the second edition.

The best thing about Edwards' "Applied Phonetics" is that it can be used by both the beginner and the expert phonetician. For beginners, the text is thorough but easy to understand. For the expert, there is extensive detailed information about each phoneme. The CD's that accompany the text are useful, though some of the accents used are not easy to understand. Highly recommended for students.