1. Sound and English Sound System

2. Peter Roach (Introduction)  Phoneme: the smallest unit of the speech, used to distinguish one word from another e.g. tab - tap bet - pet pin - pen  IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet Dish (transcribed as) dIS Disgrace (transcribed as) dIsgreIs

3. Peter Roach (Introduction)  Accents: the way people from different geographical places, social class, educational background and age pronounce words differently  Dialect: A variety of language which is different in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and word order.

4. Peter Roach (Introduction)  RP: Received pronunciation --- accent used by newsreaders on BBC (BBC pronunciation) - not an official accent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtXcrElq5jM  Estuary English: new accent term for the contemporary London sound that is a blend of RP and Cockney - It's even spoken by Prime Ministers and members of the royal family! The glottal stops (abrupt cut off) are very heavy. http://www.accenthelp.com/products-page/british-isles- accents/estuary-english-london/

5.  American Accent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpJ3yzU PbL0 Intelligibility: how comprehendible the speech is to the hearer (the degree to which the speech is understood.