Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary

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Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary
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Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary | 453 MB
The English Pronouncing Dictionary (EPD) is one of the most well-known wks on English pronunciation. Its first edition, published in 1917 and written by Daniel Jones, used symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the pronunciations of English wds. This system of transcription was further improved by A. C. Gimson in the 13th edition of the EPD (published 1967). Gimson's system is now used by nearly all English dictionaries published in the UK, including those from Oxfd, Longman and Collins.
The first 14 editions of the EPD covered only British English. The 15th edition (1997), published by Cambridge University Press and edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter, introduced American pronunciations. The changes in the 16th edition (2003) were relatively small ? new wds and over 150 "infmation panels" explaining phonetics terminology. The 17th edition (2006) has continued the slow evolution, with the addition of further wds and a "Study pages" section with a very brief introduction to English pronunciation, rhythm and intonation.
Why is a pronunciation dictionary useful?
Here are the advantages of a specialized pronunciation dictionary, such as the EPD, over a general dictionary with definitions of wds:
Me wds. A pronunciation dictionary can list pronunciations f me wds than a general dictionary. It can include first names, last names, geographical names, company names, trademarks, etc.
Wd fms. It can give the pronunciations f inflected fms of wds ? e.g. starts, started, starting ? not only f the main fm like start. This is especially helpful f beginner learners, who can learn that e.g. goes ends in z, not s.
Me pronunciation variants. A pronunciation dictionary can list me ways to pronounce the same wd. Specifically, it can explain how to pronounce a wd in a sentence. F instance, and is pronounced /?nd/, but "and all" may be pronounced /?n '?:l/.
Me precise transcriptions. It can use additional symbols to give me detailed infmation on pronunciation.
Me authity. We can expect that a pronunciation dictionary will contain fewer errs in transcriptions than a general dictionary.
Whose pronunciation is covered?
An imptant question about any pronunciation dictionary is "Whose pronunciation is represented?". The EPD answers this question in its well-written introduction.
F British English, the EPD follows the pronunciation of those newsreaders on BBC radio and television who speak with an English accent (rather than Scottish, Welsh Irish). The auths call this model "BBC English", but it is really a modern version of RP.
F American English, the EPD follows the accent of professional voices on news and infmation programs on American national TV netwks (such as CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS FOX). This model is called "Netwk English" (why not "General American"?).
This definition of pronunciation models makes a lot of sense. Almost all speakers of English watch TV, therefe the "TV accents" are very understandable. They are also the easiest to learn, because television netwks like BBC Wld CNN International are widely available and the sound quality on TV is excellent.

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