Pronunciation is in the Brain, not in the Mouth

This book introduces language as an infinite code of communication that is exclusively confined to human beings. More specifically, it investigates the cognitive roots of pronunciation in children and adults and the emergence of accent with adults when learning a second language (L2). Subsequently, any teaching of L2 pronunciation to adults should be premised on a multisensory and multicognitive approach covering a wide selection of teaching and learning strategies that are in line with the cognitive roots. From the pedagogical perspective, the book introduces the distinction between phonological accent—a mispronunciation that results in the change of the targeted meaning—and phonetic accent which is a mispronunciation that does not change meaning. In real-life situations, and more so in classroom situations, the objective should be the elimination or reduction of phonological accent prior to tackling the phonetic one. The book applies all the above concepts on a wide variety of languages supported with a combination of visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic as well as cognitive strategies.

Edward Y. Odisho was born in Kirkuk/Iraq in 1938. He received his B.A. Honors in English language in 1960, and completed his graduate studies at Leeds University/England, receiving his M. Phil. in 1973 and Ph.D. in 1975 in phonetics sciences. After escaping Saddam’s regime in 1980, he sought asylum in the USA and has spent the last three decades teaching at Loyola University Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University, after which he retired as Professor Emeritus. He has published scores of research papers and articles in various international journals as well as 9 books.