This accessible textbook provides a clear introduction to the sounds of Spanish. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, it explains from scratch the fundamentals of phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and phonology (the study of sound systems) and describes in detail the phonetic and phonological characteristics of Spanish as it is spoken in both Spain and Latin America. Topics covered include consonants, vowels, acoustics, stress, syllables, intonation, and aspects of variation within Spanish. Clear comparisons are made between the sounds of Spanish and those of English, and students are encouraged to put theory into practice with over fifty graded exercises. Los sonidos del español will help students gain a solid understanding of the sound system of Spanish and will also be useful to scholars in phonetics and phonology. All the sounds described in this book are demonstrated in the online audio sound files which accompany this book.

'This work should not be missing from the library of anyone interested in the Spanish language: it describes and explains the Spanish phonetic system, with all its dialectal richness, clearly and comprehensively.' Juana Gil, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid
'Los sonidos del español is a highly versatile book that can be used at both intermediate and advanced levels. It is not only an introduction to Spanish phonetics and phonology; there are also detailed descriptions of regional and social variation. While the content is accessible to beginning linguistics students, even specialists will find the book to be a valuable resource.' John Lipski, Pennsylvania State University

José Ignacio Hualde is Professor in the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.