Acknowledgments

I wrote many of the drafts while serving as Associate Provost and then Provost at Wayne State University in Detroit, although the manuscript was finally completed when I stepped down into retirement with time to think more about language change and less about academic administration. I very much appreciate the encouragement I have received from Esther Roth and Anke de Looper as well as the support provided by Ineke Elskamp and her team, all at John Benjamins. I also appreciate the careful reading of parts of the manuscript by Kavya Davuluri. Anonymous readers have been of great help; the comments, suggestions, questions, and – perhaps even more – the criticisms of earlier drafts have helped to shape my thinking and hence the development of this textbook. My husband Geoff Nathan has been a reader, reviewer of all things phonetic and phonological, cheerleader, and all-around support in this undertaking as in everything.