The new edition (2000) of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary differs from the first edition (1990) in several ways. Put briefly, it is bigger and better.
As well as the general revision of existing entries, some 5,000 new entries have been added. They include
- words that have come into use, or into wider use, since the previous edition (cashpoint, ciabatta, geek, karaoke, Netscape, website),
- additional technical and scientific terms (bergschrund, biohazard, Ethernet, pancreatitis), and
- additional proper names (Charlottesville, Mandelson), including in particular many Chinese and Australian place names (Xinjiang, Wallerawang, Groote Eylandt, La Trobe)
One or two minor changes in the phonetic transcription system have been applied: the tertiary stress mark has been abandoned, and the AmE vowel of THOUGHT is now written in the same way as for BrE. Adjustments have been made to the phonetic transcription of Japanese, Russian, Portuguese and German, and for the first time there are now IPA and tone-marked Pinyin phonetic transcriptions of numerous Chinese names.
There is now an index to topics covered in the Language Panels. There are newly added panels on Australian English and on E-mail and the WWW. The panel on Connected speech has been expanded and renamed Citation form, dictionary entry and connected speech. In the Introduction, the section on Other varieties of British English has been rewritten, and now includes a reference to Estuary English.
The findings of two new pronunciation preference surveys have been incorporated: an American one carried out in 1993, and a major British one of 1998. The results are not only given as percentages, but also shown visually in the form of graphs. Here are the FACTS about schedule, garage, either, scone. This original research was undertaken specifically for the dictionary.
J.C.Wells, 2000. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Second edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. ISBN 0 582 36468 X (cased edition), 0 582 36467 1 (paperback edition).
Current UK prices: cased £19.99, paperback £14.99
May 2000