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One of the reviewers (Roger Lass) of Doing Phonology wrote 'This is either the most radical or the most reactionary recent book on phonology, or both; it is also one of the most important.'

In it John Kelly and I try to show that it is possible to engage both in very detailed phonetic observation and analysis and, at the same time, sustain a rather abstract, declarative, non-segmental (Firthian Prosodic type) phonology. By considering a range of language material, collected first-hand, we address issues concerning the categories of phonology, domains of contrastivity and phonetic exponency. Inter aliawe explore aspects of the ways in which impressionistic phonetic records can be made and interpreted.

A flavour or our approach can be gained from the kinds of principles we outline as axiomatic in interpreting the functionality of the speech signal :
strict demarcation: phonetic and phonological levels of analysis are ontologically- and type-distinct.

non-derivation: phonology is best treated in declarative, rather than process terms. This principle encourages us to seek non-process accounts of all phonological phenomena.

parametric interpretation: do not be restricted to the domains and categories superficially imposed by e.g. traditional phonetic descriptions. Pay close attention to component parameters, their relationship to each other and their synchronisation in time.

variable-domain interpretation: give equal priority to the identification, description and analysis of features or sets of features over whatever domain. Do not restrict attention to, for instance, 'segment-sized' units.

variable-relevance interpretation: be prepared to accept any parameter or group of parameters as of phonological/informational interest at particular points in structure.

congruent level interpretation: systematically and differentially relate the fine phonetic detail of speakers' talk to appropriate levels of linguistic analysis (e.g. interactional, grammatical, lexical).

polysystemic interpretation: be sensitive to the possibilities that different meaning systems operate at different places in linguistic structure.
A recommendation for Doing Phonology appeared in J.M. Pickett's book The Acoustics of Speech Communication (1999. Allyn and Bacon Publishers) in an appendix titled 'Sketches of some interesting books for phoneticians'. It reads:

'This interesting, idiosyncratic book, highly critical of phonological theories and "received", "standard" features systems, will serve the avid reader of the enticing general linguistics books above as a damper to giving over one's life to the fascinations of language science. The elaborate phonetic marking system, deemed necessary to record data for discovery of all the hidden systematicities of phonetic segments in fluent communication, by itself indicts the sometimes simplistic insights of modern feature theories and serves notice of the complexities of discovering effective systems for explaining the wonders of segmental detail, especially in natural speaking situations.'

Some of my publications which pursue and elaborate the approach taken in Doing Phonology are listed here here.
One of my recent papers pulls together a number of strands of this work and explores its relevance for speech perception and speech understanding.

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