diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/common.c b/src/libespeak-ng/common.c
index e9d2decc..679b9b89 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/common.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/common.c
@@ -176,6 +176,20 @@ int is_str_totally_null(const char* str, int size) {
 	return (*str == 0 && memcmp(str, str+1, size-1) == 0);
 }
 
+int Read4Bytes(FILE *f)
+{
+	// Read 4 bytes (least significant first) into a word
+	int ix;
+	unsigned char c;
+	int acc = 0;
+
+	for (ix = 0; ix < 4; ix++) {
+		c = fgetc(f) & 0xff;
+		acc += (c << (ix*8));
+	}
+	return acc;
+}
+
 int towlower2(unsigned int c, Translator *translator)
 {
 	// check for non-standard upper to lower case conversions
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/common.h b/src/libespeak-ng/common.h
index 2ad7007b..05e69a8f 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/common.h
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/common.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ extern ESPEAK_NG_API int GetFileLength(const char *filename);
 extern ESPEAK_NG_API void strncpy0(char *to, const char *from, int size);
 
 int is_str_totally_null(const char* str, int size); // Tests if all bytes of str up to size are null
+int Read4Bytes(FILE *f);
 int towlower2(unsigned int c, Translator *translator); // Supports Turkish I
 
 ESPEAK_NG_API int utf8_in(int *c, const char *buf);
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
index 1fef7602..9d829157 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
@@ -35,11 +35,10 @@
 #include <espeak-ng/speak_lib.h>
 #include <espeak-ng/encoding.h>
 
-#include "common.h"                    // for GetFileLength, strncpy0
+#include "common.h"                    // for GetFileLength, strncpy0, ...
 #include "error.h"                    // for create_file_error_context
 #include "mnemonics.h"               // for LookupMnemName, MNEM_TAB
 #include "phoneme.h"                  // for PHONEME_TAB, PHONEME_TAB_LIST
-#include "readclause.h"               // for Read4Bytes
 #include "spect.h"                    // for SpectFrame, peak_t, SpectSeq
 #include "speech.h"			// for path_home, GetFileLength
 #include "synthdata.h"                // for LoadPhData
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
index a8529c24..0793f2e7 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.c
@@ -271,20 +271,6 @@ static const char *LookupCharName(Translator *tr, int c, int only)
 	return buf;
 }
 
-int Read4Bytes(FILE *f)
-{
-	// Read 4 bytes (least significant first) into a word
-	int ix;
-	unsigned char c;
-	int acc = 0;
-
-	for (ix = 0; ix < 4; ix++) {
-		c = fgetc(f) & 0xff;
-		acc += (c << (ix*8));
-	}
-	return acc;
-}
-
 static int AnnouncePunctuation(Translator *tr, int c1, int *c2_ptr, char *output, int *bufix, int end_clause)
 {
 	// announce punctuation names
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.h b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.h
index 2692ddfd..e55235ea 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.h
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/readclause.h
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ extern PARAM_STACK param_stack[];
 int clause_type_from_codepoint(uint32_t c);
 int Eof(void);
 const char *WordToString2(unsigned int word);
-int Read4Bytes(FILE *f);
 int AddNameData(const char *name,
                 int wide);
 int ReadClause(Translator *tr,
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/soundicon.c b/src/libespeak-ng/soundicon.c
index abab72f7..25a3130b 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/soundicon.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/soundicon.c
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 #include "soundicon.h" 
 #include "common.h"                // for GetFileLength
 #include "error.h"                // for create_file_error_context
-#include "readclause.h"               // for Read4Bytes
 #include "speech.h"                   // for path_home, PATHSEP
 #include "synthesize.h"                   // for samplerate
 
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/synth_mbrola.c b/src/libespeak-ng/synth_mbrola.c
index fab55884..bffefb47 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/synth_mbrola.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/synth_mbrola.c
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
 
 #include "dictionary.h"
 #include "mbrola.h"
-#include "readclause.h"
 #include "setlengths.h"
 #include "synthdata.h"
 #include "wavegen.h"