phonetic analysis

8/13/2019 phonetic analysis

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JABATAN PENGKHUSUSAN BAHASA INGGERIS

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU

KAMPUS ILMU KHAS

PHONETICS AND

PHONOLOGY

TSL 3104

NO. NAME MATRIC NO.1 NURUL ATIQAH BINTI MOHAMED SAID TESL 168

2 HIDAYATI IZZATI BINTI OSMAN TESL 156

LECTURER : MR. CHANG KHAY SENG



2

CONTENTS

1.0 The subject .............................................................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 The data (the reading passage) ............................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Ortographic .......................................................................................................................................................... 3

2.2 Phonemic Transcription ....................................................................................................................................... 4

3.0 Analysis (recorded text) ........................................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Phonemic Transcription ....................................................................................................................................... 5

3.2 Discussion of pronunciation features and problems ........................................................................................... 6

4.0 Explanation of possible causes for the pronunciation problems and ways to overcome the problems ............. 7

* NURUL ATIQAH BINTI MOHAMED SAID .............................................................................................................. 7

* HIDAYATI IZZATI BINTI OSMAN ......................................................................................................................... 10

Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................................. 13



3

1.0 THE SUBJECT

The subject name is Mohamed Amir Bin Mohamed Said. He is 11 years old. He is a

Malaysian. His ethnicity is Malay and his first language is Malay language. He comes from a

middle-class family. His father works as lorry driver whereas his mother is a housewife. He had

five siblings and he is the fourth. They live at F159 Parit Tok Ngah, Tanjong Piandang, Perak; a

village where its residents are all Malay. All of his family members use only Malay language in

their daily communication. He studies at Sekolah Kebangsaan Parit Haji Wahab in year 5. There

is no other race in his school except from Malay.

(109 words)

2.0 THE DATA (THE READING PASSAGE)

2.1 ORTOGRAPHIC

The sun warmed my face, my feet moved swiftly beneath me. I was on my way to

school. Fear had started to build up inside of me as if I were a geyser ready to burst. I knew

what waited ahead for me at school, but I just let my feet carry me forward.

I had been very sick the last two years. Grave's disease had taken over my life, just as

alcohol takes over an alcoholic. This disease ate away at my immune system, reeking terror on

my physical being and leaving it feeling and looking like a train wreck. Thanks to this disease,

my once light coco skin now held a pale, volcanic ash-like color. My sickly body held a mere fifty

pounds, which is way under the average weight for an eight-year old. The hair on my head was

short and thin, and sometimes fell to the floor like rain drops. Eyes that used to be small and a

beautiful brown now were a dull coffee color, so enlarged that they looked as if they were going

to pop out my head. Worst of all was a large scar, laid upon my neck, which looked like

someone had cut me with a knife.



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I had learned to live with these life changes to my body, but other people had not always

been so accepting. Even though I was now ten, these symptoms still plagued my body. So on

this beautiful, enchanted day, I headed for school and steeled myself for the day's events. I was

used to the daily taunts and teasing from my fellow peers, but two girls in particular could

always get to me. No matter how high I built up my armor-like protection, those two girls could

always break through as if they were trained burglars.

(302 words)

2.2 PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION

| ðə sʌn wɔːmd maɪ feɪs | maɪ fiːt muːvd ˈswɪftli bɪˈniːθ miː | ˈaɪ wəz ɒn maɪ ˈweɪ tə skuːl | fɪə

həd ˈstɑːtɪd tə bɪld ʌp ɪnˈsaɪd əv miː əz ɪf ˈaɪ wər ə ˈɡiːzə ˈredi tə bɜːst | ˈaɪ njuː ˈwɒt ˈweɪtɪd

əˈhed fə miː ət skuːl | bət ˈaɪ dʒəst let maɪ fiːt ˈkæri miː ˈfɔːwəd |

| ˈaɪ həd biːn ˈveri sɪk ðə lɑːst ˈtuː ˈjiəz | ɡreɪvɪz dɪˈziːz həd ˈteɪkən ˈəʊvə maɪ laɪf | dʒəst əz

ˈælkəhɒl teɪks ˈəʊvər ən ˌælkəˈhɒlɪk | ðɪs dɪˈziːz et əˈweɪ ət maɪ ɪˈmjuːn ˈsɪstəm | ˈriːkɪŋ ˈterər

ɒn maɪ ˈfɪzɪkl ˈbiːɪŋ ənd ˈliːvɪŋ ɪt ˈfiːlɪŋ ənd ˈlʊkɪŋ ˈlaɪk ə treɪn rek | θæŋks tə ðɪs dɪˈziːz | maɪ

wʌns laɪt ˈkəʊkəʊ skɪn naʊ held ə peɪl | vɒlˈkænɪk æ ʃ ˈlaɪk ˈkʌlər | maɪ ˈsɪkli ˈbɒdi held ə mɪə

ˈf ɪfti paʊndz | wɪt ʃ ɪz ˈweɪ ˈʌndə ði ˈævər ɪdʒ weɪt f ər ən eɪt ˈjiə əʊld | ðə heər ɒn maɪ hed wəz

ʃɔːt ənd θɪn | ənd ˈsʌmtaɪmz fel tə ðə flɔː ˈlaɪk reɪn dr ɒps | aɪz ðət ˈjuːst tə bi smɔːl ənd ə ˈbjuːtəfl

braʊn naʊ wər ə dʌl ˈkɒfi ˈkʌlər | ˈsəʊ ɪnˈlɑːdʒd ðət ˈðeɪ lʊkt əz ɪf ˈðeɪ wə ˈɡəʊɪŋ tə pɒp ˈaʊt maɪhed | wɜːst əv ɔːl wəz ə lɑːdʒ skɑː | leɪd əˈpɒn maɪ nek | wɪtʃ lʊkt ˈlaɪk ˈsʌmwʌn həd kʌt miː wɪð

ə naɪf |

| ˈaɪ həd lɜːnd tə ˈlaɪv wɪð ðiːz laɪf ˈtʃ eɪndʒɪz tə maɪ ˈbɒdi | bət ˈʌðə ˈpiːpl həd nɒt ˈɔːlweɪz biːn

ˈsəʊ əkˈseptɪŋ | ˈiːvn ðəʊ ˈaɪ wəz naʊ ten | ðiːz ˈsɪmptəmz stɪl pleɪɡd maɪ ˈbɒdi | ˈsəʊ ɒn ðɪs

ˈbjuːtəfl | ɪnˈtʃɑːntɪd deɪ | ˈaɪ ˈhedɪd f ə skuːl ənd stiːld maɪˈself f ə ðə ˈdeɪz ɪˈvents |ˈaɪ wəz ˈjuːst

tə ðə ˈdeɪli tɔːnts ənd ˈtiːzɪŋ frəm maɪ ˈfeləʊ pɪəz | bət ˈtuː ɡɜːlz ɪn pəˈtɪkjʊlə kəd ˈɔːlweɪz ˈɡet tə

miː | nəʊ ˈmætə ˈhaʊ haɪ ˈaɪ bɪlt ʌp maɪ ɑːmə ˈlaɪk pr əˈtek ʃn | ðəʊz ˈtuː ɡɜːlz kəd ˈɔːlweɪz breɪk

θruː əz ɪf ˈðeɪ wə treɪnd ˈbɜːɡləz |



3.2 DISCUSSION OF PRONUNCIATION FEATURES AND PROBLEMS

It is common among learners of the English Language to use the features of their native

language when using English. This often causes confusion in communication due to the

differences in pronunciation which might lead to a misunderstanding of the message being

conveyed. The mother tongue interference in a Malay user may differ according to which part of

Malaysia they are living in due to the differences in dialect.

The most distinct problem that can be detected in our subject is basically the

phonological feature of segments. In Malaysian English, “there is a general tendency to reduce

contoid clusters to one or two elements less than necessary in Malaysian English”

(Baskaran,2005). Reducing the contoid cluster means that the speaker reduces the phonemes.

For example, from three phonemes, the speaker reduces it to two phonemes. Our subject

pronounced „held‟ as /hed/ instead of /held/. Another example is „laid‟ being pronounced as /led/instead of /leid/. These problems are mainly due to the simplification of the pronunciation in the

Malay language and also the absence of contoidal clusters in Malay language.

Simplification in pronouncing the English language can be seen when the voiced

fricatives is pronounced voiceless. The phonemes involved in this are the voiced fricatives /v/

and /z/ and the voiceless fricatives /f/ and /s/. The evidence obtained from our subject is in the

pronunciation of the word „teasing‟. It should have been pronounced as /tiːzɪŋ/, instead our

subject pronounced it as /tæsɪŋ/. Another example is seen in the word „those‟. The subject

pronounced it as /dus/ instead of /ðəʊz/.

The wrong pronunciation of words can also be seen in the presence of the consonant /ð/

and /θ/. The words are pronounced as /t/. Examples of these incorrect pronunciations are in the

word „thin‟ which was pronounced as /tin/ instead of / θɪn/. Another example is in the

pronunciation of the word „those‟ which was supposed to be pronounced as / ðəʊz/ instead of

/dus/. These incorrect pronunciations may cause confusion as it literally changes the word.

Frequent omission and error in the consonantal ending of words often occur in the

speech of English learners. Suffixes –ed and –s which are used to indicate tenses and

numbers. These omissions cause the words to come out as „half -uttered‟, and not a full word.

Examples of these errors found in our subject‟s speech are in the words „symptoms‟ being

pronounced as /sɪmtɒm/ instead of /sɪmptəmz/. Another example is the word „headed‟ being

pronounced as / hed/ instead of /hedɪd/.



7

Another prominent problem would be the suprasegmentals, specifically, the placement

of stress. Malaysian English speakers tend to put stress on the words that they want to

emphasize as like their mother tongue while English places stress on every word, differing in the

syllable being stressed in order for the different meaning to be understood accurately. This

cause major misunderstanding in communication as the meaning may be understood differently.

As in the recorded text of our subject, we had analyzed and detected many part of the speech

where the stress should have been yet the subject failed to put the stress. For example, /ð ɪs

ˈdɪziːz et əweɪ ət maɪ ɪm juːn sɪstəm/ was pronounced by our subject. It should have been /ðɪs

dɪˈziːz et əˈweɪ ət maɪ ɪˈmjuːn ˈsɪstəm/.

543 words

4.0 EXPLANATION OF POSSIBLE CAUSES FOR THE PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS AND WAYS TO

OVERCOME THE PROBLEMS

* NURUL ATIQAH BINTI MOHAMED SAID

In this section, several possible causes for the mispronunciation of English words made

by the subject will be discussed. Two possible causes which will be addressed here are mother

tongue interference and the lack of practice.

The first factor which contributes to the pronunciation problem is mother tongue

interference. The syllable structure of Malay language is (C)V(C); optional consonant + vowel +

optional consonant (Deterding & Poedjosoedarmo, 1998). This trait makes the words in Malay

language more orthographically transparent and easy to read as compared to English (Lee,

Low, & Mohamed, 2013). For example the word „buta’ which means blind, consists of four

letters (b + u + t + a) and four phonemes (/b/ + /u/ + /t/ + /a/). All the letters correspond to their

phonetic symbols. Whereas the English word „kite‟ has four letters (k +i + t + e) but only three

phonemes (/k/ + /aɪ/ + /t/). This differentiation confuses the Malay speakers, so they tend toapply the Malay language rule to read English words. Thus, it is hard for the subject to read

English word especially word which has consonant cluster such as „held‟.

Besides that, not all English phonemes exist in Malay language. Even though both

language share the same number of letters which is 26 (6 vowels and 20 consonants) but the

number of phonemes is different. English has 24 consonants sound and 20 vowel sounds



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whereas Malay just has less than that. So, the absence of certain phonemes such as /θ/ and /ð/

in the Malay language causes the subject to pronounce the word incorrectly. Since the sound of

dental fricative /θ/ and /ð/ are not familiar to the subject, he choose the nearest similar sound

which was /t/ or /d/. Perhaps, the subject was unaware that he might change the meaning of the

word by changing a phoneme.

Other than that, Malay language is syllable-timed language which pays the

approximately equal amounts of time to pronounce at each syllable while pronouncing a word.

Zuraidah Mohd Don, Knowles, & Yong (2008) stated that there are no phenomena in spoken

Malay corresponding to what phonologists call stress. So, the idea of placing stress on words is

hard to be comprehended by the Malay speaker. Even English language learner is also

encounter difficulties in acquiring the correct pattern of stress placement. This explains why the

subject read the text monotonously. He gave the same attention towards every word rather that

just to the content words. Misunderstanding will likely to occur since English speakers rely to

stress to grasp the intended meaning.

The second possible cause of this problem is the lack of practice in speaking English

language. The subject comes from the middle-class family who use only Malay language in their

communication process at home. In terms of exposure towards the English language, his

parents are able to buy him English text material to read such as story book and newspaper.

Their home also has television in which he always watches English movies. However, since

there is no one in the house use English to communicate, he is not directly exposed to the

correct pronunciation. On top of that, he does not have enough chance to practice English. The

only time that he can speak English is at the school. This also limited to the English period only

because none of his friend is using English as their first language. Thus, the lack of practice

influences his fluency in reading English text.

To overcome this problem, here I lay several suggestions which can help students to

have a better pronunciation. Generally, in order to have good pronunciation teacher should

expose the students with the real communication using the target language rather than focusing

on the mechanical aspect of that language. Here are several techniques which can help teacher

in teaching pronunciation.

Firstly, teacher can use minimal pairs to highlight that difference that a phoneme will

make when it is mispronounced no matter whether it is consonant or vowel (Hewings, 2004). In

this activity teacher asks students to hear, say out loud and read the minimal pair. After that,



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they are required to pin point the difference between the two words. By doing this, students will

realize the importance of each phonemes and eventually correcting their mistake. This activity is

very effective in helping students especially in recognizing long and short vowel. For example,

the differences between the short vowel /ɪ/ versus the long vowel /i:/ can be clearly seen this

minimal pair „bid‟ and „bead‟.

Second activity is proposed by Hewings in his book Pronunciation Practice Activites, the

cluster word chain. It is best to draw students‟ attention to consonant cluster and help them to

overcome problem while dealing with it. In this activity students are required to come out with a

list of word which have consonant cluster in it. It depends on the teacher to specify the location

of the consonant cluster whether it must be at the beginning, middle or end. The main aim is to

make the students aware of the several consonant cluster ways of pronunciation as some of

them is pronunced clearly like blind /blaɪnd/ whereas knee /niː/ is not. As the focus is on

pronunciation, it is best if the students can just voicing out the answer rather than writing it on

the paper so that they can distinguish the sounds.

The next activity is poem read aloud activity. This activity can help students to pay more

attention towards the stress pattern. According to Gerald Kelly (2000) limerick is one of the best

type of poem that can be used to teach stress pattern as it has a strict form. Its rhythm pattern is

AABBA and the beats for each line are 3, 3, 2, 2 and 3 respectively. So, any misplace stress in

the word will make the line sound weird. Teacher just need to prepare a good limerick and read

it aloud in the class. Then, teacher asks students to read it together with her. After that, teacher

can assign students to create their own limerick. This process will bring awareness on the

importance of stress to student and they will learn to use it correctly while making their own

limerick. At the end of the session, student recite their poem and everyone will decide whether

he place the stress correctly or not.

As a conclusion, it hard for second language learner to be able to speak as fluently as

the native speakers. This is due to the differences that exist the sound system of both language.

However, this is not an impossible task. With the right guidance and activity, second language

learner can improve their pronunciation.

(1114 words)



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* HIDAYATI IZZATI BINTI OSMAN

Making errors in learning is a part of the process itself. Without errors and mistakes, one

would not learn the correct way. By working through those mistakes, people truly learn. As such,

language learners also make mistakes again and again. Through all these unexpected errors do

they understand and are able to implement the correct structure and form of the language.

There are many causes as to which language learners make errors when using the target

language.

The most prominent cause is due to the inadequate exposure to the target language.

Most learners of the language are unable to acquire the language because of the environment

in which they are in do not support the use of the language. Our subject is a good example of

this. Being raised in a family where English is used minimally, the subject did not obtain enough

exposure of the language to master it. In fact, English is not used daily in the part of Malaysia

where the subject is residing in. Unaccustomed to the language, the subject is unable to master

the correct form and structure of the language due to lack of the opportunity to use the language

in the productive and receptive areas of the language.

Another cause of errors in language among language learners is due to

overgeneralization. Being exposed very little to the language, when encountering new forms or

structure of the language, learners tend to overgeneralize the newly learned with what they

have learned before. For example, the subject pronounced „dull‟ as /dʊl/ instead of the correct

pronunciation, /dʌl/. This might be related to the overgeneralization of the word that is speltalmost similarly to bull which is pronounced as /bʊl/. Overgeneralization often occurs to learners

who do not have the opportunity to use the language frequently and is restricted to very few

vocabularies.

Most errors in pronunciation also take place due to what is being called „medium

transfer‟. This occurs when the speaker pronounce the word as it is spelt or spells the word as it

sounds. For example, a speaker may spell the word „terrible‟ as „teribel‟, following it sound. As

such, the subject pronounced „built‟ as /built/ rather than the correct pronunciation /bilt/. For

most Malay learners of English, medium transfer is strongly affected by the interference of

mother tongue itself. Malay is a language where the words are pronounced exactly as it is spelt

and vice versa. Therefore, it is very common in Malay learners of English to misspell or

mispronounced the words in English.



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Further cause of errors in speech and writing of the subject might be affected by the

model in which the subject is learning the language from itself. The teacher himself might be a

poor user of the language, not due to the lack of knowledge but in the lack of practice in using

the language itself. English being a language that is always changing might be confusing to

those who are not constantly up-to-date on it. It might be that the person in which the subject

refers to as the model uses the language wrongly and indirectly affects the subject.

Another cause for the errors done by the subject might be the result of the coherent

difficulties of the target language. As noted before, English is a very rich language. It has lasted

and adapted centuries of changes. There are words in English that have existed even

thousands of years before and yet there are always new words coined every day. Compared to

Malay, the mother tongue of the subject, English is a very hard language due to the ever

changing and immense amount of vocabularies existing. This might be the cause of the

constant errors in using the language as it confuses the subject.

However, these causes seems trivial to the fact that errors may almost always be

corrected. As for the subject, most of the errors happened due to interference of the mother

tongue which might be the effect of the lack of usage of the language. Therefore, these errors

may be able to be fixed.

First of all, the subject needs to be more exposed to the language in order to fully master

it. Other mediums such as radio, internet and television might be able to help the subject listen

and becomes aware of the pronunciation of the words. Even watching movies help because it

gives insights on how the native speakers pronounce the words. There are also online

dictionaries available on the internet that will be able to teach the subject accurately how each

word is pronounced. Rather than depending on the environment in which the English is used

minimally, the subject should find other alternatives to learn.

Next, the subject should be encouraged to think using the target language. By doing this,

the subject will not bring in the mother tongue influence when the words are finally uttered. The

teacher, being the model should possess good command of both the mother tongue and the

target language in order to thoroughly explain to the students, particularly the subject the rules,

structure and form of both the language and how it different.



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Finally, the subject should be encouraged to read more. Through reading, the subject

would be able to access the vast vocabularies of English and would be able to view the

differences in the words. It would also add the subject‟s interest towards the language.

The errors which the subject has committed are due to a number of factors. However,

these errors can be corrected of given an appropriate chance and opportunity for the subject to

learn the language freely and correctly.

937 words

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