The Phonology Of Voiceless And Voiced Palatoal Veolar Fricatives Ij! And L3l Of Malaysian Learners Of English With Mandarin Background

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Date
2001-05
Authors
Su-Yin, Kam
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Abstract
This study is an exploratory investigation of the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative IJI and the voiced palato-alveolar fricative 131 sounds concerning thirty (30) subjects who are English learners with Mandarin background and are studying in a selected local private college. The objectives of this study are to establish the possible variants produced by the subjects, the patterns of occurrences of the variants, the phonological patterns of the variants and the ability of the subjects in distinguishing the· two target phonemes of !JI and /3f. This study is an adaptation of the studies of Labov (1984 ), Dickerson ( 1974 ), Alias Abd Ghani (1995) and Archibald (1992, 1993). Labov ( 1984) recommended a few methods to elicit data in the form of an interview whereby the subjects had to read words from word lists chosen. Dickerson ( 1974) also used this interview method in l)er study of interlanguage of Japanese learners of English while Alias Abd Ghani ( 1995) administered the minimal pairs, word list, dialogue reading and free conversation to investigate the patterns of style stratification in the phonology of Malaysian learners of English. Archibald (1992, 1993) administered a list of words and sentences to his subjects to obtain stress placements. This study, however, employed only two parts of the four-part Labov style test i.e. the word list and near-minimal pairs. The results of this study indicate that there is a range of possible variants produced by the subjects for the five word lists and the near-minimal pairs. The most frequently produced variant for Word Lists I, 2 and 3 for the target phoneme lSI (Word Initial, Medial & Final) is the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative lSI which recorded a percentage of frequency of occurrence of 85.33%, 82.67% and 68.33% correspondingly. As regards to the Word Lists l and 2 for the target phoneme I?J (Word Medial & Final). the variants U1 and [t:3] charted the percentage of frequency of occurrence of79.33% and 41.67% correspondingly. The target sound I?J was not often produced by the subjects. The most frequently produced variant in the Near-Minimal Pairs is the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative lSI. The findings of this study also suggest that the subjects seem to be unable to produce the target phoneme /3 I and unable to distinguish between the voicing contrast of the two target phonemes IS! and I?J. This is indicated by the variants m and [tJ] which were most frequently produced by the subjects in Word Lists I and 2 for the target phoneme I?J (Word Medial & Final). The findings of this study also suggest some indication of interlingual · transfer (from Mandarin into English) and intralingual transfer (difficulty within· the English phonological system itself) especially with regard to the target phoneme/:/
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Phonetic , Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative , voiced palato-alveolar fricative
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