Awareness of L2 American English Word Stress: Implications for Teaching Speakers of Indo-Aryan Languages

Abdul Malik Abbasi,Masood Akhter Memon,Stephen John,Mansoor Ahmed Channa

doi:10.5539/ijel.v8n3p101

Abdul Malik Abbasi, Masood Akhter Memon + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n3p101

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate the word stress placement in English and Sindhi words in learners from Indo-Aryan language and American English backgrounds. Since correct placement of word stress is key for L2 English intelligibility, and it is known that native language background affects English language learners’ word stress perception and production. The study explores English language learners’ intuition through behavioral data from the native speakers of Sindhi and American native speakers to compare their awareness of word stress in L1 and L2. It further investigates learner’s stress patterns by measuring their reports of word stress location in their Sindhi and in their L2 English. There were twenty native speakers (10 from Sindh, Pakistan-10 from Illinois State, America) who were recruited from the location in their countries. Results of three experiments show that Sindhi native speakers have less awareness of stress location in their native language than native English controls, and this effect carries into their L2 English. Teachers of Sindhi-speaking students should be prepared to provide explicit training on word stress.

Highlights

In English, word stress is contrastive, meaning that two words may differ by stress location alone i.e., the verb ‘record’ with the noun ‘Record’
English word stress modifies the meaning of English words, whereas, Sindhi word stress does not change the meaning of Sindhi words, though lexical stress is used for emphasis purpose on the words
It seems clear that Sindhi speakers have different intuitions about the location of word stress in their L2 English than native English speakers do

Summary

Introduction

In English, word stress is contrastive, meaning that two words may differ by stress location alone i.e., the verb ‘record’ with the noun ‘Record’. Pronunciation of English word-level stress is highly salient because reduction and co-articulation systematically distinguish stressed from unstressed syllables. English word stress modifies the meaning of English words, whereas, Sindhi word stress does not change the meaning of Sindhi words, though lexical stress is used for emphasis purpose on the words. The study investigated the intuition of both native speakers i.e., Sindhi and American as to where and how they assign primary stress on word level in their L1 and L2. American native speakers have only been judged for their L1 that is English language whereas, Sindhi native speakers were experimented for L1 and L2

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