The Realization of English Vowels by Kuwaiti Speakers

Hanan A Taqi,Nada A Algharabally,Rahima S Akbar

doi:10.5539/ijel.v8n4p1

Abstract

Learning to speak a language does not necessarily mean learning to realize all the phonemes of that language. When a sound does not exist in a speakers’ mother tongue, s/he tends to use a phonotactic; hence, either replacing the sound with another that might sound similar, eliminating the sound, or adding a sound to make it possible to realize. In some cases, the orthography of the target language causes confusion and is considered misleading to non-native speakers. There are only 6 vowels in Arabic phonetics, long and short. Yet, there are 20 phonetic vowel symbols in Received Pronunciation, and 16 in General American. The following study investigates the realization of the English vowels by Kuwaiti speakers, and the effect of orthography on such realizations. 64 male and female Kuwaiti speakers are recorded reading 55 words and 10 sentences. The data obtained was analyzed by Praat (qualitative data), and SPSS (quantitative data). Focus group interviews were also conducted to gain further insight into the topic. It was found that not only do the speakers replace the vowels that do not exist in Arabic, but they also mispronounce vowels that exist in Arabic as they are negatively affected by the English orthography.

Highlights

Correct pronunciation is considered an essential part of language fluency
In an attempt to analyze the difficulties Kuwaiti learners of English encounter in the realization of five major vowels of English, our current research has mainly suggested three main reasons behind L2 vowel error
The final reason was labeled L2 strategy, when the learners’ mother tongue lacks certain vowels, it leads to L1 habits of speaking that are different in perception, such as, use of speaking organs and suprasegmental features (Carter & Nunan, 2001)

Summary

Introduction

Correct pronunciation is considered an essential part of language fluency. Is correct pronunciation important, but it is very difficult. Lenneberg (1967) posited from a neurological view point, that complete mastery of a second language after puberty is impossible. While many researchers opposed to Lenneberg’s theories, to this day, they agree, for different reasons, that a complete command of a language is very difficult. Flege (1987, 1992, 1995), for example, argues that perception is the main reason for the occurrence of foreign accents. Flege further notes that children learning their L1 would heavily relay on perception as a learning tool, by the age of seven, children will be completely tuned to the different L1 phonetic contrasts

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Conclusion