Pronunciation Of Vowels Research Articles

Impact of biomechanical properties of tongue muscles on accuracy of English vowel pronunciation

Impact of biomechanical properties of tongue muscles on accuracy of English vowel pronunciation

Analisis Pemerolehan Bahasa pada Anak Usia 38 Bulan Berdasarkan Mean Longh of Utterance

Language acquisition is a natural process where children acquire language without meaning to. Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) is used to measure language acquisition in a child's speech. MLU measures the average length of a child's utterances which reflects the language products produced. The aim of this research is to determine first language development in children aged 3 years 2 months. The research method used was descriptive qualitative with the subject being a child named Arabella. Data was collected through documentation techniques, namely recording and transcribing children's speech. The analysis results show that Arabella has 100 utterances with 210 morphemes. The MLU is 2.1 which means Arabella is in stage III for 27-28 months of age according to Brown's theory. Arabela's age should be at Stage VIII MLU. In terms of phonological acquisition, Arabella has mastered the pronunciation of vowels and some consonants well. However, some consonants such as /f/, /q/, /r/, /v/, /x/, and /z/ are still difficult for Arabella to pronounce.

The role of context in English vowel pronunciation: Evidence from ‹s› clusters

Vowel letters are a source of difficulty in reading English words, for they have both long and short pronunciations. In two studies, we examined how vowels are pronounced before different types of medial consonants in the words of English and the degree to which skilled readers follow those vocabulary statistics in their behavior. We found more short vowels before sequences beginning with ‹s› than before those such as ‹pl›, regardless of whether the letter after ‹s› corresponded to a stop consonant (e.g., ‹sp›) or a sonorant (e.g., ‹sl›). These results show that pronunciation of vowels is influenced by the nature and not just the number of following consonants, contrary to the assumptions that commonly underlie phonics instruction. Although the results support a statistical learning view of reading, in that participants showed an implicit use of untaught patterns, participants’ pronunciations differed in some ways from those expected given the vocabulary statistics.

An End-To-End Speech Recognition Model for the North Shaanxi Dialect: Design and Evaluation.

The coal mining industry in Northern Shaanxi is robust, with a prevalent use of the local dialect, known as "Shapu", characterized by a distinct Northern Shaanxi accent. This study addresses the practical need for speech recognition in this dialect. We propose an end-to-end speech recognition model for the North Shaanxi dialect, leveraging the Conformer architecture. To tailor the model to the coal mining context, we developed a specialized corpus reflecting the phonetic characteristics of the dialect and its usage in the industry. We investigated feature extraction techniques suitable for the North Shaanxi dialect, focusing on the unique pronunciation of initial consonants and vowels. A preprocessing module was designed to accommodate the dialect's rapid speech tempo and polyphonic nature, enhancing recognition performance. To enhance the decoder's text generation capability, we replaced the Conformer decoder with a Transformer architecture. Additionally, to mitigate the computational demands of the model, we incorporated Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) joint training for optimization. The experimental results on our self-established voice dataset for the Northern Shaanxi coal mining industry demonstrate that the proposed Conformer-Transformer-CTC model achieves a 9.2% and 10.3% reduction in the word error rate compared to the standalone Conformer and Transformer models, respectively, confirming the advancement of our method. The next step will involve researching how to improve the performance of dialect speech recognition by integrating external language models and extracting pronunciation features of different dialects, thereby achieving better recognition results.

Leveraging visual media to improve articulation skills in children with hearing impairments

Background: Early childhood is a critical period for language and communication development. Deaf children often face significant challenges in acquiring articulation skills due to hearing impairments, which impact their ability to communicate effectively. Despite various interventions, there remains a need for effective, evidence-based strategies to support these skills.Aim: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of picture media in improving articulation skills in children with hearing impairments. By focusing on articulation rather than broader language skills, this research addresses a gap in existing literature.Method: A qualitative approach was employed, involving observations, interviews, and documentation to collect data over six months. The study analyzed changes in articulation skills in a deaf child before and after interventions using picture media. Instruments included standardized articulation tests and feedback from parents and teachers.Result: Findings reveal that picture media significantly enhance articulation skills, enabling children to associate sounds with visual cues effectively. Specific improvements were observed in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, with gradual progress in constructing syllables and words. Unlike prior studies that primarily explore vocabulary development or general communication in deaf children, this research uniquely focuses on the direct impact of picture media on articulation skills. The study offers evidence-based insights for developing targeted educational interventions for children with hearing impairments.Conclusion: This study confirms the importance of using visual media, especially pictures, in the learning of children with hearing loss. This approach is not only effective in improving articulation skills but also supports children's optimal communication potential. Thus, picture media can be an important tool in inclusive education for deaf children.

Phonetic Transfer of Mandarin and English Vowels: Advantages and Challenges for Second-Language Learners

This paper discusses the phonological migration of the Mandarin vowel system to the American vowel system during second language acquisition. To this end, six Mandarin-speaking Chinese students who received English certificates are selected for analysis in this paper. In addition, experimental results from previous studies are utilized for further phonological comparisons, and a perception task and an articulation task are used to compare similar vowel combinations in the Chinese and English vowel systems. The perception task is designed to assess the participants' ability to distinguish similar vowels in different vowel systems, while the articulation task utilized Praat software to acoustically analyze the participants' vowel and word pronunciation, standard English pronunciation, and Chinese vowel pronunciation. The pronunciation values are compared with the standard pronunciation values, and the relationship between similarity and learning difficulty is established to test the hypotheses. The results shows that Chinese students are influenced by the Chinese vowel system and are unable to distinguish similar vowel combinations. Therefore, the higher the similarity between English vowels and Chinese vowels, the better the acquisition effect.

Comparison Between English and Mandarin Vowel Systems and the Challenges for Chinese Learners of English

In contemporary China, learning English has been considered as a must for almost all students, with the pronunciation acquisition usually being the initial focus. Among the phonetic elements, the mastery of vowel pronunciation is particularly crucial in that vowels are an essential element of language. Due to its great importance, numerous studies have comparatively analyzed the English and Mandarin vowel systems and experimentally listed the challenges Chinese English learners may face. Based on these analysis, feasible measures to handle the problems posed for Chinese learners are proposed. This paper collects and concludes logically the main discoveries and theories that have been raised by former scholars, with the aim of clearly presenting the disparities between the vowel systems of the two languages, illustrating the difficulties those differences may bring about, and sharing some approaches in which teachers can help their students to get out of the way. Despite the similarities and differences between the two vowel systems, which can lead to pronunciation errors, strategies such as meticulous comparison and immediate correction can aid students in getting rid of these obstacles. Therefore, this paper is of significant value in elucidating the difficulties encountered by Chinese students in learning English pronunciation and in outlining effective pedagogical strategies for teaching pronunciation.

Phonetic Transfer of Mandarin and English Vowels: Advantages and Challenges for Second-Language Learners

This paper discusses the phonological migration of the Mandarin vowel system to the American vowel system during second language acquisition. To this end, six Mandarin-speaking Chinese students who received English certificates are selected for analysis in this paper. In addition, experimental results from previous studies are utilized for further phonological comparisons, and a perception task and an articulation task are used to compare similar vowel combinations in the Chinese and English vowel systems. The perception task is designed to assess the participants' ability to distinguish similar vowels in different vowel systems, while the articulation task utilized Praat software to acoustically analyze the participants' vowel and word pronunciation, standard English pronunciation, and Chinese vowel pronunciation. The pronunciation values are compared with the standard pronunciation values, and the relationship between similarity and learning difficulty is established to test the hypotheses. The results shows that Chinese students are influenced by the Chinese vowel system and are unable to distinguish similar vowel combinations. Therefore, the higher the similarity between English vowels and Chinese vowels, the better the acquisition effect.

The Negative Transfer of Shanghai Dialect on English Vowel Phonology Acquisition of Shanghai High School Students

With the accerleration of globalisation, the importance of English as an international common language has become more and more prominent. This study investigated the negative transfer effect of Shanghai dialect on English vowel acquisition in Shanghai high school students. Through the analysis of formant data of English vowel pronunciation in 49 Shanghai high school students, it is found that there is no significant change in tongue position when students pronounce some long and short vowels, the overall tongue position is low, and the distinction between long and short vowels is not obvious. The results show that the specific vowel phonemes in Shanghai dialect have a negative transfer effect on English pronunciation, which affects the accuracy of students' English pronunciation. Based on this, this study puts forward a variety of methods to improve English pronunciation teaching, including strengthening tongue position and oral shape training, using multimedia technology to assist teaching and providing personalized tutoring to help students overcome pronunciation barriers caused by dialects.

Comparison Between English and Mandarin Vowel Systems and the Challenges for Chinese Learners of English

In contemporary China, learning English has been considered as a must for almost all students, with the pronunciation acquisition usually being the initial focus. Among the phonetic elements, the mastery of vowel pronunciation is particularly crucial in that vowels are an essential element of language. Due to its great importance, numerous studies have comparatively analyzed the English and Mandarin vowel systems and experimentally listed the challenges Chinese English learners may face. Based on these analysis, feasible measures to handle the problems posed for Chinese learners are proposed. This paper collects and concludes logically the main discoveries and theories that have been raised by former scholars, with the aim of clearly presenting the disparities between the vowel systems of the two languages, illustrating the difficulties those differences may bring about, and sharing some approaches in which teachers can help their students to get out of the way. Despite the similarities and differences between the two vowel systems, which can lead to pronunciation errors, strategies such as meticulous comparison and immediate correction can aid students in getting rid of these obstacles. Therefore, this paper is of significant value in elucidating the difficulties encountered by Chinese students in learning English pronunciation and in outlining effective pedagogical strategies for teaching pronunciation.

A Comparative Approach for Pronunciation Instruction in English

A tool is proposed to reinforce the pronunciation of vowels and consonants for the instruction of adult learners in Costa Rica. A critical review of literature on approaches to teaching vowels and consonants is followed by a comparative discussion of two transcription systems: that of the International Phonetic Association, and those found in textbooks, dictionaries and pronunciation websites. This is complemented by a brief comparison of English and Spanish vowels and consonants, and descriptions of common pronunciation challenges for Spanish speakers. Open problems are explored, as are ethical reflections on the teaching of English pronunciation.

Somatic, Auditory, Visual, Intellectual Learning Model in Improving Vowel Pronunciation for 3rd Class Deaf Students

The ability to pronounce vowels in deaf students is still low, the indications are the occurrence of replacement, addition, and even the omission of phonemes. On the other hand, there is the unpreparedness of the teacher in setting the right model and method during articulation exercises, ignoring the basic receptive and expressive language skills of deaf students, allegedly as a form of teacher failure in practicing articulation both during individual and classical learning. For this reason, it is necessary to have a learning model that can accommodate the needs of deaf students to articulate correctly. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the SAVI (Somatic Auditory Visual Intellectual) learning model in improving the pronunciation of vowels in class III deaf students. The approach used in this research is quantitative with the type of experimental research in the form of SSR (Single Subject Research) with ABA design. Data was collected using Observation and Treatment Tests carried out on one deaf child. The results of the study were that in the baseline-1 condition, the intervention increased by a value of 73.33, the intervention in Baseline-2 decreased by a value of 60.83, and although the intervention in Baseline-2 experienced a decrease, the data obtained was much better than the baseline-1, which was 26.66. In conclusion, the Somatic, Auditory, Visual, and Intellectual learning model affects improving the pronunciation of vowels in Deaf Students. For this reason, teachers must pay attention to and develop sensory modalities in deaf students in an integrated and holistic way in learning articulation.

Errors Analysis: Students’ Pronunciation Assessment through IPA Application

Pronunciation is one of the most crucial subskills of English speaking. This study aims to determine students' pronunciation errors when pronouncing English short vowels in the fifth semester of English Language Education using the English Pronunciation IPA application and to determine the factors that influence their pronunciation errors. In this study, the researcher used a qualitative method design. It was conducted on students in fifth semester of English Language Education. The researcher collected data with two tools: pronunciation tests and interviews. Students can use the English Pronunciation IPA application as a help for taking long vowel pronunciation examinations. The researcher selected five students to serve as resource people for interviews. Based on the study results, the English Pronunciation IPA application was used to administer a pronunciation test to students. The results showed that, on average, students scored 15.57, with short vowels scoring 3.70 points. Pronouncing short vowels on the /ɒ/ and /æ/ sound are where students make the greatest mistakes. Then, interference and phonological knowledge are the factors that affect pupils' pronunciation issues in English.

Perceptual adaptation to unfamiliar dialects in an eye-tracking task

Variation in pronunciation of vowels across American English dialects often creates the strongest distinctions between dialects and leads to lexical ambiguity between minimal pairs within dialects. This lexical ambiguity is stronger for listeners with lifetime exposure to multiple dialects than to a single dialect. In the current study, we investigated the influence of brief, in- lab dialect exposure on lexical competition and perceptual adaptation. Midwestern American English participants were first presented with a familiarization short story told in one of two unfamiliar dialects (Southern American English or a novel accent) and then completed a visual-world eye-tracking task containing both acoustically ambiguous and non-ambiguous words from each dialect in a forced-choice task. The results showed evidence of greater lexical competition for target dialect minimal pairs following familiarization. This pattern of results is consistent with previous work suggesting greater lexical competition following lifetime exposure to dialect variation among geographically mobile listeners, suggesting similarities in the effects of brief in-lab and lifetime exposure to dialect variation on lexical competition and processing.

The Effects of Orthography on the Pronunciation of Nasal Vowels by L1 Japanese Learners of L3 French: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study of Speech in Interaction

In recent decades, a vast literature has documented crosslinguistic influences on the acquisition of L2 phonology and in particular the effects of spelling on pronunciation. However, articulating these research findings in terms of taking into account the effects of L1 phonology and spelling on L2 pronunciation in language teaching remains to be examined. These studies are based on experimental cross-sectional methods and mainly focus on L2 English learning by speakers of languages with an alphabetic system. In French, there are few studies on crosslinguistic influences on the acquisition of the nasal vowels (/ɑ~/, /ↄ~/ and /ε~/) and few experimental studies that point to a possible effect of orthography on the pronunciation of these phonemes. The results of experimental studies are difficult to transpose to the language classroom because they are based on word or sentence reading and writing activities, which are quite far-removed from the conversational activities practised in the classroom in interaction with peers and the teacher. Hence, we opted here for a case study of the effect of spelling on the production of nasal vowels in interaction tasks. We conducted a longitudinal study during the first year of extensive learning of French (4 hrs 30 per week). The results of a perceptive analysis by expert listeners show that (i) learners spell nasal vowels with an <n> or <m> in 98% of the obligatory contexts; (ii) most nasal vowels are perceived as nasal vowels in speech (72%), the others being perceived as vowels followed by a nasal consonant (19, 5%) or as oral vowels (8.5%); (iii) consonantisation is stronger when the learner spontaneously produces a word than when (s)he repeats it, (iv) which decreases with time (learning effect) and varies (v) according to the consonant, /ε~/ being less consonantised than /ↄ~/ and /ɑ~/. Finaly, we propose a didactic discussion in the light of intelligibility and influence of orthography.

Vowel Pronunciation as an Ethnic Marker: Pacific Islander Teens in Salt Lake County, Utah

This paper analyzes word list recordings from 37 Pacific Islander (PI) and 40 European American (EA) teens from two Salt Lake County (SLCo) high schools to address three questions: (1) Do the teens in the study participate in the linguistic practices previously described for Utah and for the American West? (2) Do EAs and PIs pattern together, or is there a distinctive PI pattern in SLCo? (3) How does the ethnic composition of the school context affect ethnic-based vowel patterns? The analysis focuses on a subset of vowel features associated with the West: the Low-Back-Merger Shift (LBMS) and the fronting of non-low back vowels. Results show the Utah teens employing many LBMS features, with statistical differences based on gender, ethnic group, and school (with school acting as a proxy for ethnic diversity). Non-low back vowel positions are generally consistent with historical baselines. BOAT vowel positions are farther back for PI participants, and there is a small difference in BUT vowel position based on gender, ethnicity, and school. The results of this ethnographically grounded study demonstrate how small phonetic differences may help construct ethnic identity and why it is important to include more participants of color in dialectal research.

Production of English Vowel Contrasts in Spanish L1 Learners: A Longitudinal Study

The present study undertakes a longitudinal examination of forty postgraduate students, native Spanish speakers, during their first year at a UK university. The research focuses on both individual and collective progress in mastering distinctions within English vowel pairs (/iː/-/ɪ/, /ɪ/-/e/, and /uː/-/ʊ/), with a specific focus on adaptations towards achieving native-like English vowel pronunciation, particularly in terms of vowel quality. Prior research indicates that adult Spanish learners encounter difficulties in mastering the intricate linguistic nuances presented by English. The methodology involved recording Spanish-speaking participants reading a list of words (CVC context) at three different time points over a year. The analysis was based on formant frequencies using Praat, and Euclidean distances were calculated to represent the degree of separation between each pair of vowels. Information about external factors potentially influencing the development of vowel productions among speakers was gathered through a language background questionnaire. The outcomes suggested varying rates of advancement within the group, which could be attributed to the diverse levels of exposure and interaction with native English speakers during their year of study in the UK. These results affirm the learning processes in adult L2 production, emphasizing the critical role played by both the quantity and quality of time in the assimilation of pronunciations to novel L2 segments.

Analiza lingwistyczna pieśni polskojęzycznych ze wsi Murowana Oszmianka

The subject of the article is an analysis of the lyrics of 13 Polish songs sung in the village of Muravanaya Ashmyanka. A linguistic analysis of the transcribed lyrics of the songs based on the author’s personal recordings, conducted according to dialectological publications, and carried out on the phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and lexical levels, revealed numerous clear influences of the East Slavic languages. Among the many deviations from the general Polish language, and the multitude of dialectal features characteristic of the Northern Borderlands dialect, the following may be concluded: asynchronous pronunciation of nasal vowels at the final position and before fricative consonants, vowel reduction, the pronunciation of the dental consonant ł, the occurrence of the prepositional construction instead of the general Polish synthetic one, preservation of the voiced quality of the consonant w after voiceless consonants, soft pronunciation of l, change of grammatical gender, voiced pronunciation of the consonanth. The lyrics of the collected and transcribed songs are an example of valuable linguistic material fading into oblivion with the passage of time.

Profile of Short Vowel ‘A’ in Japanese Language that Determines the Meaning as Pronounced by University Students in Indonesia

The research discussed that certain sounds, like the short vowel ‘a’, which was entirely different from the long vowel ‘a’, were specific to Japanese and had distinct meanings from those of Indonesian. As a result, 60 students majoring in Japanese language instruction from six Indonesian universities were interviewed face-to-face and recorded. Native speakers of the Japanese language were requested to record their voices using the short vowel ‘a’ as the students’ sound reference. After that, the students were asked to identify and produce the short vowel ‘a’. PRAAT was then used to analyze the students’ recordings. Additionally, the students’ sounds were contrasted with those of Japanese native speakers. The spectrogram analysis clearly shows that students are still having trouble telling the difference between the long vowel ‘a’ (OBAASAN) and the short vowel ‘a’ (OBAASAN) because they produce significantly longer short vowels ‘a’ that are almost as long as double vowel ‘a’. This is highly likely to occur since Japanese language learners are not taught to deliberately recognize the distinct sounds, such as the long and short vowels ‘a’, that distinguish the language’s meanings. In addition, their low frequency and energy density of pronunciation of the short vowel ‘a’ suggest they are less confident in their pronunciation.

Understanding the Difficulties of Saraiki Speakers with English Vowel Pronunciation at Secondary Level

English language is an international language, as for as the pronunciation of English vowels is concerned, the learners of L2 face a lot of problems. It’s believed that Pakistani students especially Saraiki students face colossal difficulties in the production of English vowels and face a lot of problems in the recognition of English vowel sounds because of the improper guidance by the teachers as well as the influence of mother tongue. Pakistani Institutions neglect the importance of pronunciation. The researcher conducted research in district Multan (Pakistan) and from Multan city, she selected fifty students of 9th and 10th class from five different Govt. and Private high schools. From each school ten students were selected and female students from four different schools and male students from one school were selected. A list of one hundred and sixty words was prepared and these words were pronounced by the students. Data was recorded in a C.D and analysed in percentage. Findings showed that there was a lack of teachers’ training as well as improper guidance to the students by teachers and the surroundings. This study suggested some ways for improving pronunciation of English vowels and at the end conclusion was drawn.