The Phonological Knowledge of the Turkish Language: the Pronunciation and Sound System - Research Paper Example

Phonology is a part of the linguistic study of a language, the knowledge of which assists the teachers as well as the learners in both teaching and learning a language. The role of phonology in language is often related to the pronunciation of words as well as language, as Burgess and Spencer note, “The terms phonology and pronunciation are sometimes seen as synonymous” (p. 191). But in the teaching of a language, especially a foreign language, the phonology is more embryonic than pronunciation because the teaching of pronunciation is, to a great extent, depended on the analysis of the auditory and articulating properties of the sound system of the target language, as Burgess and Spencer define phonology in the following manner, “The phonology of a target language (TL) consists of theory and knowledge about how the sound system of the target language works, including both segmental and suprasegmental features” (p.191). But at the same time, they go on to say that pronunciation is primarily related to the use of the phonology in practical field and daily communication, as again Burgess and Spencer (2000) note, “Pronunciation in language learning…is the practice and meaningful use of TL phonological features in speaking, supported by practice in interpreting those phonological features in TL discourse” (p. 191). During the Reform movement in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, reformist scholars put stress on the natural absorption of language by speaking, and listening to it. But as it was necessary for the second language learners to be familiar with various deceptive features of the spoken form of a language, the science of phonetics was not complete enough to describe the entirety of the pronunciation of language. Rather the knowledge of phonology was needed to reveal the changeability of the pronunciation in context (Howatt, 1984, p. 99). Knowledge of Various phonological characteristics of a language such as phoneme, allophone, minimal pairs, syllable, co-articulation effects are helpful enough for the learners to get a clear idea of the spoken form of the target language (Behrens & Parker, 2010). Importance of Phonological Knowledge Indeed a good command of the phonological aspects of Greek and Turkish languages is an imperative for the learners of these two languages because the literal pronunciation and meaning of words and sentences in these two languages like other living languages differ from their lexical meaning. In fact the phonological aspects of word-formation and their usability in a sentence not only help learners to speak the languages accurately but also to minimize the possibility of spelling and semantic mistakes by increasing the comprehensibility of various ambiguities of pronunciation and their associative meanings. Since phonology deals the acoustic properties of a language, it tends to include, to a great extent, other linguistics properties such as grammar, structure of language, semantics, vocabulary, sequence of the parts of speech in a sentence, etc. If language is viewed a natural phenomenon -of human society- that is supposed to form the most part of a man’s existence, that is, if it is hypothesized that human being exists through completely through language, then, phonological awareness is supposed to contribute to the acquisition of an overall cognitive acoustic existence of a language. Apart from the knowledge of the acoustic existence of a language that phonological awareness is supposed to instill into a learner’s subconscious memorial-faculty of human brain, language will appear before a learner as a mute complex system of codifying visual symbols to work out certain meaning. Distinction between Phonetics and Phonology It is widely accepted that both phonetics and phonology deal with the study of the sound system and sound properties of the Target Language. The question that arises here is how phonology differs from phonetics. Indeed whereas phonetics is exclusively centered on the study of the sound properties that are assigned to the sound-assisted symbols and that are perceivable and discernible by the common native speakers with less effort, phonology explores the interactive sound properties, of which the native speakers are intuitively aware of, going beyond the face-values of the sound-bearing symbols. Necessarily, phonetics can render a good amount of knowledge of what a sound-bearing symbol is, if it is taken apart from the interactive system of a language, and of how sounds are produced in a language. But phonology deals with the behavioral properties of sound-bearing symbols of a language. It necessarily explores how a sound segment will behave and be influenced in a given context by other sounds and situations in a sentence. The mass native speakers are not usually consciously aware of these behavioral patterns of a specific sound segment. Rather they appear to be innately familiar with these behaviors of the sounds. Normally in any linguistic theory of teaching, a learner is made familiar with the functional portion of the phonetics of a language, as Burgess and Spencer (2000) say, “for the vast generality of learners of language for general purposes, knowledge of phonology as such will usually need to extend only to an ability to benefit from whatever phonemic script and word-stress marking are used in their dictionary” (p. 192). Also in a native environment of learning in which a learner is supposed to acquire language through the process of the acquisition, an individual formally becomes familiar with the sound systems of his or her language though formal education. But the second language learners who already have acquired their tongue generally start their learning with becoming familiar with the phonetic properties of sound-bearing symbols. But without the phonological knowledge of the sound system of the Target Language, the second language learners will not be able to the able to achieve the perfection that the native speakers are endowed with. For example, in Turkish, according to the IPA the “A” represents the /a/ sound. Now the phonology of Turkish language infers that “A” has two phonemes. When it is preceded by a voiceless consonant, it sounds like /:/. But when it is preceded by a voiced consonant, it sounds like //. Again in the word ‘kan’, the ‘a’ vowel sounds like /:/ but in ‘can’, the pronunciation of ‘a’ is ‘//’, as it is preceded by a voiced sound ‘c’ or /j/. Again when ‘g’ occurs at the beginning of a word, it is voiced, but a ‘g’ in the middle of a Turkish word is not voiceless, as it is in the words, ‘gelin’ and ‘diger’. Whereas in the first word, ‘g’ sounds like normal ‘g’ in English, it sounds like a soft ‘g’ or ‘y’ in the middle of ‘diger’ (Chambers, n.d.). Phonological Awareness and the Meta-cognition of TL In the first place language is a systematic auditory and verbal sound system that consists of various techniques forming larger sounds comprehensible sound-composition using a number of minimal sound segments. Therefore, the phonological knowledge or awareness not only contributes to the development of a meta-linguistic awareness, but also to the increase of speech comprehensibility. Meta-cognition of Target Language achieved through the phonological awareness can significantly increase the fluency of writing and speaking, because knowledge of phonology of a language is supposed to enable a second language learner to follow the acoustic and verbal individuality of words and therefore to enrich one’s vocabulary. A learner’s phonological awareness of the target language exists at the beginning of the second language learning exists as a short-term phonological memory. Venkatagiri and Levis (2007) define phonological in the following manner: “Phonological memory is the ability to recall the sequences of phonemes in words and non-words” (263). But through perpetual practice, communication and interactions the phonological short-time memory is internalized to the extent to be considered as the phonological awareness. In the beginning, all of the phonological meaningful units such as words exist as non-word in the short-term phonological memory until they are stored in the long term memory with some certain insinuative relationships with other words, as Venkatagiri and Levis (2007) say in this regard, “Obviously, all new words in both L1 and L2 begin as non-words until they are stored in long term memory with their meanings” (p. 266). Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) note that in this acquisition process of words, the short term phonological memory plays a significant role in assisting the learners to acquire the connotation of a non-word through various repetitive tasks (p. 322). Again, Costanza et al (1991) comment that short time phonological memory of the individuality of a word along with its phonological feature assists the learners to draw a semantic and lexicological relationship with other words, stored in the long term memory, and thus contributes to the development of its phonological awareness throughout the whole acquisition process. Indeed in a foreign language classroom, the learners of a second language are involved with the maximized scopes of creating short time phonological memory of the words of the target language and then to grow the phonological awareness of those words through extensive communications, interactions and repetitive tasks. For example the repetitive practices of the words containing different phonemes of Turkish can help the learners to grow the phonological awareness of the words. The consonant phonemes of Turkish language are as following: Consonant phonemes of Standard Turkish Labial Dental/ Alveolar Post- alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal m n Stop p b t d tʃ dʒ kʲ ɡʲ k ɡ Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ɣ h Approximant ɫ l j Rhotic ɾ (Source: Inkelas, Sharon. (1994). Exceptional stress-attracting suffixes in Turkish: Representations vs. the grammar.) The consonant phonemes of Turkish language are as following: Turkish vowels with example words Vowel sound Example IPA Description IPA Orthography English translation i close front unrounded /dil/ dil 'tongue' y close front rounded /ɟyˈneʃ/ güneş 'sun' ɯ close back unrounded /ɯˈɫɯk/ ılık 'mild' e close-mid front unrounded /jel/ yel 'wind' ø open-mid front rounded /ɟøɾ/ gör- 'to see' a open central unrounded /daɫ/ dal 'branch' o close-mid back rounded /joɫ/ yol 'way' u close back rounded /uˈtʃak/ uçak 'airplane' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_phonology) Greek and Turkish Phonology and Challenges of Teaching and Learning In a Greek or Turkish language classroom, while teaching phonology, a teacher not only has to deal the unique features of the sound systems of these two languages but also to deal with the question what the best way of teaching and learning a second is. Since prior to the development of the phonological awareness, it is necessary to grow the short time memory of the words of the Target Language, teachers need to focus on the best way of bringing the learners in contact with the words while introducing their phonological features to the learners. For the past few decades, the “broadly-constructed communicative approach'' to teaching phonology (Krashen, 1981, p. 90) in alignment with other aspects of linguistic forms such as grammar, lexis, and semantics had been considered as the best way, as Burgess and Spencer (2000) say in this regard, “It is ideally integrated in a pedagogic framework which also integrates other aspects of form -grammar and lexis- with skills” (p. 193). Indeed bringing the students in touch of new words, then teaching them the features and letting them interact and communicate with each other is a great way to create the short time phonological memory and then to grow the phonological awareness. But in this way, it is possible to bring the students a limited number of words. Also in this way, the vast majority number of philosophical and non-daily words remains out of the reach. So it is necessary to convey and teach the phonological sound property of a language especially the Turkish language by analyzing a number of common but all inclusive example words. After all, teaching of phonology of the Turkish language should begin with the teaching of the phonetic property of the language. Phonetics and Language Teaching The role of phonetics in foreign language teaching is of paramount importance, whether language is viewed as “a system of structurally related elements for the coding of meaning” or a social phenomenon that is engaged in communicating individuals and people. Also whether teaching of language is reformist scholars-prescribed “Natural” method or modern communicative approach, it is imperative for a teacher to get a command of phonetics in order to be able to assist his students to gain competency in audio-lingual and oral aspects of language (Howatt, 1984, p.178 ). Indeed Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that is concerned with the “sounds and sound systems of language. It deals with how sounds are produced, their physical properties” (Callary, 2008, p.87). Knowledge of Phonetics is imperative for educators who want to comprehend the challenges that their students face in attempting to communicate in their second language and who want to improve their learners’ articulation (Bartels, 2006). As the primary concern of phonetics is the sound system of a language, teachers become competent in finding out the principles and rules of the spoken language, as Callary (2008) says “The idea that letters ‘have’ sounds is not only mistaken but misleading…since it tends to blind us to the principles and Rules of our spoken language” (p.88). Alphabets assist speakers to represent sounds in Print in a common way so that everyone can understand them. They assign permanence to the sounds of speech. HOWEVER: the relationship between Sounds and their spellings is not perfect in any living language. Phonetics endows a leaner with the knowledge of the classification of letters according to their pronunciation, their place of articulation, manner of articulation etc (Bartels, 2006). Phonological Property of Turkish Language The phonological knowledge of Turkish language can help both a teacher and a learner to distinguish it from the pronunciation and sound system other languages. For example, Turkish sound system has a unique characteristic of vowel harmony. This feature can differentiate the front vowels and the back vowel from each other. Most of the words of the language belong to any of these two groups. The consonants of Turkish language are also with the positions of front vowels and back vowels. For example, the consonants are influenced with palatal stops when they are preceded by the front vowels and with velar stops when they are preceded by back vowels. The Turkish Alphabet contains 8 vowels and 21 consonants. The Turkish vowels are A E I İ O Ö U Ü. Like any other living language, in Turkish also there are letters of which the general pronunciation may differ from the pronunciation in spoken Turkish. The pronunciation of the letter ‘A’ in Turkish normally is ‘ʌ’ according to the IPA, as the vowel ‘a’ is articulated in “card” or ‘bard’ (Chambers, n.d.). The following is a list of some of the problematic letters. Letters in Turkish Pronunciation Example Aa "a" as in "card" or "dark", kan = blood Cc "J" as in "judge" can= life, soul, pronounced like "John” Çç "ch" as in "church" çay= tea, pronounced "chay Ee "e" as in "bed" ekmek =bread Gg "g" as in "get" gelin =bride yumuşak g (Soft g) "y" in "yet" (Never comes at the beginning of a word,) diger =other, pronounced diyer lı( undotted "i" ) "u" as in "radium" or "i" as in "cousin" ışık =ligth, ırmak = river İi( dotted "i" ) "i" as in "sit" bir = one, pronounced like "beer" Jj = "j" "j" as in "azure" garaj = garage, pronounced as in French & English Oo "o" as in "fold" okul =school Öö French "eu" as in "peur" göl = lake, rhymes with furl Ss "s" as in "sing" never pronounced like a "z" as the "s" in "his"( ses = voice) Şş "sh"as in "ship" şey = thing, pronounced "shey" , rhymes with "hay" Uu "oo" as in "boot" buz = ice, pronounced like "booze" Üü German "ü" as in "für" or French "u" as in "tu" gül = rose Zz "z" as in "zoo" beyaz = white (Source: Chambers, n.d.) References Bartels, N 2006, Applied linguistics and language teacher education : Educational linguistics v. 4 Chapter 12: What's Phonetics Got to Do with Language Teaching? Behrens And J. A. Parker 2010, Language in the real world : an introduction to linguistics 1st ed.[electronic resource] Chapter 3 Teaching Pronunciation: Using Phonology in the ESL and Foreign Language Classroom Burgess, J. and Spencer, S. (2000) Phonology and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education. System 28, 191–215. Callary, E 2008, “Chapter 6: Phonetics”, Language, (7th ed), in “Phonetics: the Sounds of Language”. Viewed 27 October, 2010, Chambers, R. (n.d.). “Some notes on the Turkish Alphabet and language”, Turizm.net. Viewed 27 October, 2010, Costanza, P., Valentine, T. and Baddeley, A. (1991) Phonological short-term memory and foreign-language vocabulary learning. Journal of Memory and Language 30, 331–347. Gathercole, S.E. and Baddeley, A. (1990) The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: Astudy of young children learning new names. British Journal of Psychology. 81, 439–454. Howatt, A1984, A history of English Language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inkelas, Sharon. (1994). Exceptional stress-attracting suffixes in Turkish: Representations vs. the grammar. Krashen, S. (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Venkatagiri, H. S. and Levis, M. J 2007, Phonological Awareness and Speech Comprehensibility: An Exploratory Study. Language Awareness, Vol. 16, No. 4, 263-77 Read More