Second Language Phonology - Essay Example

SECOND LANGUAGE PHONOLOGY INTRODUCTION – There are a large number of sounds that can be produced by human beings. The arbitrary selection of sounds in each language is one of the distinctive features on the basis of which languages differ. Not just the number of sounds but the actual sounds, the way they are combined into words, consonants that can be grouped together, ( consonant clusters ), and the position of every sound in a word are unique to every language. Certain sounds and sound patterns are common to several languages. Some sounds belong to almost every language. Plosives, or stops are sounds that occur in almost all languages, yet, second language learners encounter some difficulties in producing English “stops’ or ‘plosives” when they occur at the end position in a word.. Let us try to investigate the reasons for this. HYPOTHESIS – Speakers of languages that do not share the pattern of English are likely to delete, devoice or use a vowel epenthesis after the final consonant stops in the English words Bag, Bad and Bob. THE PLOSIVES OR STOPS IN ENGLISH - All English sounds, including the stops, are pulmonic egressive. As the air comes out of the lungs, the air passage is obstructed by a complete closure or stop. When the obstruction is caused by two lips, the resulting sounds are /p/ and /b/ (bi-labial stops). Obstruction at the alveolar ridge leads to the production of /t/ and /d/ (alveolar stops). Obstruction caused by the velum and the blade of the tongue give rise to /k/ and /g/ (velar stops). During the production of /p/, /t/ and /k/, the vocal cords do not vibrate so these sounds are unvoiced or voiceless. A unique feature of these three unvoiced English stops is that they are aspirated when they are followed by vowel sounds. On the other hand, the vocal cords vibrate while producing /b/, /d/ and /g/ hence these three are voiced stops. All the six stops in English can occur in initial, medial as well as final positions in a word. THE FINAL STOPS IN ENGLISH WORDS – If we look at the three English words – Bad, Bag and Bob, we observe that they end in voiced stops /d/, /g/ and /b/ respectively. These three sounds are common and occur in a number of languages the world over. Yet, the pattern of combining sounds to form words is different in various languages. Languages can be categorised into the following groups on the basis of their use of word final voiced stops: Some languages simply do not allow word final consonants. The general structure of single syllable words in English is CVC, that is consonant sounds are marginal and occur at the beginning and end of the syllable. Vowel sounds are generally in the middle. However languages like Kikuyu or Swahili do not allow word final consonants. Hence, speakers who use these languages have a tendency to delete the last consonant sound while pronouncing English words. The result will be as follows- Bad will be pronounced as Ba --- Bag will be pronounced as Ba --- Bob will be pronounced as Bo --- No difference will be evident in the pronunciation of Bad and Bag, since this is a minimal pair in which the last sound is different, and it is deleted. When a language does not allow word final consonants, a vowel is added after the final consonant sound, which is called epenthesis. The second language learner will add any vowel sound which is convenient to pronounce after the given word. Hence the words will be pronounced in the following way: Bad – bada or badi (addition of vowels a and i) Bag – baga or bagi (addition of vowels a and i) Bob – bobo (addition of vowel o) There is another category of languages which allow only voiceless stops at the final position, e.g. German, Turkish, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, and Russian. Speakers of these languages will be unable to voice the final consonant sounds. Hence there will be a tendency to devoice the final voiced consonants, and the words will be pronounced in the following way: Bad – bat (/d/ is replaced by the unvoiced alveolar stop) Bag – bak (/g/ is replaced by the unvoiced velar stop) Bob – bop (/b/ is replaced by the unvoiced bi-labial stop) Languages like Japanese, Mandarin or Tamil use only sonorant sounds like /f/, /v/, /s/ and /z/ as word final consonants. Speakers of these languages will be unable to produce stops in final positions in the English words Bob, bad and bag. Languages like Spanish and Portuguese have more specific restrictions. They allow only liquids and continuants in final positions. There is a vast difference in the manner of articulation of stops on the one hand and liquids or sonorants on the other. Naturally, Spanish or Portuguese speakers will encounter great difficulty in attempting the final voiced stops in the English words Bad, bag and Bob. Languages like English, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Armenian have no restrictions in the use of stops. Voiced as well as unvoiced stops occur in all three positions in words in these languages. Speakers of these languages face no problems regarding final voiced stops. They can pronounce the words Bag, Bad and Bob correctly. FACTORS THAT AFFECT SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION - While the first language is learnt, the second language is acquired. There are some common factors that affect SL acquisition. We will restrict ourselves to those related to the production of different sounds. 1. Influence of mother tongue is bound to affect the acquisition and production of sound patterns. 2. All languages do not share all sounds. Some sounds are present in some languages and absent in some others. 3. Even a sound that is shared by two languages does not occur in all three positions in a word in both the languages. 4. Age factor is also important in SL acquisition, particularly in the acquisition of sounds. New sound patterns in various positions, (initial, medial and final) can be acquired easily and quickly at a young age. CONCLUSION - The voiced consonants in English, namely, /b/, /d/ and /g/ are common in many languages. Yet, many SL learners encounter a difficulty in producing voiced stop consonants which occur in final position in English words like Bad, Bag and Bob. This is because there are limitations to the consonant sounds that can occur in final positions in different languages. While some languages do not allow word final stops, some allow only voiceless stops. Some have specific restrictions and allow only liquids or continuants in final positions. In case of initial consonant cluster /st/ we see instances of South Indian speakers who add a vowel at the beginning and “station” will be pronounced as “istation’ by them. Similarly, vowels are added by Kikuyu or Swahili speakers at the end of words that ends in voiced stops in English. If end consonants are deleted, many English words which are same except for the last consonant will sound similar and appropriate meaning cannot be expressed. For example, Bad and Bat will both be pronounced as Ba – and Pat and Pad will both be heard as Pa --. The very fact that we find instances of vowel epinthesis after the target or devoicing of end consonants proves that speakers rely more on their knowledge of first language rather than universal principles. An analysis of the sound patterns followed by different languages helps to gain insight on the principles at play in second language acquisition. This will enable the teachers or trainers to select appropriate methods and techniques and plan strategies which will make SL acquisition effective and successful. Read More