Assignment No.

: (4)

Class: BS-ENG-II

Subject: Phonetics & Phonology

Topic: “Problems of AJK learners of English Language”

Submitted to:
Madam Qudsia

Submission date: 03-05-18

Submitted By:

Asad Mahmood

ROLL No. : 05

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● Scenario and importance of English language:
Language is our primary source of communication. It's the method through which we share
our ideas and thoughts with others. Some people even say that language is what separates us from
animals and makes us human.
There are thousands of languages in this world. Countries have their own national
languages in addition to a variety of local languages spoken and understood by their people in
different regions. Some languages are spoken by millions of people, others by only a few thousand.

● Why Learn English?

English was originally the language of England, but through the historical efforts of
the British Empire it has become the primary or secondary language of many former British
colonies such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and India. Currently, English is the primary
language of not only countries actively touched by British imperialism, but also many business and
cultural spheres dominated by those countries. It is the language of Hollywood and the language of
international banking and business. As such, it is a useful and even necessary language to know.
Here is the list of all the developed countires where it is being spoken as L1 as well as L2
language:

Country % English Speakers Total English Speakers

United States 94.2 298,444,149
India 10.35 125,226,449
Pakistan 49 92,316,049
Nigeria 53 82,941,000
United Kingdom 97.74 63,962,000
Philippines 56.63 57,292,884
Germany 64 51,584,000
Bangladesh 18 29,398,158
Canada 85.63 28,360,240
Egypt 35 28,101,325
France 39 25,500,000
Italy 34 20,300,000
Ghana 66.67 18,000,000
Australia 97.03 17,357,833
Thailand 27.16 17,121,187
South Africa 31 16,424,417

● English is the International Common Tongue

There are several factors that make the English language essential to communication in our
current time. First of all, it is the most common foreign language. This means that two people who
come from different countries (for example, a Mexican and a Swede) usually use English as a
common language to communicate. That’s why everyone needs to learn the language in order to get

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in touch on an international level. Speaking it will help you communicate with people from
countries all over the world, not just English-speaking ones.
● Education
English is also essential to the field of education. In many countries, children are taught and
encouraged to learn English as a second language. Even in countries where it is not an official
language, such as the Netherlands or Sweden, we will find many syllabi in science and engineering
are written in English. Because it is the dominant language in the sciences, most of the research and
studies you find in any given scientific field will be written in it as well. At the university level,
students in many countries study almost all their subjects in English in order to make the material
more accessible to international students.

● The Internet and Press

On the Internet, the majority of websites are written and created in English. Even sites in
other languages often give you the option to translate the site. It's the primary language of the
press: more newspapers and books are written in English than in any other language, and no
matter where in the world you are, you will find some of these books and newspapers available. In
fact, because it is so dominant in international communication, you will find more information
regarding nearly every subject if you can speak this language.

● Resources Make Learning English Easy

Although many people think that it is very difficult and confusing, English is actually the
easiest language of the world to learn because there are so many resources available. As soon as
you decide you want to learn, there are thousands of resources on the Internet and in bookstores.
I'm not just talking about lessons and grammar books. You can supplement traditional learning
materials with children's TV shows and books. I suggest watching as much TV as you can, in English
with English subtitles, and you will pick up conversational English in no time.

● Travel and Business

With good understanding and communication in English, you can travel around the globe.
Because it is the international language for foreigners, it's easy to get assistance and help in every
part of world. You can test it by online travel. Any travel booking site you can find will have English
as a booking option.
English skills will also help you in any business venture you choose to follow. If you visit
some offices, companies, governmental organizations, or even math or engineering companies, you
will see the importance of English. Any big company will hire their professional staff after getting to
know whether the people they are hiring are good at English or not. Companies who want to
function at an international level only consider their staff well educated if they are good English
speakers, writers, and readers.

● The Language of Hollywood

Everyone knows that Hollywood is in the United States, and that the biggest television and
music industries in the world are based there. As I mentioned above, TV and movies are a great way

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to practice your English once you start learning. What's more, knowing English opens up thousands
of movies, television shows, and games for your enjoyment. If you want to one day work in the
entertainment industry, English is even more essential.
Those who are still unaware of the importance of English should start learning it, as a time
will come when everything will be understood, spoken and written in English. In a lot of ways, that
time is already here. Go ahead, watch some media, and get an idea of the language. You won't be
disappointed.
English language performs various functions in AJK:

● English is Politics language.

● It is the medium of instruction in AJK schools and colleges.

● It is the source of education for the people because all scientific theories are in English.

● English is the language of press and media.

● It is the lingua franca.

This indicates if someone has not the knowledge of English language, it is impossible for
him to get a high status in society. Most of the people in Pakistan speak English just to
communicate. They don't know the standard version of English. There are some people who are
given the duty to use standard version of English. Some people say that English is not their mother
language even then they can understand and speak the language. Some people in Pakistan like
language teachers, policy makers, broad casters, and other institutions try to follow the standard
version of language but some people just goof by the communication is affected in a bad way.

Basic Problems and their solution while teaching English in the

AJK
It is not difficult at all to find people with mispronunciation of English words in AJK.
They really go through tough time when it comes to good and proper pronunciation
of English. Some of the major difficulties of pronunciation are listed below:
● Recognition of English Sounds:
Unluckily, AJK students do not get enough chance to go through proper study
of English speech-sounds. Therefore they do not recognize them properly. Instead they try
to match them with speech-sounds of Urdu which ultimately corrupt their pronunciation.
● Speech Organs:

The sounds of English and Urdu are certainly different from each other. The AJK
students mix them up and try to shape their speech organs according to sounds of Urdu
while pronouncing English sounds which distorts it.
● Connected Speech:

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 It is a craze to speak fluently among AJK students. While attempting fluency is
speaking skill, they become unconscious of the rules of connected speech and make
mistakes in pronunciation unwittingly.
● Connecting The Sounds:
It is evident that a word has many sounds in it and it is completed by joining the
sounds properly. Therefore it is necessary for the students to know how to join them
together by clearly understanding how and where to join the sound to the next sound.
● Difference between Spelling and Sounds:
There are plenty of words in English language which have silent letters. So the AJK
students unknowingly pronounce these silent letters which obviously make them
mispronounce the words. For example: Knife, knowledge, knave, kneel have ‘k’ silent which
should not be pronounced at all.
● Multiple Sounds of the Same Letters:
It is also a noticeable difficulty in pronunciation that there are many letters and
combinations of letters which produce numerous sounds at different places. For example:
‘ch’ produces three sounds as ‘ch’, ‘k’, ‘sh’. Similarly, ‘c’ produces two sounds as ‘s’, ‘k’

● Rhythm of Speech:
Spoken language has a particular rhythm which includes stress and intonation.
Stress is the emphasis placed on a sound or syllable by pronouncing it more loudly
or forcefully than those surrounding it in the same word or phrase. Intonation is the rising
or falling pitch of the voice while pronouncing a word or syllable, or the pattern of speech.

Factors of Mispronunciation Among AJK Students

Where there is a problem, there is a factor of it as well. Just like the problems, there are
many factors of mispronunciation too. Most of the factors are based on misconception and
unawareness pertaining to English language. Some of the major factors are listed below:
● Education System:
The education system of AJK is the basic factor of mispronunciation among AJK
students and sub-standard schooling and many other problems existing in society. Well,
there are schools which educate their students very properly, but they a few in number. On
the other hand, there are many academic institutions which provide sub-standard
education. Therefore the basic problem is the dual education system which privileges some
students and others remain empty-handed.
● Untrained and Unqualified Teachers:
As it is an open secret that there is corruption in education system, they recruit the
teachers who are not qualified enough to teach. Now there is no chance for the students to
learn correctly or rather learn at all. When the teachers themselves would not be aware
of the correct phonetics, how could they teach their students? Now it is obvious that they
are going to transfer poor and wrong information to the students.
● Transliteration:
Since Urdu is the mother-tongue, they are in the habit of using Urdu sounds. This
repetition of pronouncing English sounds in Urdu style consolidates them in pronunciation.
● Impact of Regional Language:

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 Students belonging to different provinces have the strong impact of their regional
language as Urdu speakers have.
● ‘Got the meaning?’ Group:
‘Got the meaning?’ group is consisted of the people who have no serious intention
and motivation to learn and more importantly rectify themselves. They only focus
to convey the meaning to the listener. They also consider learning proper English a waste
of time saying that what they have learnt is enough for them to communicate. They do not
pay attention to articulation, but communication.

● Influence of Electronic Media:

According to the social learning theory, a person learns from its surrounding.
Whatever he watches and observes he imitates it. The same situation applies in case of
learning pronunciation. Media is undoubtedly a great source of learning. Watching
movies, playing games and listening to songs is a common hobby of students, and many
students especially watch movies and listen to songs to improve their English. Here the role
of media becomes negative in their way to learning correct pronunciations. Hollywood has
a huge host of performers who belong to many other non-English countries. Students are
unaware of the real nationality of the very actor and start imitating them. If the actor uses
wrong pronunciation such as Jackie Chan, Salma Hyke, who comes from non-English
courtiers, they imprint on the minds of the students and they fall victim
of mispronunciation. Besides this, the black Americans are notorious for using very bad
language; students also imitate their accent which utterly brings distortion.

Solutions to Surmount the Difficulties of Mispronunciation

among AJK Students
● 1. When it is not that the pole is crooked at the bottom, one would not try to
straighten it from the top. Therefore, when it is a known fact that there loopholes in the
education system, it is advisable to first identify and then remove the problems. The
first step which must be taken now is to recruit the qualified teachers and further
provide them training sessions to enhance their English pronunciation skill.
● 2. Now it is the duty of students to seek good teachers and guides that can help
them to learn phonetic symbols with proper sound practice and recognition.
● 3. Media does play a vital role in learning. Students should take advantage of
it positively. In order to learn, they are supposed to watch Standard English news
channels like BBC and CNN and talk shows which have informative subjects and
educated guests. To watch movies, they should consult with people who have
knowledge of English movies which have good English such as ‘My Fair Lady’. This
movie presents a parallel picture of standard and poor English.
● 4. The golden rule to learn anything is practice, as it is a famous saying that
practice makes man perfect. The more you practice, the better it is. But students must
make it a daily routine to practice the pronunciation, not a weekly since it will bear no
fruit. Side by side students should maintain a proper record of practice so that they can
find whether they are improving or not.

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● 5. It would be very fruitful for you if you can find English native pretenders
to practice wit. It is now quite easy to find native English speakers on the internet.

Some Major Problems for the English speakers of AJK

There are also some major problems observed of the English speakers of AJK people
at major level. These issues are highly effective in their results.

● These issues are observed at two major levels:

● Physical level
● Linguistics level

Physical level

Deformity of teeth Short sightedness Hard hearing Damage of hard palate

Deformity Of Lips

Physical level:
Physical level can be observed at following issues and lacking:

Short sightedness:
Short sightedness means the quality of being short-sighted; inability to see things clearly
unless they are relatively close to the eyes. So if a person is suffering from such condition then it
means that he is unable to learn and speak English properly. Because it is a simple thing that he will
learn by looking and if he is unable to watch and look the thing properly then how he would be able
to learn that thing. It is one of the major issues for the AJK speakers of English language. This issue
can be solved by proper medication of that individual.

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 Hard hearing:
Hard of Hearing (HoH) refers to someone who doesn't hear well. This may be because they
were born with a hearing loss or they may have lost some or all of their hearing later in life.

Many hard of hearing people don't know that they have a hearing loss. Some simply deny it,
even though they may know that their hearing is diminished. Some people who are
completely deaf may consider themselves hard of hearing. In all, nearly 10% of all people
have some level of hearing loss.

It is another big issue for the AJK speaker because it is an auditory issue and if a person is unable to
hear and perceive the language then he is unable to speak and learn it.

Damage of Hard Palate:

Hard palate commonly known as the “roof of mouth” is the first section of the bony part of the
roof of the mouth, located in front of the soft palate. Hard palate allows the production of many
important speech sounds and if it is damaged then it is very tough task to for the learner or speaker
to learn and speak any language, because a lot of words are uttered with the help of hard palate.
Hard palate is damaged by eating foods that are too hot can burn the delicate skin of your hard
palate. This may cause blisters or pockets of burned skin. Eating hard foods, such as tortilla chips,
hard candies, and firm fruits and vegetables, can hurt the roof of your mouth. Scratching the hard
palate may lead to swelling and inflammation.

Deformity of teeth:

Malocclusion is dental deformity that specifically refers to the misalignment of a person’s the teeth.
It refers to the way that the maxilla (upper arch of the teeth) and the mandible (lower arch of the
teeth) fit together. Most malocclusions are hereditary (which means passed from generation to
another) while some are caused by poor oral practices and other factors developed from childhood

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years. If you have a malocclusion yourself, or if a family member has it, it is important for to research
it so you understand your personal risks, and your risks of passing it onto your loved ones. Your
research should include: its classifications, diagnosis and treatment.
Malocclusion can be classified into three types:

1. Class I malocclusion – the alignment of the teeth is normal; however, overcrowding and
spacing with the other teeth is present
2. Class II malocclusion – the upper teeth overlaps the lower teeth; also called overbite
3. Class III malocclusion – the lower teeth overlaps the upper teeth; also called underbite

It is also a big issue in speaking a language. If the alignment of teeth is not good then the speakers is
not able to speak some words. So this issue is also observed at mega level in AJK.

Deformity of Lips:
Cleft lip and cleft palate, also known as orofacial cleft, is a group of conditions that
includes cleft lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), and both together (CLP). A cleft lip contains an opening in
the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the
middle. A cleft palate is when the roof of the mouth contains an opening into the nose. These
disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, and frequent ear
infections. Less than half the time the condition is associated with other disorders.
Cleft lip and palate are the result of tissues of the face not joining properly during development. As
such, they are a type of birth defect. The cause is unknown in most cases. Risk
factors include smoking during pregnancy, diabetes, obesity, an older mother, and
certain medications (such as some used to treat seizures).Cleft lip and cleft palate can often be
diagnosed during pregnancy with an ultrasound exam.
A cleft lip or palate can be successfully treated with surgery. This is often done in the first few
months of life for cleft lip and before eighteen months for cleft palate. Speech therapy and dental
care may also be needed. With appropriate treatment, outcomes are good.

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This lip deformity is also another big issue in speaking properly a language. A person suffering from
such condition is unable to speak and utter the words properly. So this issue is also another major
issue for the English speakers of AJK.

Linguistics Level

Linguistics level deals with the issues and errors related to language linguistically and
phonemically. It deals with the pronunciation of certain words that are spoken wrongly in AJK
while the actual pronunciation of those words is different but AJK speakers make a lot of major
mistakes while pronouncing them in their daily life. Here comes the phonetics and phonology
which clearly helps us in distinguishing between certain sounds and their pronunciations.

Here are certain words that are actually uttered and spoken wrongly:
Difficulties in learning correct speech habits English arise from several sources.

● Normally the sound “Ͻ:” is replaced by “ӓ” like the word law is pronounced as “low” but the
AJK people pronounce it is “LAA”

● The sound “aI” is replaced by the sound “ᴂ”, like in the word Sprite is correctly pronounced
as Sprait but the speakers of AJK pronounce it as Sprᴂt.

● The sound “ᴂ” is also replaced by the sound “eI” , like in the word Photostat, its actual
pronunciation is fәutәstᴂt but we pronounce it as fәutәsteIt

● "Commonplace words such as 'automatic' is 'aatucmatuc' in Pinglish, while 'genuine' is

'geniean' and 'current' is 'krunt.' Some words also take a plural form such as 'roadien' for
roads, 'exceptionein' for exception and 'classein' for classes.

● The speech sound ἹᵹἹ is replaced by Ị j ị softly. E.g in the word “jəmi”
● l ᶞ l is replaced by l d l in word father and the word father is replaced with fader.

 l r l ) ) ‫ ) ر‬is replaced with (r ͪ ) (‫ )ڑ‬in the end of the words by AJKis Speakers like in the word
Rubber, it actual pronunciation is “ˈrəbər” ( ‫ )ربر‬but we pronounce it as rʌbə ͪ. )‫)ربڑ‬

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 ● There is no correspondence between sound and symbols. For AJKis whose national
language is highly phonetic, English pronunciation presents difficulties, particularly in
clusters like “ough” that has many different sounds as found in ‘rough’ (raf) ‘plough’ (plow),
‘thought’ (thot), ‘drought’ (drot) and ‘naughty’ (naty). The sign “OU” has seven different
vowel sounds as in cloud (clowd0, soul (sole), touch (tuch), youth (yooth) could (kud)
bought (bot), journey (jurni).

● Long ‘e’ (ee) sound is also very troublesome. It is represented by as many as seven vowel
letters or signs, as in, me (mee), mete (meet), meat (meat), field (feeld), seize (seeze), cease
(seez), police (poleece).

● The silent letters are usually baffing because in Urdu we have very rare such occurrences.
We come across silent in the medial position of such words as. But silent letters in English are found
in all the three positions.

Initial Position: *Psychology, *Psalm, *Wrap etc.

Medial Position: *Debt, *Calm, *Adjustment etc.

Final Position: *Autumn, *Condemn etc.

● Hard and Soft sounds create difficulties:

Letter ‘C’ in Cat – hard sound.

Letter ‘C’ in Cinema – soft sound.

Letter ‘G’ in Get – hard sound.

Letter ‘G’ in Gem — soft sound.

● The chief problems arise out of the contrasting patterns of the sounds of the mother tongue
and English. Our students utter the sound of English letters I the pattern of Urdu.

● Letters in English spellings do not correspond with their sounds. One letter ‘a’ gives
different sounds in father, fate, late, cat, fall; ea; in beat, heart, break, ear, learn, bread gives
different sounds; ‘U’ in but and put causes a lot of confusion to the child.

● Long, short and broad sounds of vowels are bewildering.

Short ‘a’ as in rat.

Long ‘a’ as in baby.

Broad ‘a’ as in father.

‘a’ with short ‘o’ sound: What (wot), Was (wos)

‘a’ with ‘au’ sound; all (aul), bald (bauld)

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 ● The problem of stressed and unstressed syllables, vowels and consonants.

● Transliteration creates pronunciation problems. By transliteration we mean to write

the English word in Urdu script, for example, ‘Electric’. The danger of it is that the students
pronounce the English word as it is expressed in Urdu. This sort of practice of the teacher
has marred the correct pronunciation of our students.

● Lack of understanding of the systematic arrangement of various sounds which a human

vocal organ is capable of producing.

Denial Jones in his book ‘An Outline of English Phonetics’ points out five main difficulties that a
student of spoken English has to face.

(i). Learning “to recognize readily and with certainly the various speech sounds occurring in the
language, when he hears them preannounced.”

(i) Learning “to make foreign sounds with his own organs of speech.”

(ii) Learning “to use these sounds in their proper places of connected speech”.

(iii) Learning the proper usage of stress, intonation, rhythm etc.

(iv) Learning “to join each sound of a sequence

Consonant Clusters:
The English language is constructed of many different sounds: vowels, consonants, long
vowels and short vowels. Sometimes sounds blend together as is the case with consonant blends.
Consonant blends (also called consonant clusters) are a collection of two or three different
consonant sounds that are each heard when the word is pronounced. For example, let's look at the
word "drink." Both the letters "d" and "r" are consonants. When the word "drink" is pronounced,
you can clearly hear the sounds of both of these letters, making it a consonant blend.
When two consonants make a distinct sound it is called a "consonant digraph." When three
consonants are combined to form a sound it is called a "consonant trigraph."
Joining to Become Consonant Blends
Letters Commonly Mixed Together
You can become more familar and comfortable with consonant blends by examining some of the
letters that are commonly joined together in consonant blends including:
 bl
 cl
 fl
 gl
 pl
 sl
 br
 cr
 dr

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 fr
 gr
 pr
 tr
 sc
 sk
 sm
 sn
 sp
 st
 sw
 tw
Many of these consonant blends probably look familiar to you since we all use words with them on
a daily basis.
Examples of Words with Consonant Blends
Now that you have a firm grasp on what consonant blends actually are, let's look at some examples
of commonly used and heard words that use them.
 Blend, bland, blue, black, blanket, bleach, blood, blast, blatant, blame, bluebird, bleak, blaze,
blind, block
 Click, clam, clean, claim, class, clap, clay, close, clash, clothes, climb, cling, clock
 Crab, crumb, crib, cry, crank, crow, crew, crazy, create, credit, creature
 Draw, dream, drain, dress, drone, drink, drag, dragon, drop, drawer, dry
 From, freezer, free, freedom, frozen, frighten, friend, fruit, freak
 Glad, glamor, glasses, glass, glaze, glee, glitter, globe, glove, glue
 Grade, great, grocery, grueling, grape, grass, grandparent, grapefruit, grease, gravity
 Place, plan, play, plant, please, plenty, plus, plywood, plate, plum, plumber
 Practice, prove, pretzel, prevent, private, press, price, pride, promise
 School, scribble, scale, score, scrap, scratch, schedule
 Skunk, skate, skinny, skeleton, ski, skill, skin, sketch, sky
 Slick, slack, sleigh, sleeve, sleek, sled, slot, slice, slim, slime, slow, slot, sleep
 Small, smart, smear, smash, smell, smitten, smog, smock
 Snack, snail, snare, sneak, snore, snake, snob, snow, sneeze, snap
 Space, spot, sphere, splash, speak, spend, splurge, sport, special, splendid, splinter, sprout,
sprain, spray, spank, sprawl, spirit, sprint, sprung, spry
 Stair, step, stop, stare, store, stage, story, steak, stand, star, steam, stone, strike, strange, strain,
strong, straight, street, study
 Sweet, swan, sworn, swallow, sweat, swing, swim, swamp, sweater, swollen, switch
 Truck, try, trust, tray, tree, trail, train, track, traffic, trade, trash, travel, treat, true
 Twinkle, tweet, tweezer, twelve, twice, twenty, twirl, twist, twine
All of these words use two letters to make one sound (known as a consonant blend).
Noticeable thing:
The Urdu speakers cannot pronounce such consonant clusters in the beginning like in Delhi and
Lucknow, so they add I in the beginning to pronounce such sounds.
These are some important sounds which are pronounced by the AJK Speakers or Urdu speakers by
adding I in the beginning:

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 Actual pronunciation Urdu/AJK speaker
(Pronounce it as)
Sta: ‫سٹار‬ Ista: ‫اسٹار‬
Sku:l ‫سکول‬ Isku:l ‫اسکول‬
Special ‫سپیشل‬ Ispecial ‫اسپیشل‬
Sta:t ‫سٹارٹ‬ Ista:rt ‫اسٹارٹ‬

Conclusion:

From the given topic I conclude that there are a lot of problems that are still being faced by
the English learners and speakers of AJK. There are certain issues like physical and linguistical that
are highly disastrous. Physical issues are not easy to be solved as they are natural but linguistical
issues can be easily solved by proper guidance and knowledge as well as practice. English language
is highly essential for AJK people if they are supposed to participate in any field of the life. So we
should learn from our mistakes and improve our pronunciation skills by proper training.

References:
Wikipedia.com

hamariweb.com
webspace.ship.edu

www.lel.ed.ac.uk

https://puics.blogspot.com/2012/06/importance-of-english-language-in.html

Notesread.com/why-importance-of-english-in-pakistan-is-good-for-everyone

https://tribune.com.pk

The End

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