MISPRONUNCIATION OF LABIODENTAL AND INTERDENTAL

FRICATIVES BY ENGLISH LETTERS STUDENTS

English Morpho-Phonology Final Paper

By
Regina Novitasari/ 174214031
Vanessa Adisa Herman/ 174214033
Marssy Diana Sampe/ 174214034

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2019
 A. Introduction
The topic of this research focuses on the mispronunciation of voiced and voiceless
labiodental and interdental fricative sounds. This research is the combination of phonetic and
phonological aspects. Phonetics and phonology are related, dependent fields for studying
aspects of language. Phonetics interfaces with phonology in three ways. First, phonetics
defines distinctive features. Second, phonetics explains many phonological patterns. These two
interfaces constitute what has come to be called the 'substantive grounding' of phonology
(Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994). Finally, phonetics implements phonological representations.
The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds is called phonetics. Our main
interest will be in articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds are made, or
articulated. Other areas of study are acoustic phonetics, which deals with the physical
properties of speech as sound waves in the air, and auditory phonetics (or perceptual phonetics)
which deals with the perception, via the ear, of speech sounds (Yule, 2010, pg. 26). Sounds can
be divided into consonants and vowels. The former can be characterised according to place of
articulation (Bilabial, Labiodental, Interdental, Alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Uvular, Glottal),
manner of articulation (Nasals, Stop or Plosives, Affricatives, Approximants or Glides, Liquids,
Fricatives), and voicing (voiceless or voiced). For vowels one uses a coordinate system called
a vowel quadrangle within which actual vowel values are located (Yule, 2010, pg. 46). One of
consonants’ phonetic features, voicing, divides consonants furthermore into two categories-
voiced and voiceless. Sounds are voiceless when the vocal cords are apart so that air flows
freely through the glottis into the oral cavity. If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces
its way through and causes them to vibrate. Such sounds are voiced. This second category,
voiceless consonants, is separated once again into two subcategories- aspirated and unaspirated
(Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams, 2011).
Meanwhile, Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech
sounds in a language. It is, in effect, based on a theory of what every speaker of a language
unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of that language. Because of this theoretical
status, phonology is concerned with the abstract or mental aspect of the sound in language
rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds (Yule, 2010. pg. 46)
This research centres around segmental feature identification, taking a close look on
particular segments of speech, namely the sounds of labiodental and interdental fricatives. We
choose to confine the limit of our research to this certain area of consonantal phonemes and the
phonological issue surrounding these sounds. Our research focuses on identifying the errors in
the pronunciation of these fricative sounds in our non-native samples and the possible reasons
for these errors in this particular manner of articulation.
In this paper, our research focuses on a particular group of consonants- fricatives sounds.
Fricatives are consonants with the characteristics that when they are produced, air escapes
through small passage and makes a hissing sound (Roach, 1991, p.47). There are eight
fricatives sounds in English, /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫, ʒ/. However, our focus in this paper is on the
labiodental /f, v/ and interdental /θ, ð/ sounds. According to Roach (1991, p. 49), labiodental
fricative demands a contact between a lower lip and upper teeth. The /f/ fricative noise is quite
weak while the /v/ fricative noise is barely heard. Meanwhile, dental fricative normally places
the tip of tongue between teeth and the tip of tongue needs to be inside the teeth touching the
inside of the lower front teeth while the blade touching the inside of the upper teeth, as shown
in the picture below. The airstream comes through the gap between tongue and teeth. The
characteristics of this fricative noise are quite weak.
In this paper, we are going to analyse the often mistaken pronunciation of the fricatives /f,
v/ and /θ, ð/ based on our observation that in our society where English is either a second or
foreign language, these two pairs of voiced and voiceless fricatives are still often mistaken for
each other in daily pronunciation. We are going to analyse this phenomenon using the theory
of language acquisition, particularly sequential bilingualism in adult learners, assuming that
our samples learn the English language not since their primary age. According to Fromkin et
al. (2011), when trying to learn a second language, L2 learners or adult learners may
unconsciously transfer the phonemes, phonological rules, or syllabic structures of their first
language unto the second language they are learning. More specifically, according to Bert Vaux
and Brett Miller (2010), the difficulties non-native speakers find in learning the English
fricatives often bring them to have “cheating strategies”, whether in the form of avoidance or
mutation. Moulton (1962), who has the same opinion with Vaux and Miller, states that
regarding the phonetic habits, wrong phone is used by some speakers who learn the target
language or L2.
This research is worth studying because the phenomenon we are studying is in fact a
common occurrence in our society. Even for people who have already studied English and
lived abroad, they still have some difficulties in distinguishing the pronunciation of certain
sounds. For example, Maudy Ayunda, who studied in British International School and pursued
her higher education in Oxford University, still does mispronunciation. In the word ‘close’
/kləʊs/ she pronounced it as /kləʊz/. We can see, she always change /s//z/. It happens because
it is not her mother tongue. Sometimes, even the natives make mistake with those sounds in
their everyday life. That is why this research is worth studying and discussing to find what kind
of factors make this phenomenon happen.
Our method of research is sampling. We conducted this research with the help of five
English Letters Department students (batch 2018) as our samples. We gave them eight
sentences containing some minimal pair examples of voiced and voiceless of labiodental and
interdental fricative sounds. The eight sentences were divided into two parts, the sounds in
initial position in a word (Fake, Vague, Vast, Fast, Think, That, There, Thing), and the sounds
at the end of the word (Safe, Save, Naïve, Knife, Wreath, Wreathe, Breathe, Breath). We
recorded the pronunciation of our samples, and finally analysed whether or not they confuse
both fricative pairs for one another. If that is the case, we will further analyse why this
phenomenon happens.

B. Discussion
The purpose of our discussion is to find out and analyse the phenomenon of
mispronounced fricative sounds (labiodental and interdental) that often happen in our society
even in the English speaking society itself. In this discussion section, all vowel
mispronunciations are ignored in this research.

Table 1. The Data Analysis of English Fricative Sounds in Initial of word

No Word Pronunciation Participants’ Pronunciation Phonological Process
1 Fake /feɪk/ [fek], [feɪk] -
2 Vague /veɪɡ/ [feɪɡ], [veɪk], [feɡ] Switching
3 Vast /vɑːst/ [fest], [fɑːst], [vɑːst] Switching
4 Fast /fɑːst/ [veɪs], [fest], [fɑːst], [vɑːst] Switching
5 Think /θɪŋk/ [tɪŋ], [θɪŋ] Substitution
6 That /ðæt/ [ded] Substitution
7 There /ðeə(r)/ [der], [der] Substitution
8 Thing /θɪŋ/ [tɪŋ], [θɪŋ] Substitution

Table 2. The Data Analysis of English Fricative Sounds in the end of word
No Word Pronunciation Participants’ Pronunciation Phonological Process
1 Safe /seɪf/ [seɪf], [seɪv] Switching
2 Save /seɪv/ [seɪf], [seɪv] Switching
3 Naïve /naɪˈiːv/ [naɪˈiːv], [naɪf], [neɪf] Switching
4 Knife /naɪf/ [naɪf], [naɪv] Switching

5 Wreath /riːθ/ [wret], [riːθ], [wrɪt] Insertion & Substitution

6 Wreathe /riːð/ [wret], [riːθt], [wrɪt], [riːð] Insertion & Substitution

7 Breathe /briːð/ [brɪt], [briːð] Substitution

8 Breath /breθ/ [bred], [breθ], [brit] Substitution

Notes of phonetic symbol used in Table 1 and Table 2:

/…/ : phonetic notation
[…] : symbol of pronunciation

From the sixteen words in Table 1-2, all of them have been mispronounced by our
participants. There are some types of mispronunciation that appear in this research—switching,
substitution, and insertion. These errors in mispronunciation are caused by a phonological
phenomenon called the “transfer” effect. Transfer means using sounds, expressions, and
structures from the L1 when performing L2. For example, a Spanish (L1) speaker who
produces take it from the side inferior may be trying to use the Spanish adjective inferior
(=lower in English) and placing it after the noun, as is typical in Spanish constructions (Yule,
2010, p.191). Basically, transfer effect means the influence of the learners’ L1 (in this case is
Indonesian language) into their learning process of L2 (which in this case is English language).

Table 3. (Source: A GENERATIVE APPROACH TO THE PHONOLOGY OF BAHASA

INDONESIA, Lapoliwa, 1981, pg. 12)
 Meanwhile, Indonesian has less number of consonants. As shown in the table above, it has
19 original consonants from the original Malay language and another 4 added as loan
consonants. These consonants are: [p, b, t, d, k, ɡ, ʔ, f, s, z, š, x, h, č, ǰ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, 1, r, w, and y].The
symbols [š, č, ǰ, and y] are equivalent to the IPA symbols of [ ɕ, ʨ, dʒ, and j] respectively. The four
loan consonants from the list above are [f, z, š, x], all four of them being additions to the fricatives
group. This phenomenon of borrowing or loaning occurs as a means to prevent ambiguity and
double-meanings, such as in the words “fakta”vs “pakta”. If we use the native counterpart of
the fricative /f/, which is /p/ in Indonesian, then those two words will be assumed as referring
to the same thing even though they actually have different meanings in English. One refers to
“fact” while the other refers to “pact” (Lapoliwa, 1981).

1. Switching
The term “switching” used in this paper means a replacement of a certain sound with its voiced
or voiceless counterpart. For example:
Vague /veɪɡ/[feɡ]
Naïve /naɪˈiːv/[naɪf]
In the word “vague”, our participants mispronounced the initial sound of labiodental voiced
fricative /v/ into labiodental voiceless fricative [f]. This error reoccur in the pronunciation of
the word “naïve”. Our participants replaced the final sound of /v/ into [f]. These are sounds
formed with the upper teeth and the lower lip. The initial sounds of the words fat and vat and
the final sounds in the words safe and save are labiodentals (Yule, 2010, pg 28). The manner
of articulation used in producing the set of sounds [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z],[ʃ], [ʒ] involves
almost blocking the air stream and having the air push through the very narrow opening. As
the air is pushed through, a type of friction is produced and the resulting sounds are called
fricatives (Yule, 2010, pg 31-32). However, there is the different of this sound and it is voice
and voiceless. Sounds are voiceless when the vocal cords are apart so that air flows freely
through the glottis into the oral cavity. If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its
way through and causes them to vibrate. Such sounds are voiced (Fromklin, et al, 2011). These
sound changes occurred in the environments of:

[v][f] /#___V
[v][f] / ___#
Notes from phonological notation above:
/…/ : phonetic notation C : consonant
[…] : symbol of pronunciation V : vowel
 : has allophones or becomes #___ : in the beginning of sentence
/ : in the environment ___# : in the end of sentence

In their paper, Tiono and Yostanto (2008) mentioned that the difficulties in English
pronunciation by foreign learners might emerge from the sounds not existing in the mother
language of the speakers. The example can be seen in Indonesian language; English sounds
such as [v], [θ], [ð], [ʒ], [dʒ], and [t∫], cannot be found either (Moeliono & Dardjowidjojo, 2003,
p. 55). In this case the change is from /v/ to [f].

2. Substitution
Substitution is the process of replacing a sound in L2 that does not exist in L1 with the closest
equivalent there is in the L1. For example:
That /ðæt/[ded]
Breath /breθ/[brit]
In the word “that”, our participants replaced the initial voiced sound of interdental voiced
fricative /ð/ with the voiced sound of [d] (Indonesian sound of “d”). Indonesian /d/ occurs in a
word only in initial or medial position. This phoneme is realized as [d]. This consonant is a voiced
apico-dental (or apico-denti alveolar) sound. However, this sound is often retroflexed by speakers. Such
realization however is considered non-standard (Lapoliwa, 1981).
The same phenomenon of substitution happened with the voiceless sound of interdental
fricative /θ/. These same phenomenon happen with Switching, the different just in the place of
articulation. The sound of /ð/ and /θ/ are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front
teeth. The initial sound of thin and the final sound of bath are both voiceless dentals (Yule,
2010, pg 28).
Our participants substituted /θ/ with another voiceless sound, /t/.
[ð][d] /#___V
[θ][d] / ___#

This substitution phenomenon is caused also by the “transfer” effect. We can see in this type
of error that the participants did not replace a sound with its voiced or voiceless counterpart.
Instead, when a sound was voiced, the participants used also another voiced equivalent from
their mother language. Vice versa, when a sound was voiceless, another voiceless sound was
used to substitute it.

3. Insertion
Insertion is a process of inserting a consonant or vowel to a syllable. This is often referred as
epenthesis (Yuniar, 2013). For example:
Wreath /riːθ/[wret]
Wreathe /riːð/[wrɪt]
From the words “wreath” and “wreathe”, we can see that our participants tended to insert the
/w/ sound when they have to pronounce a word beginning with letter “w”. According to English
pronunciation, /w/ is a silent sound. On the other hand in Indonesian, /w/ is pronounced
(Mahapatra, 2017). In English word, W is not pronounced at the beginning of a word followed
by an R. However, Indonesians always pronounce every letter in the word except the letter “h”
such as in the word “tahu”, they pronounce it as [tau].
Ø[w] /#___C
Our participants bring this manner of pronunciation from their mother language when they talk
in their second language. Another example of this phenomenon can be found in the
pronunciation of the words “whole” /həʊl/ and “write” /rʌɪt/.

C. Conclusion
In the pronunciation of English Labiodental and Interdental fricatives sounds by L2 learners’,
in this case the Indonesian students of Sanata Dharma University English Letters Department
batch 2018. There are still some common mistakes found. These mistakes are, switching,
substitution and insertion. These mistakes are mainly caused by the transfer effect from their
native language.
The switching happens from voiced sound to voiceless sound of labiodental fricative or vice
versa as in /v/ to [f] and from /f/ to [v]. Substitution happens when the L2 sound (English) does
not exist in the learners’ native language L1 (Indonesian). Finally, the insertion occurs in the
environment of English silent letter. All of these errors develop in the learning process of
English learners’ because they are still influenced by their mother language pronunciation and
phonetic features and also most of English fricatives sounds do not exist in Indonesian
phonemes.
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