Major Differences Between Arabic and English Pronunciation Systems A

AIJLLS | JAN 2017 | VOL 1 ISSUE 1
)‫ ه ـ ـ ــ‬1438 /‫م‬2017‫ العدد األول (يناير‬/ ‫جملة اللسان الدولية‬
Major Differences between Arabic and English Pronunciation Systems: A

Contrastive Analysis Study
Hadeel Mohammad Ashour
M.A in English Methodology and Curricula
PhD Student at Al-Madinah international university/ Malaysia
Abstract: Introduction:
This study aims to make a contrastive Although languages of the world may
analysis between Arabic and English have universal features in common, they
pronunciations systems based on document
collections. It also shows the most are different from each other. Each
problematic areas that Arabs suffer from language has its own linguistic system.
when learning English. Based on the fact
that English has its own pronunciation That is to say that each language has its
system that differs from the Arabic one, it is own semantic, grammar, morphology,
found that English is a stress-timed language
while Arabic is a syllable –timed language. phonetics, phonology and syntax.
This major distinctive feature affects Arabs This study compares between two
production of English stress. Moreover,
Arabs face problems in distinguishing languages: Arabic and English. Both
between some consonants sounds as /p/ and languages are totally different. “English
/b/. In addition, they find difficulties to
pronounce words that contain consonant is a West Germanic language related to
clysters. Finally, practical recommendations Dutch, Frisian and German with a
are provided to help Arab learners to
overcome such problems. significant amount of vocabulary from
Key words: Contrastive analysis, stress- French, Latin, Greek and many other
time language, syllable-time language, languages Approximately 341 million
consonant clysters people speak English as a native

language and a further 267 million speak
it as a second language in over 104
countries including the UK, Ireland,
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USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, sounds take place in. Especially, when it
South Africa, American Samoa, is recognized that in Arabic you write
Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and down just the same as you say or
Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, pronounce.
Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, British In addition, Arabic is an inflectional
Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin language that means that it consists of
Islands, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, complex morphology. Javed (2013)
Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and mentioned that Arabic has “"root-and-
Denmark” (Javed,2013). pattern" morphology: A root consists of
On the other hand, Arabic is one of the a set of bare consonants (usually three),
Semitic languages. It is read and written which are fitted into a discontinuous
from right to left. Arabic includes the pattern to form words”.
Modern standard Arabic that derived On contrary, English is a derivational
from the Holy Quran and also the language. That is to say that adding
spoken Arabic varieties that is spoken certain affixes (prefixes and suffixes)
across the Middle East and North Africa. contributes to the change of the word
Moreover, it is important to mention that family the way it effects not only its
English alphabets are just 26 letters. But, position in the written context, but also
they usually make about 44 sounds. how it is pronounced.
These sounds are (24) consonants and Accordingly, one can notice that English
(20) vowels: 6 short vowels, 6 long and Arabic are vary in many aspects.
vowels and 8 diphthongs. That is to say One of these aspects is pronunciation.
that each letter could have more than one This leads the researcher to specify this
sound which make it so difficult for the paper to discuss the major differences
Arabic learners of English to guess the and similarities between English and
correct pronunciation of such sounds Arabic pronunciation systems and how
according the phonological context those the differences cause some sort of
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problems for Arabs when learning stroke below the consonantal

English or vice versa. speech sound. Damma is like a
1. Arabic and English individual sounds: miniature 'waw' above the
1.1 Arabic vowels: preceding consonantal speech
ɔ:mans/ so in the first word they sound e.g. short vowels "i, u, a" and
used the long form instead of short long vowels 'i:, u:, a:”'.
form, in the second As in the case Regarding the /a, a:/ sound, it can
of English, there are two types of be pronounced soft or hard
vowels in the Arabic language: according to the consonant that
pure vowels and also called precedes it. If /a/ is preceded with
(monophthong) while the other type hard Arabic consonants / x, sʕ, dʕ,
is named diphthongs. Monophthong tʕ, ɣ, q, ᶞʕ/, it is retracted to [ɑ]
are six vowels: three long ( a:, i: ,
while it is advanced to [æ] when it
u:) and the other three are short (a,
is preceded with a soft consonant.
i, u), they are also called diacritics.
For example, the differences in
While, diphthongs are two: /aj/ and
pronouncing the /a:/ sound in /al
/aw/.
ħæqa / ‫ الحاقة‬and /as-sʕɑliħi:n/
According to (Fatihi, 2001) in
‫ الصالحين‬. Those two examples are
Salameh and Abu-Melhim (2014)
from the Holy Quran.
in Hago & Khan (2015) , “the
As for /i, iː, u, uː/, two are long / i: ,
Arabic vowels are categorized into
u:/ and two are short /i , u/. Javed
short and long vowels. Short
(2013) clarifies that “Across North
vowels are further divided into:
Africa and West Asia, /i/ may have
fatha: kasra and damma. Fatha is
other values: ([I] or [i) and /u/ may
indicated by a small diagonal stroke
have other values: ([u] Sometimes
above the preceding consonantal
with one value for each vowel in
speech sound. Kasra is the similar
both short and long lengths or two
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different values for each short and u ِ‫ عد‬/ʕudd/ come

long lengths.” He also adds that in back! ِ‫ عود‬/ʕuːd/ lute
Egypt, close vowels have different a ِ‫ عد‬/ʕadd/ counted
values; short initial or medial: [e], ِ‫ عاد‬/ʕaːd/ came back
[o] ← instead of /i, u/. Unstressed aj ِ‫ ي ْنع‬/ʕajn/ eye
final long /-aː, -iː, -uː/ are most aw ِ‫ ودِْع‬/ʕawd/ return
often shortened or reduced: /-aː/ → It is important to mention that
[-æ] or [-ɑ], /-iː/ → /-i/, /-uː/ → [- despite their few numbers, vowels
o~u].” are essential in Arabic language
Using those long vowels in the because Arabs could not pronounce
place of the other short ones can two consonants followed each other
cause a big problem and threat without breaking them with a
intelligibility because as cited in vowel. This is because there is a
Hago & Khan (2015) vowel sound rule in Arabic sound system that
duration is phonemic in Arabic Arabs never start with sounds with
language. So, learners of Arabic pausing diacritic and never stop
should take care with the vowels in their speech on a vowel. Later on
the words they pronounce whether in this paper consonant cluster will
they are short or long in order not be discussed in more details.
to be misunderstood. 1.2. English vowels:
Some examples mentioned in As mentioned previously, English
Javed(2013) : vowels are (20): 6 short vowels, 6
vowels short long vowels (they are also called
long monophthongs) and 8 diphthongs.
I ِ‫ عد‬/ʕidd/ promise All English vowels are voiced.
ِ‫ عيد‬/ʕiːd/ feast
 Long vowels are :
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i: as in Key the tongue ( high, mid, low), the

e: as in care part of the tongue involved while
ɑ: as in car producing them ( front, back) and
Ɔ: as in thought the lip position ( round, neutral and
u: blue unrounded).
ᴣ: turn Roach (2011) describes the
 Short vowels: production of vowels as follows:
I as in hit “Vowels are the class of sound
Ʊ as in foot which makes the least obstruction
Ʌ as in but to the flow of air. They are almost
Ƿ as in lot always found at the centre of a
ə as in about syllable, and it is rare to find any
e as in pen sound other than a vowel which is
æ as in hat able to stand alone as a whole
 Diphthongs: syllable. In phonetic terms, each
eI as in face vowel has a number of properties
aI as in price that distinguish it from other
ↄI as in choice vowels. These include the shape of
əƱ as in boat the lips, which may be rounded (as
aƱ as in cow for an uː vowel), neutral (as for ə)
Iə as in near or spread. Secondly, the front, the
eə as in fair middle or the back of the tongue
Ʊə as in tour may be raised, giving different
Three factors contribute to the vowel qualities: the BBC a vowel
production of the English vowels in (‘cat’) is a front vowel, while the ɑː
addition to being long or short. of ‘cart’ is a back vowel. The
These factors are: the position of tongue (and the lower jaw) may be
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raised close to the roof of the and how the students pronounce
mouth, or the tongue may be left them next to each word (service
low in the mouth with the jaw /servais/, document /dɔcument/,
comparatively open”. ‘women’ /wumen/, ‘obstacle’
Differences in numbers between /ɔbsteikl/, ‘performance’ /pə:fword
Arabic and English vowels mean they used /u/ instead of/ju/, in the
that there are some vowel sounds word women they used /u/ instead
that exist in English but not found of /i/ in the word ‘performance’
in Arabic. These vowels, as they pronounced it with long vowel
(Waengler 2009) in Hago & Khan /ə:/ instead of short one /ə/.
(2015) says, present the greatest To sum up, in vowels, two types of
problems in articulation and difficulty are identified. First,
perception by Arabic-speakers: certain diphthongs are replaced by
these vowels are [e], [ɔ], and [ʌ]. other sounds due to L1 interference
“The distinction between specific for example, /eə/ becomes /eɪ/; /ʊə/
vowels, especially open, lax, short becomes /u:/; /ɪə/ becomes /iː/; and
vowels such as /ɪ/, /ɜ/, and /ʊ/ will /aʊ/ becomes /ɔː/. Second, beside
be problematic for the Arabic the errors that mentioned
speakers. According to Power previously, the distinctions between
(2003), the /ɪ/ vowel be lengthened certain pairs of vowels as in /ɪ/ and
and lowered to /e/, whereas /ɜ/ may /e/ as in 'sit' and 'set'; /ʌ/ and /ɒ/ as
be produced as /i/ or /æ/” ( as cited in 'luck' and 'lock'; /ɔː/ as in 'coat'
in Hago & Khan (2015)) . and 'caught'. ( Kharma and Hajjaj
Hassan (2014) noticed that (1989) in Hago & Khan (2015)).
Sudanese students have problems in 1.3. Arabic consonants:
the pronunciation of some English According to Shehata(2015) ,
vowels e.g. here are some words “comparing the consonantal systems
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of English and MSA( Modern /ʃ/, /ŋ/, and /v/. Zarka (2013) shows
Standard Arabic) shows a numbers of that Arabs pronounce /v/ as /f/ as in:
differences between the two “It is a fery nice fillage” because
languages. For example, English Arabic does not exhibit the phoneme
consists of 24 consonantal phonemes: /v/. and also the case of /p/, Arabs
six stops (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/), compensate it with the voiceless /b/.
nine fricatives (/f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, Moreover, although /t/ and /k/ are
/ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /h/), two affricates (/tʃ/ and consonants, which seem to be similar
/dʒ/), three nasals (/m/, /n/, and /ŋ/), to those Arabic consonants /t/ or /k/,
two liquids (/l/ and /ɹ/) and two semi they are not identical. They are
vowels (/w/ and /j/). On the other different in manner and in place of
hand, Arabic has 28 consonants that articulation” ((Majeed, 1999) in Hago
include eight stops (/b/, /t/, /d/, /tˤ/, & Khan (2015) .
/dˤ/, /k/, /q/, and /ʔ/), 13 fricatives (/f/, Hago & Khan (2015) gives an
/θ/, /ð/, /ðˤ/, /s/, /sˤ/, /z/, /ʃ/, /x/, /ɣ/, /ħ/, example for this case. He explains that
/ʕ/, and /h/), one affricate /dʒ/), two “English /t/ is an alveolar and
nasals (/m/ and /n/), one lateral (/l/), aspirated in word initial position
one trill (/ɹ/), and two semi-vowels followed by a vowel like tea /ti:/
(/w/ and /j/) (cf. Watson, 2002 as cited whereas the Arabic /t/ is dental and
in Shehata(2015) ). Furthermore, there non-aspirated in the same word
are 9 consonants that exist in Arabic position like in /ti:n/ (fig)”. Another
but have no equivalents in English example he gives related to the
(i.e., /tˤ/, /dˤ/, /ðˤ/, /sˤ/, /χ/, /ɣ/ /q/, /ħ/, phoneme /r/ despite its existence in
and /ʕ/)”. both languages: while Arabic /r/ is an
Also, there are “some English alveolar trill, the English /r/ is a
consonants that do not exist in the frictionless retroflex continuant).
Arabic sound system like /p/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/,
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Hago & Khan (2015) also clarifies that VPM-label. VPM stands for Voicing,
although /n/ and /ŋ/ exist in Arabic, /ŋ/ Place and Manner: voicing means that
never occurs at the end of a word in the vocal folds are used; if they are
Arabic, thus, Arabic speakers have a not, the sound is voiceless ... - place of
tendency to add /k/ to the end of words articulation is the place where the air
that end in /ŋ/, such as [baɪɪŋk] for flow will be more or less obstructed. -
'buying' or [sɪŋk] for 'sing'. manner is concerned with the nature of
The following is the chart of Arabic the obstruction”.
consonant as cited in Zarka(2013) : The following chart shows the place
and manner of articulation of
English consonants:
1.4. English consonants:

English consonants are 24 sounds.
These sounds can be described
The chart is taken from the official website of the IPA
according to their place and manner of
association. https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/
articulation and whether they are https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/sites/default/
files/IPA_Kiel_2015.pdf
voiced on voiceless.
According to Forel, C. & Genoveva,
1.5. Consonant Cluster:
P. (2005), “Consonants are often
Although the number of consonants in
classified by being given a so-called
Arabic is more than that in English,
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Arabic does not use consonant cluster. 1.6. Arabic realization of some English
According to (Majeed, 1999) in Hago & consonants according to the dialects
Khan (2015) , “Arabic is a consonant- varieties:
heavy language compared to English. It is assumed that there are consistent
Even though Arabic is a consonant- differences between Classic Standard
heavy language, English use many more Arabic and English and so it is
consonant clusters to form words”. supposed that all Arabs encounter the
“Consonant clusters refer to phoneme same difficulties when learning
groupings, not alphabet letters. There is English pronunciation. In fact, not all
no initial consonant cluster allowed in the Arabs are same regarding the
Classical Arabic and no syllable begins problems they found when learning
with a vowel” (Emad, (2010) in Hago & English. This comes from the varieties
Khan (2015)). The maximum number of in Arabic dialects. The following
consonants allowed initially in the examples clarify the idea:
English syllables is three while the Speakers from Egypt are having these
maximum number of consonants difficulties with /dʒ/ and /ð/. In
allowed finally in the syllable is four. modern spoken varieties of Egyptian
For this, consonant clusters considered a Arabic, /dʒ/ replaces by /ʒ/, such as
problematic area for Arabs when "job" and "jam" would respectively
learning English pronunciation. To sound like [ʒab] and [ʒæm]. The other
solve the problem, Arabs usually insert problem was the consonant sound /ð/.
a vowel in between the cluster to ease This sound replaces by its plosive
the pronunciation of them. This equivalent /d/. Consequently, words
insertion also occurs at the beginning of such as 'their', 'they', 'then', and
the cluster in case of these phonemes 'though', would respectively sound like
cluster: /sp/, /gr/, /spl/, and /str/ 'dare,' 'day,' 'den,' and 'dough'. (Val
140
Barros, 2003 in Hago & Khan (2015) It is important to mention that there
). are other Arabic consonants that are
Hassan (2014) noticed that Sudanese vary in its pronunciation among Arabs
students “have some errors with some according to their dialect. These
consonants that do not exist in different versions to the consonant
Sudanese Spoken Arabic e.g. /θ ð p v/ phoneme are called allophones. The
so they replace them with /s z b f/. He following are examples:
clarifies that they don’t differentiate  /dʒ/ is pronounced /j/ in al-
between (s-sound and θ -sound) so Kuwait. / ridʒæl ( man) is
they usually use /s/ instead of /θ/ e.g. pronounced rijæl/
(bath, math, theatre) will be  /q/ is pronounced /Ɂ/ in modern
pronounced (bas, mas, seatre) by dialects in Syria, Lebanon,
replacing the dental /θ/ with the Palestine and Jordan. or /ʒ/ in
alveolar /s/. They also have some Libya and Egypt or /ɣ/ in
mistakes with other fricatives (z and ð) Sudan or /k/ in west bank in
they replace the dental ð with the Palestine or /q/ in Algeria.
alveolar z, so words like (the, weather, Accordingly, /qæl/ (say), for
then) are pronounced with /z/ instead example is pronounced: /Ɂæl,
of /ð/ as (za, weazer, zen). Also ʒæl, ɣæl, kæl, or remain qæl
Sudanese as other Arabs replace / respectively.
bilabials (b and p) with each other. So  /ðʕ/ is pronounced /dʕ/ in some
they usually use /b/ instead of /p/ and Jordanian dialects, e.g., /
in very few cases /p/ instead of /b/ for nəðʕi:f/( clean) is pronounced
instance words like (pupil, paper, / nədʕi:f/.
apple) they pronounce them as  /Ө/ is pronounced /t/ in some
/bju:bl/, /beibə/, /æbl/. Palestinian dialects or /s/ in
Egypt and Sudan / miӨæl
141
(example) is pronounced phonemic. English and Arabic stress

/mitæl/ and /misæl/ differ in their rules. For instance,
respectively. Arabic stress rules refer to the edge of
 /ð/ is pronounced /dʕ/ or /ðʕ/ in the word (either the beginning or the
some Palestinian and Jordanian end). While in English, Marlett (2001)
dialects. For example: /hæðæ/ showed that some stress rules refer to
(this) is pronounced whether initial syllables, others to final and
/hædʕæ/ or //hæðʕæ/ according others to penultimate (next to last)
to the area. among other positions.
2. A brief contrastive analysis between This section exhibits a brief
Arabic and English Stress systems contrastive analysis between Arabic
Stress is there in both languages: and English stress systems. The
Arabic and English. But, it is apparent analysis focuses on the following:
that the nature of stress in Arabic is 1. Stress Rules predictability and its
totally different from that in English. effect on stress placement.
Moreover, it is believed that the 2. Similarities and differences in
importance of stress in Arabic is not as English and Arabic sentence stress.
its importance in English. In English, 3. The difference in the rhythmic
stress plays a crucial role in pattern in Arabic and English.
determining not only the utterances 2.1. Stress rules Predictability and its
meaning but also their grammatical effect on stress placement:
class. While in Arabic, stress has It is assumed that languages with
nothing to do with changing meaning predictable rules of stress influence
or grammar. It is only used to negatively on the perception and
emphasize the meaning of the stressed production of other languages
utterance. In short, English stress is stress. This can easily be concluded
phonemic while Arabic stress is non- through the found generalization
142
that made based on the mother- 1. Learners put stress on the

tongue rules. Regarding to this final syllable of English
idea, Hajjaj and Kharma (1997:24) words ending in a vowel
reported: When a person speaks a followed by two consonants,
foreign language, he tends to place as in difficult, comfort, and
the stress according to the rules of expert.
his own language. This is what we 2. A tendency in Learners to
mean when we say that somebody place stress on endings such
speaks with a foreign or heavy as:-est, -ism, less and -ness,
accent. Here, Arabic is one of those This is because these
languages that have clear and endings formulated from a
predictable rules for stress while vowel and two successor
English have not. Hajjaj and consonants
Kharma (1997: 24) stated: it used to 3. Learners put stress on the last
be thought that stress patterns in syllable at a word ending a
English are unpredictable, and that diphthong or a long vowel
there are no rules that can be learnt plus a single consonant, as in
and applied to learners. Now such .irritate, gratitude, and
rules have been discovered, but institute.
many of them have proved to be Thus, it is shown that because of the
more complicated to be useful for predictable nature of stress on
pedagogical purposes. However, Arabic, Arabs tend to apply the rules
when Arab learners tend to learn of their language when learning the
English stress, Kenworthy (1987: stress of English. According to
125) illustrated that they tend to Altmann (2006:135) study that he
transfer three of their mother- conducted to distinguish the
tongue habits to English: perception and production of stress
143
between language with predictable position keep their full value,

and non-predictable stress, it is found unlike vowels in unstressed
that Arabic speakers experienced words in English which are
greater difficulty in the perception of reduced to schwa. The
stress than speakers of the other two following example taken
languages (French and Turkish) with from Hajjaj and Kharma
predictable stress, and of course, the (1997: 29) illustrated this
speakers of other languages as well. idea: The sentence: Today I
Actually, Arabs were the worst want to show you the
among those asked to produce the anatomy of a house is
English stress in the experiment. pronounced:\'tu: deɪ 'ʔaɪ
2.2 Similarities and differences between 'wɒnt 'tu: 'ʃəʊ jʊ: 'ðiː
English and Arabic sentence stress. 'ʔænætɒmi: 'ʔɒv 'ʔel 'hɔ:s\,
Sentence stress is of two types: instead of \tə 'deɪə 'wɒnt tə
emphatic and contrastive stress. 'ʃəʊ jə ðiːə'nætəmɪ əv ə'hɔ:s\.
According to Kenworthy (1987: 2. Verb phrases do not occur in
124), sentence stress in Arabic is Arabic while English has
similar to that in English. He shows these verb phases: can do,
that content words are usually have done, should have
stressed and grammatical or function done, ....
words are usually unstressed. Kenworthy (1987: 124) explained
However, it is shown that Arabic that these two differences between
sentence stress differs from English English and Arabic may cause the
in two points: following errors in Arabs production
1. Function words in Arabic do of sentence stress:
not have two forms- vowels 1. Use of full form of pronouns.
in words in unstressed The learner sounds as if he
144
or she is making a contrast Arabs usually pronounce English

when this is not the with an Arabic accent. Why?
intention. This emerges from the fact that
2. Use of full forms of auxiliary Arabic has a syllable-time rhythm
verbs when the weak form unlike English which has a stress-
should be used. (I can do it time rhythm. In other words, in
instead of I can (kən) do it.). Arabic it is found that the time is
It will sound as if the taken to produce each syllable
speaker is protesting or whether stressed or unstressed is the
denying a previous statement same. Whereas in English, it takes
(I can do it even though you longer time to produce the stressed
say I can’t). When this syllable than the unstressed one.
meaning is not intended. On According to Hajjaj and Kharma
the other hand, contrastive (1997: 28), Arabs fail to adopt the
stress is not used in Arabic. stress-timed rhythm of English. .This
So, Arabs will be unfamiliar leads to all words in a sentence to be
with the use of stress to stressed irrespective of their context,
show contrast as in English. nature or importance, including the
As a matter of fact, .in order function words, which are invariably
to show contrast, Arabic uses unstressed in spoken English. Hajjaj
word order (the relevant and Kharma (1997: 28). The
word or phases is moved to following example taken from Hajjaj
the beginning of the and Kharma (1997:29) clarifies the
sentence). Kenworthy (1987: idea:
124). \'hɪ: 'wen tə 'skuːl\ He went to school
2.3 The differences in the rhythmic becomes
patterns in Arabic and English: \'hɪ: 'went 'tuː 'skuːl\
145
To conclude, Arabic differs from languages: Arabic and English vary

English in two ways. Firstly, Arabic in their stress systems.
stress rules are predictable.
Moreover, they consider to be non- Conclusion:
phonemic. This means that stress in Thus, when looking deeply in both Arabic
Arabic does not change either the and English pronunciation
meaning or the grammar of the systems, the following differences
utterance. While, English stress rules will be found:
are non-predictable. Arabs could not 1. English vowels are more than the
predict which syllables should be Arabic ones in numbers. They are
stressed in the utterance. 20 vowels: 6 long, 6 short and 8
Additionally, misplacing stress in the diphthongs, while Arabic vowels
utterance contribute to the change of are only 8: 3 short, 3 long and 2
meaning and grammar of utterance. diphthongs.
Secondary, it is found that Arabic is 2. Duration in pronouncing vowels
syllable-timed language. That is to are phonemic in Arabic. That is to
say that Arabs take the same time to say, pronouncing the words once
produce each syllable whether is with short or another with long
stressed or not. While, English is vowels can change the meaning of
stress-timed language. Native this word.
speakers need longer time to produce 3. In Arabic, “there are three
the stressed syllables than the underlying syllables in MSA: CV,
unstressed one. This leads us to CVC and CVV and two syllables
conclude that the difficulties that CVVC and CVCC that appear
Arabs may face when learning stress only in surface phonetic forms
emerge from the fact that both such as at pause or following other
phonological processes” as cited in
146
Zarka(2013). Never to find two one to another according to the

consonants cluster in the syllable dialect that the learner speaks.
initial position. 9. Arabic stress rules are predictable
4. Vowels in Arabic cannot stand by while English ones are not. Arabs
itself alone as a syllable. could not predict which syllables
5. Consonants cluster are found in should be stressed in the English
English but not in Arabic. In utterance.
English, the maximum number of 10. Arabic stress is non-phonemic.
consonants allowed initially is This means that stress in Arabic
three while the maximum number does not change either the
of consonants allowed finally in meaning or the grammar of the
the syllable is four. utterance.
6. Syllable takes different patterns in 11. Misplacing English stress in the
English: V , VC, CVC, CCVC, utterance contributes to the change
CCVCC, CCCVC ,CVCCCC. of meaning and grammar of
7. Differences between Arabic and utterance.
English consonant systems emerge 12. Arabic is syllable-timed language
from the fact that there are some while English is stress-timed
sounds found in English but are language. That is to say that Arabs
not exist in Arabic. E.g. / p, v, tᶴ take the same time to produce each
.This leads Arab learners to syllable whether is stressed or not.
exchange these sounds with others While, native speakers of English
from their own language that have need longer time to produce the
almost similar place and manner of stressed syllables than the
articulation. unstressed.
8. Difficulties faced by Arabs who Recommendations:
are learning English differ from
147
In the light of the main differences found consonants. And then, have students
between Arabic and English pronunciation to practice pronouncing them
systems, the researcher found out some 5. Inform their students how different
recommendations for teachers, students and types of stress are produced. And
ministry of education Stakeholders in order then, have students to practice
to overcome the expected problems and producing them.
difficulties that may come up as a result. 6. Have sessions with native speakers
A. Teachers: in which learners are totally
The researcher recommends teachers to: immersed in English.
1. Pay their students’ attention to the
main differences between English B. Students:
and Arabic pronunciation systems The researcher recommends students
especially for those sounds that do with the following:
not exist in their mother tongue 1. Whenever you come across a new
language. word, you should check how to
2. Arouse students' awareness of the pronounce it in a monolingual
differences between their mother dictionary.
tongue rules of stress and English 2. Have conversations classes with a
stress rules. This enables them to native speaker of English.
avoid inferring from their L1 when 3. Students should make dialogues in
learning English stress. the class with the help of the teacher.
3. Expose students to different 4. Listen carefully and intensively to
authentic listening materials to give the pronunciations of native speakers
them the opportunity to listen to through BBC, CNN, Voice of
native speaker’s accent. America, Drama, Novels and other
4. Inform their students how to types of multimedia.
pronounce the new vowels and
148
5. Consult your teacher when having pronunciation dictionary for phone and
any kind of difficulties regarding word recognition with linguistically-
English sounds or stress. based pronunciation rules. 09
C. Ministry of education Stakeholders: Proceedings of Human Language
Stakeholders are recommended to: Technologies: The 2009 Annual
1. Provide teachers with training Conference of the North American
courses on Phonetics. Chapter of the Association for
2. Invite Native English Teachers to Computational Linguistics, (June),
give these courses to teachers. 397–405.
3. Activate technological learning http://doi.org/10.3115/1620754.162081
through offering language labs, 2
phonetic labs computer labs and
Forel, C., & Puskás, G. (2005). PHONETICS
other facilities that give students the
AND PHONOLOGY Reader for First
opportunity to practice producing the Year English Linguistics, (March), 1–
English pronunciation system. 64. Retrieved from https://www.uni-
oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/a
 References: nglistik/personen/cornelia.hamann/Pho
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Altmann, H. (2006) The Perception and
Hago, O. & Khan, W. (2015). The
Production of Second Language Pronunciation Problems Faced by
Stress: Across-linguistic Experimental Saudi EFL Learners at Secondary
Schools. Education and Linguistics
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Research, 1(2), 85–99.
http://ling.uni- http://doi.org/10.5296/10.5296/elr.v1i2.
konstanz.de/pages/home/altmann/papers/ 7783
Altmann-dissertation.pdf
Hassan, E. M. I. (2014). Pronunciation
Problems: A Case Study of English
Biadsy, F., Habash, N., & Hirschberg, J. Language Students at Sudan University
(2009). Improving the Arabic of Science and Technology. English
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Language and Literature Studies, 4(4), Zarka, A. M. E. S. El. (2013). The

31–44. Pronunciation Errors of L1 Arabic
http://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v4n4p31 Learners of L2 English: The Role of
Modern Standard Arabic and
Javed, F. (2013). Arabic and English Vernacular Dialects Transfer, 1–75.
Phonetics : A Comparative Study. The
Criterion An International Journal in
English, Vol. 4,(Issue-IV). Retrieved
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criterion.com/V4/n4/Javed.pdf
Kenworthy, J. (1987): Teaching English

Pronunciation, Longman. UK.
Kharma, N. and Hajjaj, A.(1997) : Errors in

English Among Arabic Speakers:
Analysis And Remedy. York press.
Beirut, Lebanon.
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phonological Analysis. Retrieved from:
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Roach, P. (2011). Glossary - a little English

encyclopaedia of phonetics, 1–110.
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150

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AIJLLS | JAN 2017 | VOL 1 ISSUE 1

)‫ ه ـ ـ ــ‬1438 /‫م‬2017‫ العدد األول (يناير‬/ ‫جملة اللسان الدولية‬