High Technology Letters ISSN NO : 1006-6748

MOTHER TONGUE INFLUENCE AS AN OBSTACLE ON

COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH
Mrs.A.G.Sujitra*,Assistant Professor,
Dr.R.Vijayalakshmi, Associate Professor,
L.Aruldoss, Assistant Professor,
A.Siles Apollo, Assistant Professor,
Department of English
K.Ramakrishnan College of Technology

ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to encapsulate how a first language affects communicating in second language
like English. Owing to the place of English language in India, the poor performance of students in
the use of the language is absolutely an issue of academic distress. After leaving from the shackles
of British colonization, around 6 years ago, the place of status that English language gained in
India has never fade away. Amongst the authority of patriotism and sensitive turbulence before
and after the independence, English language has been held high. It is observed as the official
mode of communication in most of the prominent world bodies and organizations because of its
uniqueness and flexibility. After the initiation of the technological revolution, English has paved
way for lot of opportunities for common man. It became the language of career for many. In the
area of applied linguistics, lots of researches have been done to find the correlation between the
acquisition of one’s first language and second language. Any spoken language is influenced by the
way it is used in the environment around a person. There is a vast difference between languages
that is one’s mother tongue and others that are learnt in a different atmosphere with the help of
facilitators in schools, colleges, online and so on. Language skills like listening, speaking, reading
and writing all have a particular influence on the other skills. This paper focuses on the listening
issues particularly one’s mother tongue that distorts speaking a second language like English. It is
evident that there are a lot of ways to resolve this issue and avoid the rumination of one’s first
language in the spoken English.
Key Words: English, influence, language, learning, mother tongue, student, teaching

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1. INTRODUCTION
India is a cluster of diverse languages and culture. There are many regional languages that have
their own richness and value. One need not deny that the mother tongue is a bundle of feelings and
expressions that comes as hereditary from the ancestors. The change of educational reforms has
infused second language in a child who speaks mother tongue at home and getting educated in the
second language like English. English acts as second language in almost 110 countries. The
importance of English education had been brought to the pre-independent Indians by National
leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who analyzed the need for English teaching for Indians. He
realized on those days that it is a career oriented language that could make the Indians being
identified by their notable achievements. The renowned personalities like Ramanujan, Sir
C.V.Raman, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, Sundar Pichai and many others have become famous because
of their talents being expressed in English. Since English has plenty of roles to play in one’s
profession, it is really important to use it effectively.

The effective use of a language is in conveying the ideas and opinions of what they think and learn.
It is an embodiment of their mind and what all they observe in day to day life. The manifestation
of it in the mother tongue is a natural process but while using the second language it is quite a
roundabout process. Transliteration is the most intermittent factor that becomes erratic. Mistakes
occur while learning and practicing any skill. One need not be afraid of the blunders in learning a
new language that come on its way. Those blunders will not be taken seriously when it happens
inside a friendly circle, but when those slipups occurred in formal occasions it becomes
defamatory. Enhancing the speaking skills will be complimentary to a student in preparing for a
job in multi lingual atmosphere.

2. DEFINITION OF MOTHER TONGUE

The first language or mother tongue of a person is by hereditary transferred from the ancestors to
the offspring loaded with all the values and culture. A mother tongue is also the language that one
is being introduced freshly by his native community. It is only through the first language; a person
sees and perceives the world. His mind is dominated by the first language as his family is being
dominated by the same. He upholds the principles and doctrines that are followed in his region or
community only by the first language. In the case of migration, the things are totally different
when related to language usage. The need is created to use the next language for survival reasons.
The difficulty in switching over from one’s mother tongue to the next language is to think in terms

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High Technology Letters ISSN NO : 1006-6748

of mother tongue and interact in the other language. Spontaneity in second language is highly
missing in the initial stages, which can be resolved by frequent usage with known persons.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF MOTHER TONGUE INFLUENCE (MTI)

Teaching English as the target language is for using it in an effective way. It is not necessary to
copy the pronunciations of the speakers of that origin. This article discusses some of the samples
of the interruption types while interacting and how one can surmount problems faced by an Indian
learner of English. These samples of errors have been taken from the group of students of various
regions who have different mother tongue like Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu in a common
classroom environment.

The Anglo Indian parents who speak to their children in English are benefited in both ways. The
environment in both the home and the school is surrounded by English. Hence mastering the target
language is easy and convenient for them. They are much more fluent and proficient users of
English. Equally in the same way as the Anglo Indian children are the upper middle class children
in the cities, who also share the same kind of atmosphere. The only thing is that the children have
to master in technical skills and other life skills. Researchers have found that the language is only
the imitation of sounds and symbols of the environment. When a child of a particular mother
tongue is brought up in an atmosphere of different language, the child speaks only the other
language. For him, his mother tongue seems to be different when it is introduced to him at a much
later stage.

The influence of the first language on the target languages happens without proper realization of
the fact that is common in many vernacular medium school students. When the instructor
pronounces a word wrongly, the students also imbibe the same kind of pronunciation. The problem
lies in the instructor also who is overpowered by MTI. When we learn a new language it happens
for each and every one of us in the beginning stage. Overcoming those MTIs are a bit difficult
when practiced or conversed with people who are having similar kind of problem. These common
errors can be rectified by listening to videos and audios regularly.

4. HISTORY OF THE EXPLORATIONS OF INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE

At the global level the official language of 70 countries is said to be English. The countries which
speak English contribute 40% of Gross National Products. Thus it has become inevitable to
communicate in English with the people of the other parts of the globe. It is the only means for
socializing, sharing data and trading with the people of every nook and corner of the world. Many

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students started to pursue education or seek job in foreign countries, reach people and having
healthy conversations in English more easily and confidently. If there is interference of first
language then it shatters the smooth flow of communication.

The impact of mother tongue on the second language and its investigations were analyzed only in
the early 20th century. It was common among everyone and was not considered as a big hindrance.
The technological revolution has compelled almost many third world countries to become
expertise and enterprising in English. Owing to the industrial transit the multi lingual environment
became common. In order to become mastery in using the English language, various studies were
carried out on the obstacles in speaking English. The errors identified by the researchers were
based on syntax, semantics, impact of first language, transliteration, fillers, pronunciation, dialectal
influence, intonation and stress on syllables, voice modulation so on and so forth.

5. MOTHER TONGUE INFLUENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON SPOKEN ENGLISH

The way English is spoken by the beginners in non-native speakers has lot of distortions.
Teaching and learning English had long been insisted in devoting extended duration and
consumption of energy in Indian schools. In the traditional classroom, there is no allocation of
separate schedule for shaping the spoken form. Based on some sort of rough guess from the
response of students, the instructor understands that the students have learnt the language
structures. Separate labs for communication practice with the teachers who are well trained in
communication give lot of training modules. Those modules pertain to eradicate the errors and
make the students speak flawless English. In spite of the trainings, only a limited number of
students achieve fluency. Normally it is the above average students who shine and take pains in
placing themselves in good jobs. The remaining students lag in technical and soft skills show least
interest in concentrating on the errors like syntax, semantics, impact of first language,
transliteration, fillers, pronunciation, dialectal influence. The reason for the failure is mainly due
to the fear of public speaking, fear failures, fear of expression of the abilities. They are filled with
negativity that stops them proceeding further in equipping the speaking skills. Building self-esteem
should be done daily so that the friends need not mock at them when they make mistakes.

The rules of using English and the words in contextual connotation are of primary value.
In addition to the basic rules of language and the association of words, the way of pronunciation
in neutral accent is crucial for expression. Any articulation of words that lacks clarity or irrelevance
in the target language is the proof that it is due to the influence of mother tongue. The cause of
unclear utterances of words is that the words in English is perceived and uttered in the similar way

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that is used in the mother tongue. The received pronunciation of phonetic transcription of words
in English is quite complex and varied. The imitation and repetition of words and their sounds is
derived from the facilitator. The effect is seen when correcting the errors at times in the classroom.
Exclusively trained instructor trains properly whereas instructors who are not trained properly have
the same impact on the students who are trained by them. Hence it is very essential for the language
instructors / teachers to be well equipped to handle language classes for giving good speech
training.

6. HIGHLY PREVALENT PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES

Bilingual or multilingual atmosphere have certain modifications while learning a target
language. The different modifications in learning and using English have been identified and given
here. These modifications have been taken samples from Indian context. General pronunciation
mistakes are: Instead of the sound ‘fa’ the replacement by ‘pa’, instead of the sound ‘pa’ the
replacement by ‘fa’, deliberate use of sound ‘u’ at the end of words, replacing sound ‘s’ instead of
‘sha’, instead of ‘o’ sound the pronunciation as ‘a’ longer sound, replacing sound ‘sa’ instead of
‘cha’, replacing sound ‘i’ instead of ‘e’, replacing sound ‘me’ instead of ‘ma’, replacing sound ‘o’
instead of ‘o’(au), replacing sound ‘sha’ instead of ‘sa’, replacing sound ‘ri’ instead of ‘re’,
replacing sound ‘ra’ instead of ‘er’, replacing longer sound ‘jaa’ instead of ‘ja’ shorter sound,
omitting ‘d’ sound at the end of words, deliberate use of ‘r’ where should be silent, replacing longer
sound ‘sa’ instead of shortest sound ‘sa’, replacing sound ‘tha’ instead of ‘ta’, replacing sound ‘b’
instead of ‘p’, replacing sound ‘g’ instead of ‘k’ and so on.

Sl no. Common Generalization of Example of Correct word /

Pronunciation Mistakes Pronunciation Pronunciation
Errors
1. Instead of the sound ‘fa’ the Pluent, pees, pees, Fluent, fees, fuse,
replacement by ‘pa’ pair, pone fare, phone
2. Instead of the sound ‘pa’ the Fant Pant
replacement by ‘fa’
3. Deliberate use of sound ‘u’ at the end Breadu, booku, trainu, Bread, book, train,
of words callu call
4. Replacing sound ‘s’ instead of ‘sha’ Soo, sirt Shoe, shirt
5. Instead of ‘o’ sound the pronunciation Lattery, laack, Lottery, lock, polish,
as ‘a’ longer sound paalish, aamlet omlette
6. Replacing sound ‘sa’ instead of ‘cha’ Saklet, silli Chocolate, chilli
7. Replacing sound ‘i’ instead of ‘e’ Ingine, ingineer Engine, engineer
8. Replacing sound ‘me’ instead of ‘ma’ Medam, ménage, Madam, manage,
merriage marriage
9. Replacing sound ‘o’ instead of ‘o’(au) Office, opportunity Office, opportunity

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10. Replacing sound ‘sha’ instead of ‘sa’ Reshpect, reshtaurant, Respect, restaurant,
shaving, shofa saving, sofa
11. Replacing sound ‘ri’ instead of ‘re’ Pristige, rigister Prestige, register
12. Replacing sound ‘ra’ instead of ‘er’ intraview Interview,
13. Replacing longer sound ‘jaa’ instead jaam, jam
of ‘ja’ shorter sound
14. Omitting ‘d’ sound at the end of Atten, Attend
words
15. Deliberate use of ‘r’ where should be Reserve, preserve, Reserve, preserve,
silent deserve, court, foram deserve, court, form
16. Replacing longer sound ‘sa’ instead of Sar, Sir
shortest sound ‘sa’
17. Replacing sound ‘tha’ instead of ‘ta’ Guithar Guitar
18. Replacing sound ‘b’ instead of ‘p’ Temble temple
19. Replacing sound ‘g’ instead of ‘k’ Ungle uncle

The changes or a slip of the utterances is due to the linguistic phonemes in the mother tongue that
becomes habituated. It evades naturally by changing the interactions by many ways. Neglecting
the impact of native tongue could not be done completely. Some of the unique ways of
pronunciations in English are acceptable, even though there is a tinge of mother tongue. This is
due to the neutrality of the accent peculiar to Indians. In order to achieve a good English accent,
the Indians must stay away from their regional languages and start speaking as English is spoken.
This is how we become an English speaker in an Indian context.

7. HOW TO TRIUMPH OVER THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE

 Interacting with our acquaintances shedding out our egos and bearing in mind to be
corrected of the blunders.
 Being broad minded and try to rectify the errors
 Devoting time so as to upgrade by paying keen attention to You tube channels in mobile
or television broadcastings that matches one’s interest like cooking shows, geographical
explorations or scientific inventions or machineries in factories. The curiosity in listening
to information may get imprinted in sub conscious mind and would result in good speech.
 If the interest is on the day to day happenings in the world, reading English chronicles
and watching news channels will be of great help.
 Rapid reading technique must not be followed. Scanning type of reading will improve the
vocabulary by marking the new words and the correct pronunciation in a separate daily
planner. That daily planner should be referred before and after sleep. The subconscious
mind will absorb it automatically and it must be used in conversations and writing.

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 Various literary genres can also gradually improve to overcome MTI.

 Practice few tongue –twisters daily.
 Listening to correct pronunciation of words and self-checking it through language
software that is available in language labs.
 Using pronunciation apps in mobile also will help self-improvement.

This challenge of overcoming mother tongue influence can be achieved definitely if pains are
taken to ward off entirely.

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does “scientifically-based research” actually tell us? Educational Researcher, 31(9), 13–
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5. Desimone, LM, Smith, T, Baker, D, Ueno, K (2005). Assessing barriers to the reform of
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