ENGLISH PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS

PRONUNCIATION ERRORS IN READING SHORT PARAGRAPH FACED BY

INDONESIAN LEARNER

LECTURED BY:

Dra. Made Adi Andayani T, M.Ed.

NIP: 196303231989022001

By :

Mitasari

(170210401068)

English Department

The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Jember University

2018
 ABSTRAK

This paper is an analysis of the pronunciation errors in pronouncing English sounds encountered
by Indonesian learner who learn about English as the Foreign Language. The EFL learner as the
participant of this project is a college student in second semester of English Department who has
taken the pronunciation class in the first semester. The results show that the learner has some
pronunciation errors in reading short paragraph. The pronunciation errors are analyzed based on
the pronunciation aspects. Based on the results of analysis, the learner tends to change the voiced
consonants with voiceless consonants and change certain vowels with other vowels. The learner
also has problems in putting the stress in the word and sentence when read the short paragraph.

Key words : pronunciation errors, EFL learner, English consonants, stress, vowels

INTRODUCTION

Having a good pronunciation is not an easy thing to do especially for Indonesian learners
who learn English as the Foreign Language. They often encountered many problems and
difficulties in pronouncing English consonants and English vowels. In pronouncing English
sounds, there are aspects of pronunciation that EFL learners should focus on. Cruthers
(1987:191) explains the reasons why learning another language pronunciation are difficult; first,
some sounds of the new or target language do not exist in the learner‟s native language. The
second is in the difference of distribution between native language and the target language. In
addition, Nation and Newton (2009:78) mention there are five factors affect on learning of
another sound system. They are, the age of the learner, the learner‟s first language, the learner‟s
current stage of proficiency development, the experience and attitudes of the learner, and the
condition for teaching and learning. It means that the differences between learner native
language and target language will impact to sounds produced by foreign language learner.
Moreover, Derwin and Murno (2005) argue that having a good pronunciation of the language
can help in normal communication, particularly intelligibility. In other words, pronunciation is
very important thing that the English learners especially EFL learners should master it in making
good interaction and to avoid misunderstanding in communication. To complete the final
examination of English Phonology and Phonetics, I have a project to analyze the pronunciation
errors in pronouncing English sounds faced by Indonesian learner. I have recorded the voice of

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my friend who also as a college student in one of the universities in Malang and she has been
studying English since Elementary School. She also has passed the first semester and have taken
the pronunciation class. I asked her to read a short paragraph and recorded her voice. Then, I
analyzed the result of the recording based on the pronunciation aspects and I found some
pronunciation errors faced by her when pronouncing the English sounds.

DISCUSSION

In phonology and phonetics, any speech may be divided into two: segmental and
suprasegmental (Ladefoged 2006). The term segment is "any discrete unit that can be identified,
either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech. Consonants and vowels are considered as
small segments of the speech, which together form a syllable and make the utterance. Therefore,
segmental features are related to vowels and consonants (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992;
Ladefoged 2006). Pennington and Richards (1986) divided pronunciation into articulation of
individual sounds and the distinctive features of sounds like voicing and aspiration, voice-setting
features, and stress and intonation. Dalton and Seidlhover (2005) distribute speech sounds belong
to one or other of the four main classes known as vowels, consonants, diphthong and triphtongs.
According to Jones (1975:23) a vowel (in normal speech) is defined as a voiced sounds in
forming which the air issues in continuous stream through the pharynx and mouth, there being no
obstruction and no narrowing such as would cause audible friction. Roach (2009) defines
consonant as a sound, voiced and voiceless, in which the airstream an obstructed through a
narrowing or complete closure of the mouth passage. While diphtongs sounds occur when there
is a deliberate glide made from one vowel position to another vowel position, and which is
produced in one syllable (Ramelan 1999).

Suprasegmental is a term used in phonetics and phonology to refer to a vocal effect

which extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as intonation, stress or
juncture pattern. Therefore, the specific features that are superimposed on the utterance of the
speech are known as suprasegmental features (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992; Ladefoged 2006;
Crystal 2008). The word “supra” means above or beyond the segmental value. It refers to
properties of an utterance that apply to groups of segments, rather than to individual segments.
Suprasegmentals are also called “music of a language” and they are not limited to single sounds
but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases (Ladefoged 2006). Suprasegmental features

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are aspects of speech that involve more than single consonants or vowels. They are features of
spoken language which are not easily identified as discrete segments. If learners know features
from the smallest component of spoken language or segments to the larger one or
suprasegmental units, they are likely to achieve better listening and speaking. The alternative
terms of suprasegmentals are „plurisegmental‟, „non-segmental‟, „Prosody‟ and „superfix‟
(Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992; Ladefoged 2006; Crystal 2008).

This is the script of the short paragraph that I asked the EFL learner to read and record :

“ These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who
work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as ‘white collar workers’
for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature,
that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming
white collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred
Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.”

The phonetic transcription of the learner‟s pronunciation :

/ ðɪs deɪs pi;pəl huː duː mænuəl wɔːrk ɔːftən rɪseɪv fɒr mɔːr mʌniː ðæn klɜːks huː wɜːrk ɪn
ɔːfɪsəs pipəl huː wɜːrk ɪn ɔːfɪsəs ɒr frekwentliː rɪferd tuː ʌs waɪt kɔːlər wɔːrkərs fɔːr ðə sɪmpəl
rɪsən ðæt ðeɪ juːsuəli weər ə kɔːlər en taɪ tuː goʊ tuː wɔːrk sʌs ɪs jumən nætʃər ðæt ə griːt meniː
pipəl ɒr ɔːftən wiliŋ tuː sækriːfaɪs haɪəɾ peɪ fɔːr ðə preɪvileʤ ɔf bɪkɔːmɪŋ waɪt kɔːlər wɔːrkərs dɪs
ken gɪv ɾaɪs tuː kurɪəs sɪtueɪʃəns æs ɪt dɪd ɪn ðə keɪs ɔf ʌlfred blɔːgs huː wɜːrk ʌs ə dʌsmen fɔːr ðə
elsmer kɔːpɔræʃən /

 The analysis of the learner‟s pronunciation based on the recording :

Correct Learner’s
No. Word Description
Pronunciation Pronunciation
-She changed the consonant „z‟
which is the voiced sound into
1. These / ðiːz / / ðɪs / „s‟ which is voiceless sound.
-She pronounced „ɪ‟ sound
instead of „i:‟ sound which

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 belong to long vowels and it
means plural form.
-She changed the consonant „ʒ‟
2. Usually /ˈjuːʒʊəli / / juːsʊəli / which is voiced to „s‟ sound
which is voiceless.
-She replaced the consonant „ʧ‟
sound with „t‟ sound and she
tend to pronounce the vowel „u‟
3. Situation / sɪʧʊˈeɪʃənz / / sɪtueɪʃəns /
instead of „ʊ‟. She also changed
the „z‟ sound to „s‟ sound at the
final of the word.
-She pronounced the „f‟ sound

4. Of / ɒv / / ɒf / instead of „v‟ sound which is

belong to voiced sound.

-She tend to pronounce the

consonant „d‟ instead of the
consonant „ð‟ which should
5. That / ðæt / / dæt / place the tip of the tongue
between the top and bottom teeth
and forcing air through when
pronounced it.
-She pronounced the vowel „æ‟
with „ʌ‟ sound and replaced the
6. As / æz / / ʌs /
voiced consonant „z‟ with
voiceless consonant „s‟.

Based on the analysis above, there are some pronunciation errors faced by Indonesian
learner especially the EFL learner. She has some errors in segmental and supra segmental aspects
of pronunciation. In segmental aspect, she has a tendency to pronounce English consonants in
different or wrong way and mostly she replace the voiced consonants which the airstream an

4
obstructed through a narrowing or complete closure of the mouth passage when pronounce it
with voiceless consonants. She pronounced the long vowel „iː‟ with short vowel „ɪ‟ which might
change the meaning from singular to plural and she replaced the „æ‟vowel with „ʌ‟ vowel.

In supra segmental aspect, the learner also has some pronunciation errors in reading a
short paragraph. She tends to pronounce the English with wrong stress both the word and
sentence. For example, she put stress all the syllables in the word „sacrifice‟ instead of put the
stress in the first syllable of that word. Finally, at the end of the paragraph, she put too long
juncture in reading the sentence „This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of
Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation’. She should pronounce
that sentence with right stress in certain word and put the juncture correctly.

CONCLUSION

In pronouncing English sounds, the EFL learner has some errors both segmental and
supra segmental aspects of pronunciation. Based on the analysis, she has difficulties or problems
in pronouncing consonants sound rather than the vowels sound. Mostly, she has a tendency to
pronounce the voiced sound into voiceless sound and replace those sounds with other sounds
because those sounds are rarely used in Indonesian language as her mother tongue. Besides, she
also has an error in putting stress and juncture when read the word or the sentence in the
paragraph. Pronunciation errors are commonly occurred in the non-native context. In EFL
context, pronunciation errors are caused by several reasons. Firstly, the learners follow or apply
the pronunciation of basic words. Secondly, learners tend to use their native phonotatic rule.
Thirdly, the mispronounce words are rarely used by the learners. Lastly, they imitate the wrong
pronunciation from their teacher. Relating to the production of the stress, the learners tend to put
the stress in the syllables that are spelled similarly with the basic words. Learners‟ lack of
understanding about supra segmental features is the reasons of stress mispronunciation.

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REFERENCES

- Dalton, Christiane and Barbara Seidlhofer.(1994). Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.
- Jones, Daniel. (1975). An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
- Hussain, Shafaat.” Applications of Suprasegmental in EFL Classroom: A Short Review”.
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 9,
September 2015 1 ISSN 2250-3153
- Pronunciation Problems of Indonesian EFL learners : An Error Analysis
https://journal.ubm.ac.id/index.php/english-language-culture/article/view/263 ( Accessed
: June 23rd 2018 )