The Use of Voiced Velar Fricative Sounds [ɣ] in Were

People’s Daily Conversations

Name : Paskalis Falentino Kila

Class/semester : B/III

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education English Study

Program
Nusa Cendana University
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title Page ……………………………………………………….1
Table of Content ………………………………………………...2
Chapter I introduction ………………………………………….....3
A. Abstract …………………………………………………
B. Background ……..………………………………………..
C. Research Method …………………………………………
D. Aims ………………………………………………………
Chapter II Discussion ……………………………………………….
A. Result ……………………………………………………..
Chapter III Conclusion ………………………………………………
A. Conclusion ………………………………………………..
References ………………………………………………………….
 Chapter I: Introduction
A. Abstract
This research aims to examine the vocabulary used by the people of Were village,
a village in South Golewa sub-district, Ngada district, NTT province, which uses
voiced velar fricatives. A voiced velar fricative is a consonant sound that can be
found in the IPA or international phonetic alphabet. This sound is usually found in
Arabic countries that use Swahili. Meanwhile, in Indonesia itself, voiced velar
fricatives are very rarely found in everyday conversation, especially in refined
spelling. This study uses a qualitative method where all data is taken directly from
the results of an interview with a native Bajawa language speaker. Based on the
results of interviews, researchers found quite a lot of vocabulary that uses voiced
velar fricatives, for example; Ghale, ghali, ghamo, gha’o, ghara, ghase, Ghedhe,
ghela, Ghole, gholo, ghoma, ghoro, Kagho, Magha, maghi and Pagho. With this
research, the author wants to increase readers' insight into the sound of voiced
velar fricatives, which are very rarely used.

B. Background

Phonology is a branch of linguistics that investigates how speech sounds are used
systematically to form words and utterances (Katamba 1989: 60).The study of
phonology began centuries ago and the results of this research are what humans
use to share information. One of the results of research on phonology is IPA or
what is known as the international phonetic alphabet. IPA is divided into two parts,
namely consonants and vowels. Each consonant and vowel has a procedure for
naming and sounding it and from completing it we learn about the diversity of
languages in the world.

The world has various countries that have their own characteristics in speaking.
This distinctiveness can be found in the way people speak, such as: Korean people
speak Korean, Chinese people speak Mandarin and many more characteristics of
these countries in speaking. However, for all its uniqueness, not all sounds are
used in everyday conversation. For example, Indonesian people feel unfamiliar
 with the voiced velar fricative sound but people who use Swahili use it in
everyday conversation.

The velar fricative sound is a unique sound because it is rarely used in most
countries. In Indonesia, it is very rare to find voiced velar fricative sounds in
everyday conversation. However, there are several regions in Indonesia that have
words using this sound, especially the one that is of interest in this article is the
Flores region. People from the island of Flores are not unfamiliar with this sound
because they use it in everyday regional language conversations. Therefore, the
author feels that the voiced velar fricative sound in Indonesia needs to be studied
in more depth to increase knowledge about the voiced velar fricative sound.

C. Research Methods
 This research uses qualitative methods to obtain data, where all data is based on
the results of interviews with native Bajawa speakers. The interview was
conducted using telephone media because the native speakers were outside the
city of Kupang.

The author has interviewed 3 sources who told the same data. The author first
asked the resource person to speak Bajawa language and when heard the voiced
velar fricative sound, the author asked the resource person to explain the meaning
of the word. After getting all the data needed, the author then started analyzing it.
The data analysis process also uses qualitative methods, namely by arranging the
words in a table and then begins to arrange the phonetic letters and the meaning of
each word.

Overall, this method is effective in collecting data that prioritizes communication

between researchers and sources. Apart from that, the results of this method can
also be used to improve understanding of voiced velar fricative sounds.

D. Aim
The aim of this research is to introduce the voiced velar fricative sound in
Indonesia, especially in Were Village, Ngada Regency, NTT Province, considering
that the voiced velar fricative sound is very rarely found in everyday Indonesian
conversations.

Chapter II Discussion
A. Result
Based on data from interviews, the author found quite a lot of words that have a
voiced velar fricative sound. Here are the example of those words
Ghale, ghali, ghamo, gha’o, ghara, ghase, Ghedhe, ghela, Ghole, gholo, ghoma,
ghoro, Kagho, Magha, maghi and Pagho.

The table below shows the phonetic form and meaning of the words above.

ortography Phonetic meaning

transcription
Ghale [ɣɑle] Choose something
Ghali [ɣɑli] Feel disgusting for
something
Ghamo [ɣɑmo] Rinse something
Gha’o [ɣɑ’o] Carrying (a
child)/giving birth
Ghara [ɣaɼa] Invite someone to
do something
Ghase [ɣase] Squeeze, blend with
hand
Ghedhe [ɣəd’he] Shut up
Ghela [ɣəla] Turned the head to
look around
Ghole [ɣole] Tossing and turning
in sleep
Gholo [ɣole] Avoid something
Ghoma [ɣoma] usually followed by
the word ‘bholo’
which means can't
do anything else
Ghoro [ɣoro] Pull
Kagho [kaɣo] Encompass
Magha [mɑɣa] Think
Maghi [maɣi] Tobacco
Pagho [paɣo] Carry something

Chapter III conclusion

The voiced velar fricative sound is a consonant sound produced by vibrating the vocal
cords while creating friction between the back part of the tongue and the soft area at the
back of the roof of the mouth (the velum). In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA),
the symbol for the voiced velar fricative is /ɣ/.
Otherwise, This sound is relatively rare among languages, though it is found in some
languages, including Spanish, Arabic, and Kurdish, among others. In some languages, it
can be interchangeable with other sounds or might not exist at all. So,
From the presentation of the data above, the author can conclude that the Were
community indeed uses voiced velar fricative in their daily conversation which are rarely
find in Indonesia language. However, they don't know that the sound they use every day
is a voiced velar fricative sound. For this reason, it is necessary to re-examine this sound
in other areas to compare whether there are similarities between the voiced velar fricative
sound used in Were village and in other areas.