The purpose of this study is to analyze errors in the pronunciation of Korean consonants by native English speakers and examine the patterns of errors in the Interlanguage theory.
There are several theoretical approaches to dealing with second langua...
The purpose of this study is to analyze errors in the pronunciation of Korean consonants by native English speakers and examine the patterns of errors in the Interlanguage theory.
There are several theoretical approaches to dealing with second language (L2) learner's errors. One of these approaches is the framework of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, which plays an important role in explaining inter-phonology, within which most research on phonological aspects of second language acquisition has been conducted. The hypothesis fails to describe which types of phonological processes of native language (L1) interferes with learning L2 and which types do not. Thus, the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis fails to fulfill one of the main concerns in L2 acquisition to identify what types of phonological processes of L1 interfere in learning L2. This article aims to identify the types of Korean phonological processes to which native English speakers apply English phonological rules and commit errors.
Previous studies on Korean pronunciation by foreigners and the theoretical background of the Interlanguage theory are discussed in the first chapter.
In the second chapter, the consonants systems of the Korean and English languages are compared focusing on Korean consonants that do not exist in English and the consonants that exist in both languages but are articulated differently.
The third chapter defines pronunciation rules related to Korean consonants and describes how English pronunciation rules differ from Korean pronunciation rules. Rules discussed include neutralization of syllable-final consonants, resyllabification of final consonants followed by vowels, ‘h’ weakening, aspiration of neutral consonants before and after ‘h’, nasal assimilation and liquid assimilation.
In the forth chapter, native English speakers’ pronunciation of Korean consonants were recorded and their errors were analyzed using the Interlanguage theory. Based on what was discussed in the previous chapters, the words and sentences which the native English speakers have difficulties in pronouncing were selected. Thirteen native English speakers of three different levels: five beginners, four intermediate learners and four advanced learners read these selected words and sentences. Their pronunciation was recorded on a voice recorder and three Korean teachers transcribed their errors.
Rules that the native English speakers have most difficulties with are neutralization of syllable-final consonants, resyllabification of final consonants followed by vowels, aspiration of neutral consonants before and after ‘h’ and nasal assimilation. Among these rules, neutralization and resyllabification are well known to the learners but still give many troubles. 37.5% of the beginners pronounced each syllable of the words without resyllabification of final consonants followed by vowels. However, 37.5% of the intermediate learners neutralized the final consonants and then resyllabified the consonants to the following vowels such as ‘ip.mas.i [*ip.mat.si]’ and ‘sim.əss.ə.yo [*sim.ət.ssə.yo]’. Of the advanced level, 65.6% pronounced neutralization and resyllabification correctly.
As for nasal assimilation, even the advanced level learners make the mistake of not applying assimilation rules and pronounce the words as they are written. This is because in English, nasal assimilation is not applied in the same environment as in Korean. The Korean language does not allow any consonant clusters. Therefore, the Sonority Sequencing Principle is applied when two consonants are adjacent between empty nuclei unlike English in which SSP is applied to the consonant clusters in the onset or coda positions. To satisfy SSP, the Korean language has an inter-onset government, C1 ≧ C2, where resonance of C1 has to be the same or greater than that of C2. This results in assimilating stops to nasals. However, many English speaking learners pronounce it as it is written, without the assimilation, due to the interference of English which does not have any inter-onset government as in Korean. Only 8.3% of the beginners pronounced nasal assimilation correctly and even at the advanced level, 52.1 % pronounced them correctly.
When English speaking learners pronounce Korean words including nasal and plosive consonants combination with different places of articulation, they make the error of assimilating the place of articulation as shown in ‘/im.kɨm/ [*in.kɨm] and ‘/ɛŋ.du/ [*ɛn.du]’. This is also caused by the interference of the English phonological rules assimilating the place of the articulation of the nasal and plosive consonants. This is very similar to the Korean nasal assimilation rule interfering with Koreans’ pronunciation of English. Koreans make errors assimilating stops to nasals as in ‘good morning [*gunmɔ:rniŋ]’ and ‘book marker [*buŋmɑ:rkər]’.
This study was performed in an artificial environment and did not cover suprasegmental elements such as intonation and accent. In the future, a better study of the errors of Korean consonants pronunciation by native English speakers with experiments which include various groups and in actual communication environments needs to be performed.
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