Production and Perception Problems of English Dental Fricatives by Yoruba Speakers of English as a Second Language
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| Title | Production and Perception Problems of English Dental Fricatives by Yoruba Speakers of English as a Second Language |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | Pronunciation is one aspect of language that cannot be easily mastered by a second language user, especially after the age of puberty. This paper discusses the difficulties involved in adult learners of a second language. The emphasis is on Yoruba learners of English as second language, with particular reference to the production of the dental fricatives /ѳ/ and /δ/, which are non-existent in Yoruba language phonology. It is opined that only young children who are ten years or under can truly master the intricacies of a second language, including its phonology. This study, used an unobtrusive observation method as a classroom teacher, complemented by an empirical study. The researcher watched and listened several times to adult student-teachers in their speech behavior. This led to the design of a special passage given to the teacher-trainees by the researcher and was analyzed through frequency counts, to confirm the unobtrusive observations. It was discovered that although there may be production problem on the part of Yoruba speakers of English as a second language, there seems to be no perception problem as mutual intelligibility is still attained, notwithstanding the mispronunciation of these sounds. The study’s conclusion is that with the widespread of English globally, variations, especially in pronunciation, are bound to occur, and as long as such variations do not border on unintelligibility, either locally or internationally, they remain part of world’s Englishes. |
| Publisher | ACADEMY PUBLISHER |
| Date | 2012-06-01 |
| Source | Theory and Practice in Language Studies Vol 2, No 6 (2012) |
| Rights | Copyright © ACADEMY PUBLISHER - All Rights Reserved.To request permission, please check out URL: http://www.academypublisher.com/copyrightpermission.html. |