Universitas Putera Batam (UPB), Batam, Indonesia
Universitas Putera Batam (UPB), Batam, Indonesia
Universitas Putera Batam (UPB), Batam, Indonesia
English is not a one-to-one relationship between letters and pronunciation. There is mostly
no correspondence between written word and spoken word. English pronunciation
inconsistency made EFL learners erroneous while pronouncing. This phonology-based
study discussed the English pronunciation inconsistency qualitatively. It identified the
inconsistency of vowels and consonants pronounced in words and the areas of English
pronunciation inconsistency. This study applied Yule, Finegan, and Kelly’s theories. a is
sounded as /eɪ/ /ə/ /æ/ /ɑ:/ / :/ /I/ /ɒ/; e is sounded as /i:/ /e/ /ə/ /ɑ:/ /u:/; i is sounded as /
ʌI/ /I/ / :/ /ɑ:/; o is sounded as /əʊ/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ /ɑ:/ /ʊ/ /I/ /ə/ / :/ /wʌ/; and u is sounded as /jʊ/ /
ʌ/ /I/ /ə/ /e/ /ʊə/. c, d, g, j, n, p, s, t, w, x, y, z are pronounced inconsistently. c is sounded
as /s/ /tʃ/ /k/ /ʃ/; d is sounded as /d/ /dʒ/ /t/; g is sounded as /g/ /dʒ/ /f/; j is sounded
Corresponding Author:
as /dʒ/ /h/ /j/; n is sounded as /n/ /ŋ/; p is sounded as /p/ /f/; q is sounded as /k/; s
Ambalegin
is sounded as /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/; t is sounded as /t/ / / / / /tʃ/ /ʃ/; w is sounded as /w/ /ʊ/;
[email protected]
x is sounded as /ks/ /kʃ/ /ɡz/ /z/; y is sounded as /ə/ /i/ /ai/ /j/; and z is sounded as /
Received: 1 July 2019 z/ /ts/. The areas of inconstancy in English pronunciation occur in; same letter different
Accepted: 18 July 2019 sounds; same sound different letters; silent letters; and sound production with no letters.
Published: 31 July 2019
consonants, inconsistency, pronunciation, vowels
: Ambalegin and Tomi Arianto, (2019), “A Phonology-based Study: English Pronunciation Inconsistency” in Page 106
, KnE Social Sciences, pages 106–124. DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i19.4834
AICLL 2019
Air passes through different shapes of the mouth, and different positions of the tongue
and the lips, and the air streams relatively unblocked to narrow passages except at the
glottis; it is the vowels produced (Finegan as cited in Ambalegin & Suryani, 2018).
Lagefoged & Disner (2012) described that vowels are a production of sounds with
relatively little obstruction in the vocal tract. Based on the characteristics of the
articulation, there are three categories vowel sounds; closed vowel sounds /i:, ɪ, ʊ, u:/,
mid vowel sounds /e, ə, :, :/, and open vowel sounds /æ, ʌ, ɑ:, ɒ/.
The long and short vowels are important in English to distinct feature in the language.
Ship as /ʃip/ and sheep as /ʃi:p/ have different meaning because of different vowel
sound length. The long vowel is shown by a colon (McMahon, 2002).
There are some letters which are not pronounced in English words. Also vowels often
tend to be omitted in English. For instance, fruit is pronounced as /fru:t/ that there is no
i pronounced. Vowels are omitted in some contexts because some extended
following syllabic consonants /l, m, n/ in the syllable will absorb the vowel sound such as
gaggle as /gægl/, bottom as /bɒtm/, and important as /imp :tnt/.
All vowels are nasalized when air passes through the nose and through the mouth.
Nasalized vowels are indicated by a tilde (∼) that is marked above the vowels.
Finegan (2008) stated that in case the tongue starts in one place and glides to another
when a vowel sound is produced called diphthong. Kelly (2004) also mentioned that
diphthong is the combination of two vowels where tongue glides from one vowel
articulation to another vowel position. Based on the characteristics of the articulation,
three categories diphthong sounds; centering diphthongs /ɪə, ʊə, eə/, closing
diphthong ending in /ɪ/ (/eɪ, ɪ, aɪ/), and closing diphthong ending in /ʊ/ (/əʊ, aʊ/).
English does not really have triphthong because no phonemic sequence of three vowel
sounds occupies the same syllable in English. All components of a triphthong must
occur in the same syllable. Roach (2012) stated that English triphthongs have the most
complicated vowel sounds as they are difficult to be pronounced, and recognized. A
triphthong is the combination of three vowel sounds where tongue rapidly and
uninterruptedly moves away from first vowel articulation to another vowel position, then
to a third vowel. Roach (2012) listed the triphthongs with five close diphthongs with
schwa /ə/ eɪə (as in mayor, crayon), aɪə (as in choir, buyer), ɔɪə (as in loyal, royal), əʊə (as
in lower, mower), and aʊə (as in flower, coward).
English consonants have 24 phonemes. Consonants are sounds produced with a lot
of tightness in the mouth as air comes up from the lungs and gets squashed. The
consonants in English pronunciation is included in segmental phonemes (Low, 2015).
A consonant is pronounced by a partial or complete close of vocal tract (Finegan,
2015). Speech sound is able to be characterized based on the articulatory properties.
The consonants are described in three characteristics: voicing, place of articulation,
and manner of articulation (Low, 2015). Completely, Low (2015) described three term
labels describing the main characteristic.
It can be seen by distinguishing between /s/ and /z/. When /z/ and /s/ are pronounced,
the position of tongue within the mouth remains the same, but these sounds are
definitely different from the vibration in the larynx when pronounces /z/. It is called
voicing (Low, 2015).
Place of articulation shows the different sound because of the airstream in the lips,
oral cavity, nasal, pharynx and glottis (Low, 2015). Places of articulation; ,
, , , , , and can be seen the detail below
(Yule, 2014).
The sound is produced using upper (bi) and lower lips (labia) such as symbol [p]
(voiceless /p/), symbol [b] (voiced /b/) and symbol [m] (voiced /m/). Symbol [w]
is bilabial in , ,
The sound is produced using upper teeth and the lower lip such as symbol [f] ,
symbols [p] (voiceless /f/), and symbol [v] (voiced /v/) and , and
(the final sounds /f/ and /v/).
The tongue tip behind upper front teeth pronounces dental sound. Think and teeth are
voiceless dentals symbolized with theta /θ/. The, there, then, feather are voiced dental
symbolized with /ð/, usually called “eth.”
The sound is produced using front tongue on the alveolar ridge such as , , ,
and . /t, s/ are voiceless whereas /z, n, d/ are voiced. /l/ in and and /r/
in and is other alveolar.
Hard palate is behind the alveolar ridge, a hard part in the mouth roof. Front tongue and
hard palate produces palatals or alveo-palatals. She and church are voiceless palatals.
sh is symbolized as /ʃ/ and ch is symbolized as / /. Measure is voiced
Soft palate or velum is back in the mouth roof; beyond the hard palate. Back of the
tongue against the velum produces velars. A voiceless velar is symbolized as /k/ such
as and . A voiced velar is heard in , , and
symbolized as /g/. is represented by /ŋ/. /ŋ/ is nasal voiced velar because the air
flows through nasal cavity.
Glottal is pronounced with no tongue and other parts of the mouth actively. /h/ occurs
in . /h/ is voiceless glottal. Glottis is between vocal folds in larynx.
When the glottis opens and the air passes out of the mouth freely, /h/ is produced.
Stop or plosive experiences from blocking or stopping effect of the air stream
Phonemes /b, d, g, k, p, and t/ are pronounced by some stopping of the air stream and
letting it go unexpectedly.
The combination of stopping and some friction produces voiceless affricates /ʧ/ and voiced
affricates /ʤ/.
The position of velum is lowered and the air streams, and then finally flows out through
the nose to produce voiced nasals /m, n and ŋ/.
The air stream flows around the sides of the tongue as the tongue tip touches the
alveolar ridge. It is described as voiced liquids in /r/ and lateral voiced liquid /l/.
/f, v, , , s, z, ʃ, and ʒ/ are pronounced when the air stream is almost blocked and air is
pushed through the very narrow opening. Fricatives occur when there is a friction as the
air is pushed through.
The voiced glides are /w/ and /j/. They are also semi-vowels because they can act as
vowel /i/ and /ʊ/. Tongue glides to or from the vowels’ position when glide is
pronounced.
This study adapted the qualitative-descriptive method (Creswell, 2012). The object of the
research is the inconsistent sound patterns of the words. The English words represented
by phonetic symbols were the data to identify the pronunciation inconsistency. The data
were collected by applying the competence in identity method and non-participatory
technique (Sudaryanto, 2015). This study designed the adaptation of a referential identity
method (Sudaryanto, 2015) in conducting the analysis. This method was applied to
identify the relationship between letters and sounds which are produced inconsistently.
The English words that end < > or < > produce silent < > and < > such as
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < > such
as in the words .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words
etter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words
and
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words .
etter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < > such
as in the words
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < > such
as in the words and
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words and .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words ,
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words and Letter
< > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < > such as
in the words , .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >
such as in the words (not for )
Letter < > and < > will not be produced as a sound in a word such as
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets any consonants,
such as in .
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >,
such as in (not for the ).
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < }>
such as
and (not for ).
Letter < > will not be produced as a sound when letter < > meets letter < >,
especially in one syllable sound word. There are found in words such as ,
.
The tables show the sounds production represented by the letters in English words.
One letter can be produced by more than one sound, and one sound produced in
English words can be represented by more than one letter.
Table 1: Sound Production of Vowels.
1. The same letter of English alphabet does not always produce the same sound;
2. The same sound is not always produced by the same letter of English alphabet;
3. Some letters of English alphabet indicated in words are not produced as sounds;
4. The sound is produced where there is no letter of English alphabet; /j, w/.
[1] Ahmadi, M. R., & Gilakjani, A. P. (2011). Why is ponunciation so difficult to learn?
, (3), 74–83. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v4n3p74
[2] Ambalegin, & Arianto, T. (2018). English vowels and consonants mispronunciation of
the seventh president of Republic of Indonesia in his official English speeches and
its influencing factors.
, (2), 113–128. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.30743/ll.v2i2.
678
[3] Ambalegin, Suhardianto, & Kaprawi, N. (2017). Obstacles facing learners in speaking
English: Non-English teachers’ perspective, Putra Batam School.
, (1), 122. Retrieved from http://www.pertanika.upm.
edu.my/
[4] Ambalegin, & Suryani, M. S. (2018). Mother tongue affecting the English vowel
pronounciation of Batak Toba adults. In
(pp. 66, 80). Medan: KnE Social Sciences
& Humanities. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i4.1920
[5] Carter, R., & Nunan, D. (2001).
(1st ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
[6] Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). (3rd ed.).
United State of America: Thomson Learning.
[7] Creswell, J. W. (2012).
(4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education Inc.
[8] Finegan, E. (2008). (Fifth edit). United States of
America: Thomson Wadsworth.
[9] Finegan, E. (2015). (7th ed.). Stamford: Cengage
Learning.
[10] Gilakjani, A. P. (2016). English pronunciation instruction: A literature review.
, (1), 2. Retrieved from
www.ijreeonline.com
[11] Kelly, G. (2004). . England: Pearson Education Limited.
Retrieved from www.longman.com
[12] Kenworthy, J. (1987). . New York: Longman.
[13] Ladefoged, P. (2006). (5th ed.). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
[14] Ladefoged, P., & Disner, S. F. (2012). (3rd ed.). West Sussex:
Blacwell Publishing Ltd.