Limited understanding on phonetic makes students faces difficulties in study the target language. Students might produce the wrong sentence or
pronounce the wrong words because of this lack. Sahulata 1988: 1 stated that to students of a language, the practical study on phonetics helps them to know the
correct sounds of the target language. The knowledge of phonetic is important for students of a foreign language because it will make them easier to correct the
wrong pronunciation when they have known the correct sounds of the language. The study of phonetic also helps students of the second language learner to have a
better pronunciation in the target language. Students will get accustomed to the correct sounds and the correct articulations of the sounds. More practices on the
correct sounds and correct articulations will decrease the errors in the pronunciation. By the decreasing of the errors, students will be able to speak
clearer and more correct.
d. Description and Classification of Speech Sounds
Speech sound is one of the successions of sounds. Speech sounds are certain acoustic voluntarily produced by the organ of speech; they are the result of
define actions performed by these organs Jones, 1987: 1. There are two classes of speech-sounds called vowel and consonant. The distinction between vowel and
consonant is not an arbitrary psychological condition, but more on the relative sonority or carrying power of the various sounds Jones, 1987: 23. Some sounds
are more sonorous than the other that differentiates one word to another. Daniel Jones 1987: 29 – 48 classified the English speech sounds.
xxxvii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
1 Vowel
A vowel is sound which is made without any kind of closure to escape of air through the mouth Syafei, 1988: 11. There are 12 vowels in English
according to the International Phonetic Alphabet. International Phonetic Alphabet is the symbols that are used to represent the pronunciation of English in most
good dictionaries Poedjosoedarmo, 2003: 18. There are two kinds of vowel, they are short and long vowels. Short
vowels are like ɪ, e, æ,
Λ
, and ʊ. Long vowels are like i:, :, u:. Long vowels do not normally occur in a syllable closed by
ŋ Indriani, 2003: 57. Short vowels may occur in all positions in the word, including the syllable
ŋ or other words behind the short vowel.
2 Consonant
A consonant is the speech sound which is produced with some kind of closure in the mouth, restricting the escape of air Syafei, 1988: 16. There are 24
consonants according to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
3 Gliding Vowel or Diphthong
The word diphthong comes from Greek di two + phthongos sound. This indicates that there are two vowels, that is, the initial and final vowels Wise,
1985: 95. In brief, an English diphthong has been defined as two vowels pronounced in quick, unbroken succession within a syllable, and connected by a
gliding series or related sounds Wise, 1985: 95. A diphthong or gliding vowel is a sound composed of two vowels
pronounced in close succession within the limits of a syllable Syafei, 1988: 13.
xxxviii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Some people do not consider oʊ as a diphthong, because it is included in the long vowel u: Indriani, 2003: 88. According to the International Phonetic
Alphabet there are 8 typical of English diphthongs, but in America the ones most used are [aɪ, aʊ, eɪ, oʊ, ɪ
ə] Wise, 1958: 96. All of the diphthongs most spoken in America are the raising diphthongs.
e. Teaching Pronunciation
