Object of the Study Type of Research

45 every p in the Nataia is always the onset of a syllable and thus always aspirated. The same rule applies to the phonemes t, and k of Nataia. Next, comes the issue of distribution. English and Nataia are very different in the distribution of their phonemes. The difference is detected most clearly in the formation of their syllables. A syllable of Nataia is composed simply of one consonant and one vowel CV type or just one vowel V type. Take the word mona ‘negation’ as an example. The first syllable of mona is mo- CV and the second syllable is -na which is also of CV type. On the opposite side, English allows various types of combinations of consonants and vowels. Edward Finegan 2004: 127, provides examples of the rich combinations in such words as past CVCC, turned CVCCC, queen CCVC, and squirts CCCVCCC. As to the suprasegmental phonemes, the two languages are also very different. Stress in English, for instance, is to a limited extent phonemic. Stannard Allen 1954: 182 provides a long list of English words in which stress can be on the first or on the second syllable. Examples: This article is for export only noun. We try to ex port as much as possible verb. In the Nataia, stress which is not phonemic can practically be assigned on just any syllable, although the general rule is that the stress is assigned on the syllable before the last penultimate stress. 2. Comparison of units Lado advises a contrastive analyst to take up each similar phoneme of the two languages and put them side by side. By way of juxtaposition, an analyst can detect how many phonemes of the two languages are phonetically similar. The present writer found out that theconsonant phonemesof English and Nataia are generally similar. What is specific of Nataia is that the local language has three implosive sounds, i.e., 46 bilabial implosive β, alveolar implosive ɗ, and velar implosive ğ, plus one alveolar fricativeřand one velar fricativeɣ.On the oppositeside, English has six characteristic sounds: two interdentals i.e., [ð] and [θ], two fricatives i.e., [ʃ] and [ʒ], and two affricates i.e., [ʤ] and [ʧ] in its inventory. 3. Location of segmental and suprasegmental problems The six characteristic English sounds: interdentals [ð] and [θ], fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ], and affricates [ʤ] and [ʧ] prove to pose great pronunciation problems for a Nataia speaker learning English phonology. The problem gets even worse because stress and rhythm turn out to be another potential hurdle. The reason is that stress in Nataia is not phonemic, while in English it is to a limited extent phonemic, i.e it can differentiate words. Rhythm poses a bigger problem because Nataia is a syllabe-timed language and English is a stress-timed language. The length of an utterance in Nataia depends on the number of syllables, whereas the length of an utterance in English depends entirely on the number of its stressed-syllables. The logical consequence is that a Nataia speaker finds it difficult to adapt to the rhythmic patterns of English and tend to speak the foreign language with a syllable-timed rhythm. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI