Lenition and Fortition The Types of English Sound Change of ELESP Students of Victory

41 The table 4.1 represents some English words that underwent Lenition sound change in the participants’ pronunciation. Since Lenition and fortition deal with strong or weak sounds, Crowley 1992 gives explanation on how some sounds can be defined as strong or weak. “The generalizations that can be made regarding these correspondences are that voiced sounds can be considered ‘stronger’ than voiceless sound. Similarly, stops rank higher than continuants in strength; consonants are higher than semi-vowels; oral sounds are higher in rank than glottal sounds; and front and back vowels rank higher than central vowels.” p. 39. Goes from this definion, the researcher found that there were some words categorized as weaking sounds, syncope, cluster reduction, and haplology in the participants’ pronunciation. The first classification of Lenition is the process of weakening the sound. Crowley 1992 states that stops rank higher than continuants in strength. This process can be seen in the changing of [θ] sound became [t] sound as happened in the word path [pa: θ]  [pet], theories [θɪərɪz]  [teorɪz], and [f] sound became [p] sound as happened in the word telephone [telɪf əʊn]  [telepon]. Other examples were the changing of front and back vowels into central vowels. Crowley has mentioned earlier that front and back vowels rank higher than central vowels. This can be seen in this example, the [æ] sound changed into [ ə] sound in the word accurate [ækj ərət][əkʊrət] and [ɒ] sound became [ʌ] in the words common [kɒm ən]  [kʌmon] and example [ɪgza:mpl] [eksʌmpl]. Last example of weakening sound was the changing of [z] sound into [s] sound and [ð] 42 sound into [t] sound as happend in the words desire [dɪzaɪ ə ʳ]  [dɪsaər] and without [wɪðaʊt]  [witaʊt]. These changes frequently occured in the participants’ pronunciation because of simplification. Participants found it easier to pronounce the sound in which they were familiar with such as [t] sound instead of [θ] sound and [d] sound instead of [ð] sound. Yulia and Ena 2004 mention that sounds such as [θ], [æ], [ɒ], [a:] and [ð], did not exist in Indonesian sound system, and the other sound like [z] was allophonic. The second types of lenition was syncope. The researcher found that there were nine words that underwent this changing of losing vowels in the middle of a word. They were desire [dɪzaɪ ə ʳ]  [dɪsaər] and pronunciation [prənʌnsɪeɪʃn] [pronʌnʃeʃ ən] which lost the vowel [ɪ] in the middle of the word. Yulia and Ena 2004 mention in their research that some diphthongs such as [ɪ ə] and [eɪ] did not exist in Indonesian sound system. Speakers have the tendency to shorten diphthongs and make them into monothongs because they are accustumed to a limited set of diphthogs. This process can be seen in the losing of [a] sound in the word identify [aɪdentɪfaɪ]  [ɪdentɪfaɪ], and applied [ əplaɪd] [əplɪd]. The diphthong [ɪ ə] was being shorten into [ə] sound as in the word appears [əpɪə ʳz]  [ əpərs], and the diphthong [eɪ] was being shorthen into [e] sound as happend in thw word cases [keɪsɪz]  [kesɪz], combination [kɒmbɪneɪʃn] 43 [kombineʃn], information [ɪnf əmeɪʃn]  [info ʳmeʃn], and native [neɪtɪv]  [netɪv]. The third type of lenition was cluster reduction. In this research, the reseacher found thirtheen words that underwent five cases of cluster reduction. They first case was the reduction of [t] sound at the end of the words such as can’t [kʌnt] [ken], don’t [dəʊnt]  [don], first [fɜ:st]  [fə ʳs], just [ʤʌst] [ʤʌs], won’t [wəʊnt]  [won], and most [məʊst] [mos]. The second case was reduction of [t] sound in the middle of the word as happened in the word France [fra:nts]  [frens]. The third one was the reduction of [g] sound in the middle of the words such as English [ɪ ŋglɪʃ]  [ɪŋlɪs], language [læŋgwɪʤ] [leŋwɪʤ], and linguists [lɪ ŋgwɪsts]  [lɪŋwɪts]. The forth case was the reduction of [s] sound in the middle of the word such as linguists [lɪ ŋgwɪsts]  [lɪŋwɪts]. The fifth case was the reduction of [d] sound at the end of the words for example mastered [ma:st ə ʳd]  [mastər], Sound [saʊnd]  [soʊn], and second [sekənd] [sek ən]. According to Swan and Smith 2001 Indonesian words cannot end in voiced stops [t], [d], [g], and fricatives [v], [z], [s]. Students are likely to drop those sounds at the end of words especially after other consonants. As the result, the deletion eased participants to pronunce those words. The examples were found in this research such as the reduction of [t] sound at the end of the word can’t [kʌnt] [ken], don’t [dəʊnt]  [don], first [fɜ:st]  [f ə ʳs], just [ʤʌst] [ʤʌs], won’t [wəʊnt]  [won], and most [məʊst] 44 [mos]. It happened again in the reduction of [d] sound at the end of the word mastered [ma:st ə ʳd]  [mastər], sound [saʊnd]  [soʊn], and second [sekənd] [sek ən]. Moreover, Yulia and Ena 2004 stated that Indonesian speakers tend to delete or drop a sound in a cluster because they are not familiar with the sequence or the combination. The sequence such as [ ŋ], and [g] which followed by liquid [l], [r], [w], [j], is a weird combination in Indonesian. Therefore, they often drop the [g] sound as happened in the word English [ɪ ŋglɪʃ]  [ɪŋlɪs], language [læ ŋgwɪʤ] [leŋwɪʤ], and linguists [lɪŋgwɪsts]  [lɪŋwɪts]. The second type of sound change discussed in this part is Fortition. The researcher found that there were twelve words that underwent seven fortition cases. They were illustrated in the table 4.2 below. Table 4.2 The Words Classified as fortition. Types of Sound Change Words Oxford Dictionary Longman Dictionary Student s’ Pronunciation Fortition Accurate [ækj ərət] [ækj ərət] [ əkʊrət] Common [kɒm ən] [kɒm ən] [kʌmon] Can’t [kʌnt] [kʌnt] [ken] Forget [f əget] [f əget] [forget] Individuals [ɪndɪvɪʤʊ əlz] [ɪndɪvɪʤʊ əlz] [ɪndɪvɪdʊal] Information [ɪnf əmeɪʃn] [ɪnf əmeɪʃn] [info ʳmeʃn] Pronunciation [pr ənʌnsɪeɪʃn] [prənʌnsɪeɪʃn] [pronʌnʃeʃən] Recognize [rek əgnaɪz] [rek əgnaɪz] [rekonaɪz] Their [ðe ə ʳ] [ðe ə ʳ] [deɪ ʳ] Theories [θɪərɪz] [θɪərɪz] [teorɪz] Young [jʌ ŋ] [jʌ ŋ] [jo ŋ] Work [wɜ:k] [wɜ:k] [wo ʳk] 45 Table 4.2 represents the words that underwent fortition sound change. According to Crowley 1992 fortition refers to sound changes from weaker to stronger sounds, such as semi-vowels into consonants. In this research, the researcher found seven cases of fortition that exerienced the strenghtening sound from central vowels into front and back vowels. They were [ ə]  [a], [ə]  [ʊ], [ ə]  [o], [ʌ]  [o], [ʌ]  [e], [ɜ]  [o], and [ə]  [ɪ], The first up to the fourth fortition were the changing of scwa vowel [ ə]  [a] as in the word individuals [ɪndɪvɪʤʊ əlz]  [ɪndɪvɪdʊal], [ə]  [ʊ] as in accurate [ækj ərət] [əkʊrət], [ə]  [o] as in common [kɒmən] [kʌmon], forget [f əget] [forget], information [ɪnfəmeɪʃn]  [info ʳmeʃn], pronunciation [pr ənʌnsɪeɪʃn]  [pronʌnʃeʃən], recognize [rekəgnaɪz]  [rekonaɪz], theories [θɪərɪz] [teorɪz]. According to Yulia and Ena 2004 this changes happpen because the speakers are having difficulties in pronouncing the ‘neutral’ schwa vowel [ə]. The speakers tend to stress the syllable containing schwa, hence resulting erroneus sounds. Based on the previous research, the researcher mentioned that some Papuan speakers are having difficulies in pronouncing the schwa vowel because the sound is rarely exist in their sound system. The other three fortition cases were the changing of [ʌ]  [e] as in the word can’t [kʌnt] [ken], [ʌ]  [o] as in the word young [jʌŋ] [joŋ], [ɜ]  [o] as in the work [wɜ:k]  [wo ʳk], and [ə]  [ɪ] as in their [ðeəʳ]  [deɪʳ]. In 46 this process of sound change the researcher found that the there were two possible causes. First, because it was assumed as the same word with the root of the word and second, because the students were influenced by the word spelling as it was in Indonesian. Yulia and Ena 2004 mention as well that some errors are attributed to inappropriate analogy. For instance, participants pronounce can’t as [ken] because of the analogy from can. Therefore, Indonesian spellings, which congruent w ith the pronunciation, may influence the speakers’ way of pronouncing English words. In this research it happened in the word young [jʌ ŋ]  [jo ŋ], work [wɜ:k]  [wo ʳk], and their [ðeəʳ] [deɪʳ].

2. Sound Addition

Sound addition refers to the process of adding sound in a word. This includes excrescence, epenthesis and prothesis. Excrescence refers to the process by which a consonant is added between two other consonants in a word. Meanwhile, epenthesis is used to describe the change by which a vowel is added in the middle of a word to break up two consonants in a cluster and, prothesis is another term used to refer a particular type of sound addition at the beginning of a word Crowley, 1992, p. 44-45. Based on the definition above, the researcher only found one type of sound addition that was epenthesis and it happened in two words. 47 Table 4.3 The Words Classified as Sound Addition Types of Sound Change Words Oxford Dictionary Longman Dictionary Students’ Pronunciation Sound Addition Epenthesis Several [sevr əl] [sevr əl] [several] Listening [lɪsnɪ ŋ] [lɪsnɪ ŋ] [lɪs ənɪŋ] Epenthesis is known as the process of adding sound in a middle of a word in order to break up the two consonants cluster. This change therefore produces syllables of CV i.e. consonant plus vowel which illustrating the common tendency for languages to avoid consonant clusters and final consonants. Crowley, 1992, p. 45. To overcome the difficulty in pronouncing the consonant clusters, students inserted the vowel sound to break up the cluters. This was supported as well by the statement of Yulia and Ena 2004 which say that speakers tend to insert a sound to conform to the phonotactic constraints. As happened in the word several [sevr əl] the speaker inserted a vowel to relax the consonant cluster [vr] to become [several], as well as in the word listening [lɪsnɪ ŋ] became [lɪsənɪŋ].

3. Fusion

Fusion is a type of sound change in which two originally separate sounds become a single sound. The resulting single sound carries some of the phonetic features of both of the original sounds Crowley 1992, p. 46. This research found two cases of fusion that happened in nine words. 48 Table 4. 4 The Words Classified as Fusion Types of Sound Change Words Oxford Dictionary Longman Dictionary Students’ Pronunciation Fusion Also [ɔ:ls əʊ] [ɔ:ls əʊ] [olso] About [ əbaʊt] [ əbaʊt] [ əbot] Don’t [d əʊnt] [d əʊnt] [don] Noticed [n əʊtisd] [n əʊtisd] [notais] Only [ əʊnlɪ] [ əʊnlɪ] [onlɪ] Progress [pr əʊgres] [pr əʊgres] [progres] Spoken [sp əʊkən] [sp əʊkən] [spok ən] Telephone [telɪf əʊn] [telɪf əʊn] [telepon] Won’t [w əʊnt] [w əʊnt] [won] Table 4.4 shows nine words that underwent two cases of blending two separate sounds to become a single sound. When two sounds are changed to bcome one in the process of fusion, some of the features of one sound and some of the features of the other sound are taken and a new sound is produced that is different from both, yet which also shares some features of both of the original sound Crowley, 1992, p. 47. Based on the definition given by Crowley, the researcher found two examples in this research. First, the mid central vowel [ ə] was blended with high back rounded vowel [ʊ] and produced the mid back rounded vowel [o] as in also [ɔ:ls əʊ]  [olso], don’t [dəʊnt]  [don], noticed [nəʊtisd] [notais], only [əʊnlɪ] [won], progress [pr əʊgres]  [progres], spoken [spəʊkən]  [spokən], telephone [telɪf əʊn] [telepon], and won’t [wəʊnt]  won]. Second, the low back rounded vowel [a] blended with high back rounded vowel [ʊ] and produced mid back rounded [o] as in about [ əbaʊt] 