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performs much better in public and is well-versed in the use of traditional proverbs and sayings. Additionally, an e l o q u e n t speaker usually a n e l d e r l y
m a n f rom a high caste referred to as mosalaki is very familiar with the traditions and customary laws of the ethnic group.
The special position of an eloquent speaker clearly indicates that traditional proverbs and sayings also play a decisive role in the preservation of the language
and the culture of Nataia people. An eloquent speaker usually takes advantage of Oko Utu, a forum in which all the members of an extended family of Nataia
get together, to remind the p a r t i c i p a n t s to remain faithful to the value system of their community. The powerful instrument of an eloquent speaker i n
t h e f a m i l y f o r u m is the traditional proverbs and sayings which contain highly appreciated values such as “trust and listen to God, respect for parents,
monogamy, cooperation, friendship, hard work, the need for a precautionary measure, etc”. All these values are neatly hidden within the traditional proverbs
and sayings which have been handed down only orally for generations. Oral communication needs to be given a special emphasis here because an eloquent
speaker puts all these values across by way of ‘the sounds and sound patterns’ of the local language. To put it in another way, he makes wise use of the power
of the phonetic and phonological systems of the Nataia to preserve the language and perpetuate the value system of the small local community.
It is certainly a relief for an eloquent speaker of Nataia to realize now that the responsibility for preserving the local language is beginning to be shared with the
global linguistic community. Indeed, the present work is expected to pave the way towards more serious efforts by various interested parties to preserve the unique
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local language in its written form, starting now with the preliminary study of Nataia phonology.
2.1.4 English Articulatory Phonetics
A comparison and contrast of English and Nataia phonology needs appropriate theories that describe the speech sounds in the two languages: how
they are produced and articulated; how they fall into patterns and change in different circumstances; and most importantly, what aspects of the sounds are
necessary for conveying the meaning. Ladefoged, 2005: 1 Anybody who wants to answer the above questions has no other choice but
to go to the phonetic and phonological theories. Phonetics is concerned with descriptions of speech sounds that occur in languages, of course, including
English and Nataia. Actually, the first step one should take is to find out what English and Nataia people are doing when they are talking and listening to speech.
Fortunately, in the case of English phonology, a large number of phoneticians - Daniel Jones 1938, Ladefoged 1993, Giegerich 1992, Poole 1999, Aitchison
2003 and Collins and Mees 2003 just to mention a few - have agreed to divide the segmental sounds of the language into two types i.e., vowels and consonants.
2.1.4.1 English Vowels
According to noted phoneticians such as Aitchison 2010, English vowels comprise pure vowels as in bit, bet, bat, but and diphthongs in which the voice
glides from one vowel to another, as in boat, buy, and bay. However, the language scholar also explains, both a pure vowel and a diphthong share one common
feature i.e., their articulations do not involve any audible obstruction of the air-stream. Differences between these vowels, he argues, are simply due to the
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raising of different parts of the tongue as well as the extent of the raising. As an example, [i] and [u] are different because [u] is a back vowel, one which is
produced with the back of the tongue raised, whereas [i] is a front vowel which is produced with the front of the tongue raised.
There is another important criterion in the classification of vowels i.e., how wide is the mouth open. The vowels [a] and [ɑ] , for instance, have one common
feature i.e., they are produced with the mouth wide open. In other words, there is a maximum distance between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. This is a
difference in height. Thus, [i] and [u] are high vowels and [a] and [ɑ] are low vowels.
The four vowel sounds, Giegerich 1992 explains, represent the extreme points of the principal dimensions of vowel articulation: height and backness.
Thus, [i] is a high front vowel, [u] a high back vowel, [a] a low front vowel and [ɑ] a low back vowel. If the the height of [i]-[a] scale is divided into four points that
are of equal distance, Giegerich argues, there will be four vowels that can be symbolized as [i] - [e] - [ɛ] -[a] in the vowel diagram.
For the back series, Giegerich 1992 maintains, one may fill in the corresponding intermediate vowels as [o] and [ɔ], so that [u]-[o]-[ɔ]-[a] represent
the set of back reference vowels. This system of reference vowels is known as the Cardinal Vowels Scale CV Scale devised by the English phonetician
Daniel Jones. In addition, Stuart Poole 1999 explains, vowels made with an open mouth cavity, with the tongue far away from the roof of the mouth, such
as æ in trap and ɑ: in palm are termed open vowels. If the upper tongue PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
