relation between them. Hodson, 2004; Pellegrino et al., 2009: 9. Hence, it can be stated as an approach that focuses on the recognition of speech sounds and its
relation in the phonological system. Besides, for the historical view, it uses library research for seeking the non-
phonological factors that might affect the occurrence of stop deletion in English. It also uncovers some theories related to the case of stop deletion and the relation
of orthography with the phenomenon of deletion. Altogether, these findings are obtained to explain the phenomenon of stop deletion that occurs in English words.
C. Method of the Study
The method of the study section is split into two sub sections. The first is data collection while the second is data analysis. In data collection, there is a
specification for the organization, categorization or treat for collecting data. Meanwhile, in data analysis, the steps of analysis for conducting the data are
clarified and exemplified. The analyses are made based on problems of the study that will be answered in the fourth chapter.
1. Data Collection
For data collection, this study is primarily relied on the dictionary as the main source of the data. In this case, all data are taken from Longman
Pronunciation Dictionary . To make ease the operation of collecting the data, the
softcopy version of the LPD is the one that is used foremostly for gaining the data. The main concern here is the deletion i.e. sound muting or letter silencing that
deals with stop in the consonant cluster.
The words containing stop deletion to be collected for this study are selected based on these following criteria.
a. It is one sound deletion which takes place in the consonant cluster on the
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. The deletion is clarified from the
phonetic transcription provided next to the word on the dictionary. The reason for taking this deletion is related to the first research question dealing
with the classification of types of stop deletion. In this respect, the examination of the data is in the alphabetical order from the letter A to Z.
b. It is the deletion in the one-word utterance provided on the dictionary. The
reason of doing this is to reduce word duplication in collecting the data. Since this study focused more on the phonology, the sound which is
precisely the same will not be counted for the data. As the result of the selected criteria above, the population data of the study
is in the form of one word utterance with one sound deletion in the consonant cluster. There are 581 words to be analyzed in this study. The data represented are
all the obtainable data of stop deletion in consonant clusters from the initial letter from A to Z of Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.
In this step, the number was set in the list based on the classification of sound deletion. In particular, the researcher categorized them based on the
phonological classification of stops. They are voiced oral stop deletion b-, d-, g- deletion, voiced oral stop deletion p-, t-, k-deletion, and nasal stop deletion m-
and n-deletion. This leading classification was done to make ease the examination of each sound in one classification. That is, in every category, they
were sorted in the alphabetical order in accordance with the list in the data obtained from the dictionary The list of words is attached in Appendix 1.
In this extent, the phonetic transcriptions were copied and organized on the right of the word. If there was a difference of the stop deletion among the
pronunciations, the distinctive words would be text-highlighted to mark the data. Next, the intended letter of stop deletion in the word was bolded to signify the
deletion in the pronunciation. This manner would be done consistently for this thesis to show and to clarify the position of the stop deletion.
The next step, to find more accurate data, the collected data were rechecked again to make sure all stop deletions were covered up in the appropriate set and
were not left out for the analysis. In this step, the data were checked in terms of its appropriateness of deletion i.e. stop deletion, the correctness of stop
classification, and the presence of the consonant cluster for the deletion. Accordingly, the words and pronunciations were reexamined to confirm whether
there was a word which is not highlighted yet or if there is a word which is apparently excluded for the stop deletion. e.g. the deletion is not on stops or not
in the consonant cluster. Then, the excluded data would be omitted and the same cycle was done once again to verify the data collected. Also, if there were some
words required ascertainment, the words would be rechecked in the LPD. In line with data collection above, the occurrence of 581 stop deletion in the
consonant cluster of English words were obtained. Looking ahead, they are presented in the form of table according to the phonological classification the stop
deletion. The list number of each deletion can be seen in Table 5 below.
Table 5.
List of Stop Deletion found for the Research No
Stop Deletion Number of Deletion
1. the stop b deletion
112 words 2.
the stop d deletion 16 words
3. the stop g deletion
136 words 4.
the stop p deletion 116 words
5. the stop tdeletion
93 words 6.
the stop k deletion 97 words
7. the stop m deletion
2 words 8.
the stop n deletion 9 words
Total 581 words
In this table, there are 581 words of data collected for this study. They consist of stop deletion b-, d-, g-, p-, t-, k-, m-, and n-deletion. The number of
deletions in the third column represents the occurrence of the deletion in each category. Thus, for this thesis, there are 112 occurrences of b-deletion, 16
occurrences of d-deletion, 136 occurrences of g-deletion, 116 occurrences of p- deletion, 93 occurrences of t-deletion, 97 occurrences of k-deletion, 2 occurrences
of m-deletion, and 9 occurrences of n-deletion in the orthographical consonant
clusters of English words.
2. Data Analysis
