Aspiration Vowel Reduction Nataia Phonological Processes

68 The six characteristic sounds of English L2 above prove to be ‘unknown’ to the speakers of Nataia L1. Unknown sounds, Flege 1987 argues, are new phones in L2 which have no counterparts in L1. The presence of these ‘unknown’ sounds, Flege asserts, is a big challenge for native speakers of L1 who are learning English phonology. Firstly, native speakers of L1 speakers of Nataia will find it difficult to pronounce these sounds correctly. Secondly, in an effort to surmount the difficulty, native speakers of Nataia tend to apply their native phonetic system to compensate for the ‘unknown’ sounds, resulting in ‘pronunciation errors’. CA proponents refer to these pronunciation errors as clear indications of the first language L1 interference. In order to get a clearer picture of L1 Nataia phonological interference, recently the writer asked Junita Ia 20 and Maria Lali 19 to pronounce 18 English words containing the six L2 English‘unknown sounds’. The pronunciations of the two Nataia girls who are now taking up non-English programs in two different universities in Yogyakarta, were recorded and subsequently analyzed. The data indicator words used for the recording are thin, author, breath, then, leather, breathe, shin, rashes, rush, genre, measure, rouge, church, kitchen, pitch, jelly, bludgeon, and fudge. These words contain [θ], [ð], [ʃ],[ʒ], [tʃ] and [dʒ] in three different positions. Following is the table of distribution of the six English sounds that are ‘unknown’ to Nataia speakers. 69 Table 4.20 Sounds Unknown To Nataia Speakers Finegan, 2004 : 85. It turned out that the two young Nataia informants failed to pronounce correctly all the six ‘unknown’ sounds in three different positions. They substituted θ in the initial, medial and final positions with [t], thus, θɪn tɪn, ᴐ:θər ᴐ:tər and brɛθ brɛt. They pronounced ð in the initial and medial position as [d], thus ðɛn dɛn, lɛðɛr lɛdɛr. In the final position, [ð] turned into [s], thus bri:ð bri:s. They pronounced [ʃ] in all the three positions as [s], thus ʃɪn sɪn, ræʃɪs ræsis and rʌʃ rʌs. In all the three positions, [ʒ] was pronounced as [z], thus ʒʌŋrəzʌŋrə, mɛʒə mɛzɛ and ru:ʒ ru:z. In all the three positions, [tʃ] was pronounced as [c], thus tʃə:tʃ cə:c, kɪtʃən kɪcən, and pɪtʃ pɪc. Finally, [dʒ] was pronounced as [j], thus dʒɛlɪ jɛlɪ, blɑdʒən blajən, and fʌdʒ fʌj. The present writer considers it necessary to make an analysis of the phonetic representations of each incorrect pronunciation. The phonetic representations refer to the results of transferring abstract sounds in the speakers’ minds into real sounds in the pronunciations.

1. Voiceless Dental Fricative Consonant θ

The two informants did not produce the sound θ correctly. The description of the change of consonant θ is as follows: Sounds Initial Position Medial Position Final Position θ ð ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ thin θɪn then ðen shin ʃɪn genre ʒʌŋre churchtʃə:tʃ jelly dʒelɪ author ᴐ:θər leatherleðer rashes ræʃɪz measuremeʒə kitchenkitʃən bludgeon blɑdʒən breath breθ breathe bri:ð rush rʌʃ rougeru:ʒ pitch pɪtʃ fudgefʌdʒ 70 a. θ [t] V , as is seen in the word thin θɪn which is pronounced as tɪn. Consonant θ becomes [t] in the environment before a vowel in the word thin. In other words, θ changes into t in the initial position before a vowel. b. θ [t] V V, as is seen in the word authorᴐ:θər which is pronounced as ᴐ:tər. Consonant θ becomes [t] in the environment between vowels in the word author. In other words, θ becomes [t] between vowels in the medial position. c. θ [t] V as is seen in the word breath breθ which is pronounced as bret. Consonant θ becomes [t] in the environment after a vowel in the word breath. In other words, θ becomes [t] after a vowel in the final position.

2. Voiced Dental Fricative Consonant ð

The two informants failed to produce the sound ð correctly. The description of how the consonant ð changes is as follows: a. ð [d] V, as is seen in the word then ðɛn which is pronounced as den. ð becomes d in the environment before a vowel in the word then. In other words, ð becomes d when ð occupies the initial position, preceding a vowel. b. ð [d] V V , as is seen in the word leather lɛðɛr which is pronounced as leder. ð becomes [d] in the environment between vowels such as in the word ‘leather’. In this case, ð also changes into [d] when it occupies the medial position. c. ðs V __ as is seen in the word breethe bri:ð which is pronounced as bri:s. ð becomes s in the environment after a vowel in the final position as in the word breethe. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI