20
20
Secondly, Table 2.6 shows that the l sound is omitted as in the word people. The l
sound is changed into vowels „u‟ and „o‟. Then, the same change of l sound into alveolar flap
ɾ is also found in the words single and girl.
2. The r Sound
This section shows how the English r sound is produced by Japanese female singers. This section will discuss the production of English r sound based on its
positions in words: initial, middle and final position by Japanese female singers. a.
The r Sound in Initial Position
The production of English r sound in the initial position made by Japanese female singers is better than the production of English l sound in the initial position.
It can be seen from the data taken from the videos that the production of English l sound is more problematic than English r sound in the initial position.
Table 2.7 The Result of the r Sound Production in Initial Position Word
Standard Production
Singer
Right ra t
ɾa t Singer 1
ɾa t Singer 9
Really ri
ːəli ɾiːeɾi
Singer 1 ɾiːeɾi
Singer 6 ɾiːəli
Singer 3 ɾeɾi
Singer 9 Refrigerator r
ˈfr dʒəre tər ɾ ˈfr dʒere tɑː Singer 7
Rain re n
ɾe n Singer 2
Repeat r
ˈpiːt ɾ piːto
Singer 4
21
21 From the result in Table 2.7, the pronunciation of English r sound is audible
clearly, even though the English r sound is pronounced as alveolar flap ɾ sound.
Because Japanese language has only ɾ in their sound, the English r sound is
considered the same as Japanese alveolar flap ɾ. Horie 1994 claims
Some consonants have the same places of articulation, but have different manners of articulation when we compare the consonants of two languages.
For example, English has a voiced alveolar lateral consonant l and a voiced alveolar glide consonant r, but Japanese has only one alveolar flap or tap
consonant
ɾ which is equivalent to those two English consonants p.1.
b. The r Sound in Medial Position
When the pronunciation of English r sound initially is not really problematic for Japanese female singers, the writer found a problematic pronunciation among
Japanese female singers in pronouncing the English r sound in the medial position. From the interview videos, the writer took some of the words which are frequently
pronounced by the Japanese female singers and sound problematic, they are: world, word, girl, pretty,
and everyone.
22
22
Table 2.8 The Result of the r Sound Production in the Medial Position Word
Standard Production
Singer
World w
ɜːld wo
ɾld Singer 1
w ʌɾd
Singer 8 wo
ɾd Singer 9
Word w
ɜːd w
ʌd Singer 6
wo ɾd
Singer 9 Girl
ɡɜːl ɡɑːɾ
Singer 6 Pretty
pr ti pr ti
Singer 3 pr ti
Singer 6 Everyone
evriw ʌn
ev ɾiwʌn
Singer 8 ev
ɾiwʌn Singer 9
From the result on Table 2.8, the problem appears since the r sound in the word word
is omitted by Singer 6. Overall, the English r sounds in the word world, girl, pretty and everyone
are also pronounced as alveolar flap ɾ.
c. The r Sound in Final Position
