90 just like the rests of the voiced consonants. Secondly, with z being a fricative
means that the closest sound to „imitate‟ it is the minimal pair of z, s.
4.2.2.4 Voiceless and Voiced Palato-alveolar Fricatives ʃ and ʒ
The absence of the sound ʃ in Cantonese phonemic inventory is quite
intriguing for the writer, the moment the writer discovered the data. It is due to the fact that Mandarin Chinese has this voiceless fricative
ʃ in its inventory. Being the national language of the People‟s Republic of China, it is safe to assume that
the majority of the Cantonese speaking people who both living in the mainland China or overseas, will usually be able to speak Mandarin Chinese as well, and
therefore the palate-alveolar fricative is not alien at all. The writer believes that Cantonese EFL learners will find this one specific sound, positively shared by
English and Mandarin, will not be that difficult for these learners to learn, despite the fact that their mother tongue does not recognize the sound as one of their own.
In its distributional process, the tendency is that when English ʃ appears in initial
position, it will most likely be pronounced as s instead. The pronunciation of English
ʒ, however, as the only voiced of the group is believed to be still quite challenging for the Cantonese EFL learners to learn. This
is, again, due to its voiced nature, in which according to the previously mentioned analysis on the other voiced phonemes has the tendency to be inaccurately
pronounced as the aspirated version of its voiceless counterpart. The learning process, however, is believed to be easier as compared to learning process to
91 master the other voiced members of Cantonese consonants. This will be even
more so for Cantonese EFL learners whom is able to speak Mandarin Chinese.
4.2.3 Voiceless and Voiced Palato-alveolar Affricates tʃ and dʒ
The analysis on the next two palate-alveolar affricates of English is similar to the one of the palate-alveolar fricative. From both phonemic inventories of
English and Cantonese, as seen in Table 4.1 and Table 4.2 earlier in this chapter, it is evident that these minimal pairs too are nonexistent in Cantonese. Thus,
these sounds are deemed having the potential to be problematic for Cantonese EFL learners.
Fortunately it might not be as challenging as it is supposed to be. This is one benefit that can be gained from learning the International Phonetics Alphabet.
Every sound in every human language, then, can be equated properly. The affricate t
ʃ, like the fricative ʃ does exist in Mandarin Chinese. Therefore it is safe to believe that the affricate t
ʃ will be easier to be learned by Cantonese EFL learners who can also speak Mandarin Chinese. This advantage does not apply for
the voiced pair of this sound, the voiced d ʒ. This is due to the absence of the
voiced consonant even in Mandarin Chinese. The fact that Cantonese has a pair of affricate which difference with the
palato-alveolars is of the slightest shall now be elaborated in this part. Instead of palate-alveolars, the Cantonese has a pair of alveolar affricates, namely ts and
ts
h
. The first one, ts is defined as the voiceless unaspirated alveolar affricate, and the second one, ts
h
is what is called as the voiceless aspirated alveolar
92 affricate. Though these two sounds is nonexistent in English, their existence is
believed by the writer to be able to act as intermediates to learn the English palato-alveolar affricates properly. Not only does these sounds are close to be
similarly articulated with the target sounds, but also may act as an affective value to emotionally boost the learning process for the target learners.
4.2.4 Voiced Palato-alveolar Frictionless Approximant r
Cantonese is a language which majority of its available consonants found in its phonemic inventory is voiceless. Only six voiced sounds found among as
many as its nineteen cardinal consonants owned by Cantonese. They are the three nasals: m, n,
ŋ, the two approximants j, w, and the alveolar lateral approximant l. The rest of the sounds are voiceless. Some are aspirated, the others are
unaspirated. Being one of them is this voiced palato-alveolar frictionless approximant r. Based on this preliminary contrastive analysis, the writer has
discovered and proved his early assumption that the English r is also problematic. The English r found in the initial or medial position of a syllable
most likely will be replaced by the closest sound, its fellow approximant, the lateral l.
93
4.3 Possible Implementations of the Research Findings
Following the four obligatory steps of conducting a contrastive analysis on the similarities and the differences of the consonantal phonemes and allophone
variants of English and Cantonese, the writer has elaborated three possible implementations in form of recommendations. The first two of the recommended
implementations can be done and developed as an academic research, following the preliminary steps which have been done in this research. The third
recommended implementation is a practical development which can be done based on this research to teach the designated learners. The followings are the
three possible implementations of the contrastive analysis‟ findings to be
implemented as considerable recommendations in developing English pronunciation learning for Cantonese EFL learners.
4.3.1 Auditory Phonetics based Contrastive Analysis
As mentioned in the problem limitation of this research, this research was completed under the boundary of articulatory and acoustic phonetics in which the
discussion is around how the consonant speech sounds of English and Cantonese can be produced, what makes them sound similar one another, and to discover the
distributional restrictions of the phonemes and their allophonic variants. The auditory phonetics based contrastive analysis is a step which belongs to the
domain of functional phonetics. It serves as the foundation for phonological contrastive analysis.
94 By using the phonemic inventories, as well as the tables of equation featured
in this research, a proper auditory phonetics based contrastive analysis can be done. Take for example a case in which a Cantonese EFL learner wished to
master the variants of English lateral l. The employment of an equation table is not enough. To have the learner can actually comprehend the differences, even to
the slightest level, the learner should listen to the actual sound, and begin to illustrate in mind, the difference between the l in
the English words „low‟, „pluck‟, „full‟, and „cuddle‟. Cantonese lateral approximant does not have the
variants necessary to be able to pronounce those English l allophones accurately, therefore they need to be told the differences. This is where auditory approach
takes place. The auditory phonetics approach allows such explanations to emerge: while
the English [l] is easy to pronounce and it sounds exactly the same like the Cantonese [l], other variants of the English l needs further manipulation than just
producing the seemingly light and crispy l sound. Take for example the velarized lateral
ɬ as found in the English word „full‟. It has a more heavy sound of lower
tone to it as compared to the clearer and higher pitch [l]. Insisting on pronouncing it with the voiced variant instead of the velarized will result in an unnatural way
of pronunciation. For Cantonese EFL learners, all the variants might be considered the same as the voiced [l] they normally use. The learners need to be
careful for ignorance to this concept can create confusion, inaccurate pronunciation of the minimal pairs, and even may result in a funny yet unnatural
accent of English which is gradually formed during the learning process.
95 4.3.2
Phonological Contrastive Analysis on the Suprasegmental Features The second possible implementation of the attained knowledge is the
deepening of the research into the domain of suprasegmental phonologies. Up to this point, this research was restricted to the segmental features of both English
and Cantonese, thus the term preliminary is used to explain that the discussion of this research is still possible to further. A phonological contrastive analysis on the
suprasegmental features will deal with features such as stressrhythm, and the intonation of the two or more compared languages. The discussion on such
research wil be around the detailed distribution of the features of phonology of both languages, the analysis on which rules of phonology applies to a certain
phoneme. To know the phonemes and the allophones of English available is not enough
for Cantonese EFL learners who want to master the accurate and proper pronunciation of English. They need also to comprehend that there are some rules
attached to the sound which explains why the English l when placed in a different word position, or placed before, or after a certain vowel should be read
differently. The mastery on the knowledge about the phonological environments of a sound will eventually be useful in assisting the teachers of English as a
Foreign Language to help the learners overcoming the difficulties they face in learning to pronounce the sounds of English.
96 4.3.3
Recommendations in Developing Learning Material for English Pronunciation Teaching for Cantonese EFL Learners
All of the detailed theories, the rhetorical discussion, the thorough analyses, and even the publication of the research findings will be of no use when it stays
only as an academic research in papers. The holy grail of the study on the phonetics and phonology of English is the production of EFL learners who are
able to fluently be engaged in an English conversation by using the proper and accurate pronunciation of the spoken English words. The writer believes that the
study of phonetics and phonology is not about learning abstract symbols. The very essence of mastering the international alphabet opens a wide opportunity to learn
any languages easily. Studies such as this research merely serve as a basic of teaching material making used for teaching English pronunciation for EFL
learners such as the Cantonese Chinese people. The teaching materials that can be made from this research is various, from
the making of simple flashcards, up to a flash videos containing the practices necessary for the Cantonese EFL learners to first get to know to the sounds of
English, and then to distinguish each sounds based on its group, and eventually to be able to practice speaking English. Teachers of English for Cantonese EFL
learners should make a good use of the contrastive analysis findings about the similar sounds of English and Cantonese to encourage these EFL learners that
English, though very much different from Cantonese is not impossible to master, there are many sounds shared by both languages. The similarities between the two
contrasted languages should be used as an incentive to support the teaching-
97 learning activities, whereas the nonexistent English sounds can be drilled to the
students patiently in classroom meetings. To get the Cantonese EFL learners to comprehend the nonexistent English sound in the Cantonese phonemic inventory,
the teachers must understand the minimal pairs that are similarly pronounced with the target sound to be learned. These minimal pairs which are similar to the
problematic sounds are the bridge to help the Cantonese EFL learners to overcome their problems.
Last but not least, it is better for a good English teacher to understand the EFL learner‟s mother tongue. By understanding their language, the teacher can
identify what sounds of English, or later on what words of English are seemingly difficult for the learners to
master. Only by the comprehension on the learners‟ first language can a teacher of English as a foreign language be able to conduct a
needs analysis which can be used as a base to make innovations in English language teaching and learning activity.
