63
Manner
Plosive Nasal
Fricative
Place
VCL VCD
VCL VCD
VCL VCD
Bilabial p
b -
m -
- Labio-dental
- -
- -
f v
Table 3.1 Sample of English Phonemic Inventory
Table 3.1 serves as a sample of the phonemic inventory used in this research. It presents a part of English consonants list. It features five of a total of twenty
four English consonants, namely: p, b, m, f, and v. Like James 1980 instructed, the consonants are classified, each according to its place and manner of
articulation, together with its voicelessvoiced VCLVCD pair. From the table, it can be identified that English language has one voiceless bilabial plosive sound,
which is p. It also has a voiced labio-dental fricative v, and so on. The format of the table is adapted from James 1980, p. 76, the data presented here taken
from Collins and Mees 2003, p. 40, and Indriani 2005, p. 8.
Manner
Plosive Nasal
Fricative
Place
VCL VCD
VCL VCD
VCL VCD
Bilabial p p
h
- -
m -
- Labio-dental
- -
- -
f -
Table 3.2 Sample of Cantonese Phonemic Inventory
Similar to its counterpart, Table 3.2 presents a part of Cantonese consonants list. It features four of a total known nineteen Cantonese cardinal consonants,
64 namely: p, p
ʰ, m, and f. According to the place of articulation, manner of articulation, and the voicelessvoiced feature of the featured consonants, it can be
identified that Cantonese has the voiced bilabial nasal sound m. It also has a voiceless, bilabial plosive p
h
, and so on. The format of the table was also adapted from James 1980, p. 76 and the data presented here taken was derived from
Bauer and Benedict 1997, pp. 33-40 and Lo 2000, p. 5. The second step of the technique requires the equation of the
two languages‟ phonemes interlingually. So in this second step the writer made another table
featuring a combined list of English and Cantonese consonants taken from the previously related tables. The table is presented as follows:
No. Phoneme
Variant Manner
Place Aspiration
Voicing
1. p
[p
h
] plosive
bilabial aspirated
voiceless
[p] plosive
bilabial unaspirated
voiceless
[p ˺]
plosive bilabial
unreleased voiceless
2.
p
h
[p
h
]
plosive bilabial
unaspirated voiceless
3. b
[b] plosive
bilabial -
voiced
65
No. Phoneme
Variant Manner
Place Aspiration
Voicing
1. p
[p
h
]
plosive bilabial
aspirated voiceless
[p]
plosive bilabial
unaspirated voiceless
[p ˺]
plosive bilabial
unreleased voiceless
2. p
h
[p
h
] plosive
bilabial unaspirated
voiceless
3. b
[b] plosive
bilabial -
voiced
Table 3.3 Sample of the Equation on English and Cantonese Phonemic Inventory
Table 3.3 is the actual table of analysis in which the writer executes the second and the third working steps, namely to equate the phonemes interlingually
and to list the phonemic variants allophones for Cantonese and English. Whereas the first two phonemic inventory tables are merely displaying the
cardinal consonants of both Cantonese and English, the third table carries two unique features which can be considered as the essences of the equation. The first
previously mentioned feature was that this one table presents the contrasted languages‟ cardinal consonants altogether. The second feature is the coloring
mark. The phonemes and allophonic variants presented in red color indicate that those sounds with the status occur in Cantonese,
while the ones in blue are of
66 English.
The ones in purple indicate that the highlighted sound and its status is shared by Cantonese and English
‟s. From this point on, the last working step of
the technique, a thorough analysis on stating the distributional restrictions on the phonemes and allophones of the contrasted languages can be done. From the table
of equation Table 3.3 it can be comprehended that Cantonese and English shares the same bilabial plosive p.
Though Cantonese does not have a voiced bilabial plosive b like English does, it has an aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive
p ʰ,
which English shares. The aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive p
ʰ does occur as an allophone of English p but it is not acknowledged as a stand-alone initial
consonant. It can also be stated that due to its non-occurrence, the pronunciation of English b is problematic for Cantonese EFL learners. Chan 2009 stated that
Cantonese EFL beginner-learners tend to
“substitute” it with pʰ.
It should be noted that these steps are conducted with articulatory and acoustic phonetics approaches, which deal quite a lot with rules of phonetics and some
additional points on segmental phonology. The point being that the phonological analysis done in this research is restricted to the “sounds occurring in word-initial,
medial, or final position. James, 1980, p. 79 ”
The combined use of these phonemic inventories and equation tables provides a comparison between
English‟ and Cantonese‟ consonant speech sounds based on their place and manner of articulation.
From the comparison, the writer was able to determine which English consonant is supposedly difficult to be pronounced by Cantonese
EFL learners, and why does it difficult. Thus, is the example of how the writer
applied the data analysis technique upon the discussed problems.
67
3.6 Research Procedure
The writer had taken five major steps in completing the research. The first step was conducting a pre-research observation on the possible topics for the research,
and to decide the topic of the research. In this step, the writer did an observation on the theses of the graduated colleagues and seniors, and also did a small
research on the internet upon several topics which the writer was interested in. From this step, the topic of the research was decided to be the difficulties in
English consonants pronunciation faced by Cantonese EFL learners. The second step was to formulate the suggested title and the research
problems. In this step the writer did free writings and brainstorm to achieve the focus of the research. The results of this process were the research background,
the research problems, the problems limitation, and the research objectives. This step highlights important points which could be considered as the focus as well as
the basis of the research discussion. After the necessary details of the study were listed, the writer took the third
step which was to collect relevant data for the study to assist the writer in finding the answer to the analyzed problem. This is the step where the writer was working
on the selected references. The writer searched for relevant theories from
scientific sources, mostly texts such as books, as well as scientific journals and articles.
The related literary works were used as the tools to answer the three questions stated in the problem formulation of the study.
This is the step were the writer conducted the library research method. It should be noted that these first
three steps were the thorough process of the research‟s data collection.
68 The fourth step, the
research‟s data analysis part, is the step where the writer applied the gathered theories and data to answer the research problems.
The writer used phonological approach, and more specifically, the theory of English and
Cantonese phonetics and the contrastive analysis technique to discuss the research problems.
After the writer done with the fourth step, he built the last step of the study, which is to conclude the findings of the study the result of the discussion.
In this step, the writer mapped out and defined the three main discussion of the research.
The first one is, which English and Cantonese consonant sounds are similar, which are different in the way they are pronounced, and which English
consonants are nonexistent in Cantonese.
The second point being, which consonants are considered problematic for Cantonese EFL learners.
The last point is where the writer elaborated some possible positive implementations of the data
findings in English pronunciation teaching for Cantonese EFL learners. The list of
the speech sounds that are similar could be used to expedite teaching-learning activities for Cantonese EFL learners in various ways, including triggering the
learners‟ English learning motivation. The list of the English consonants that are different, problematic, and even nonexistent in Cantonese is used as a basis in
discovering some possible English speech-sounds pronunciation teaching approaches, methods and techniques to Cantonese EFL learners.
69
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of three section of discussion. The first section is the description on the similarities and differences of English and Cantonese
consonants. In this section the writer describes how English and Cantonese consonants are similar and different, which is corresponding to the first research
problem. The second section features and discusses some possible English consonants that can be considered problematic to be pronounced for Cantonese
EFL learners. In this section the writer discovers some English consonants that can be considered as problematic for Cantonese EFL learners to pronounce,
providing the answer to the second research problem. Last but not least, the third section discloses some possible implementations of the contrastive analysis to be
implemented as recommendations in developing English pronunciation learning for Cantonese EFL learners. It is corresponding to the third, which is also the last
research problem.
4.1 English and Can tonese Consonants’ Similarities and Differences
In general, there are three levels in which the similarities between English and Cantonese consonant speech sounds can be found. The first level is the most
basic, which is on the speech production organs. Th e fact that man‟s vocal
apparatus is physiologically uniform throughout the world is a proof that every language known in the world is produced by the similar organs. The moving
70 airstream goes throughout the human vocal tract; being stored and pumped from
the lungs, being processed in the larynx, passing through the vibrating vocal cords towards the pharynx to be filtered, and then released as the designated speech
sound through either the oral or the nasal cavity. Evidently, it is clear that both speakers of English and Cantonese rely on these vital organs of speech in
producing the language.
James 1980, p 73 mentions that even though the human vocal apparatus is capable of producing an enormous possible variety of sounds, only “a small
fraction of this potential variety is actually put to use in natural languages”. These
small fractions are formed by combinations of airstream modification throughout the human vocal tract, also known as the articulation of speech sound. This is the
second level in which people can equate and differentiate one language from another. However, even though every language has their own set of articulated
sound which makes them unique from one to another, there are always sounds that are similar from one language to another. English and Cantonese are no exception.
The third level is that English and Cantonese are similar in the way they classify their speech sounds. One is known as vowel, and the other, consonant. In
both languages, the speech sounds which are produced by involving an audible friction created by temporary obstructions of the speech cavities are known as
consonants, whereas the non-obstructed ones are called vowels. Together with those two, speakers of both languages also acknowledge another class, a
combination of consonant and vowel called the semi-vowel or the approximant. Both languages‟ consonant speech sounds can also be identified based on their
71 place of articulation, manner of articulation, whether they are voiced or voiceless,
and whether they should or can be aspirated, or not.
4.1.1 Description of the Similar Consonants of English and Cantonese The rules of English and Cantonese phonetics are all agree that the speech
sounds of their languages can be identified and described according to two parameters, namely: based on its place of articulation and based on its manner of
articulation. The two languages also recognize yet another parameter that can be used in specifying their consonant speech sounds, that is the voicing dimension.
For example, from its place of articulation, the speaker of English, would identify the sound p as a bilabial according to the location this sound can be produced
within the oral cavity. The same sound p also occur in Cantonese, in which they also believe that according to its manner of articulation, this p sound is called as
a stop, or a plosive. In terms of voicing, both languages agree that p sound is a fortis, therefore voiceless.
Being produced by similar organs of speech production, and organs of articulation, also having similar sound classification system, both Cantonese and
English do share a large number of consonant that are similar articulation and acoustic wise. There are twelve groups of consonant speech sounds which are
shared by both languages. The discussion on each of them will be explained thoroughly in the next parts of the discussion. Prior to the description of the
groups, the phonemic inventory of the consonants of both English and Cantonese can be observed in the following tables.