Error Analysis of Silent Letters “H” and “W” in English Words by Non-English Department Students
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ERROR ANALYSIS OF SILENT LETTERS “H” AND “W” IN ENGLISH WORDS BY NON-ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By TRIYOGA TYAS UTAMA Student Number: 144214085
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ERROR ANALYSIS OF SILENT LETTERS “H” AND “W” IN ENGLISH WORDS BY NON-ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By TRIYOGA TYAS UTAMA Student Number: 144214085
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
It is not about the product that matters. It’s all about the process to create the product.
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My parents, sisters, and the people who always support me,
this is all for you.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, I would like to thank God because of His guidance and blessing I could complete this study.
I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor Arina Isti’anah,
S.Pd., M.Hum. for her support, suggestion, and guidance. I thank her for the detailed corrections and immediate responses in the process of writing this undergraduate thesis.
Next, I would say thanks to my family and friends who support me in writing this undergraduate thesis. For my family, I thank them for the patience and understanding. Then, for my friends, I thank them for their support.
Last, I am so thankful for the participants involved in this study. I thank them for becoming my participants in conducting this undergraduate thesis.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE...... ii APPROVAL PAGE...... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE…………………………………………………...... iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH……………………………………………………………………… v STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY…………………………………………..… vi MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………… vii DEDICATION PAGE……………………………………………………...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… ix TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………… x LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………...... xii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….. xiii ABSTRAK...... xiv CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION...... 1 A. Background of the Study……………………………………………… 1 B. Problem Formulation………………………………………………..... 5 C. Objectives of the Study………………………………………………. 5 D. Definitions of Terms…………………………………………………. 6 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………….. 7 A. Review of Related Studies…………………………………………… 7 B. Review of Related Theories………………………………………….. 10 1. Phonology……………………………………………………….. 10 Syllable Structure…………………………………………… 11 Phonotactic Constraints………………………………… 12 1) English Phonotactic Constraints…………………… 13 2) Indonesian Phonotactic Constraints……………….. 14 2. Silent Letter……………………………………………………… 16 a. Auxiliary Letter…………………………………………….. 16 b. Inert Letter………………………………………………….. 16 c. Empty Letter……………………………………………...... 16 3. Error……………………………………………………………... 17 C. Theoretical Framework………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………………………….. 20 A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………… 20 B. Approach of the Study……………………………………………….. 21 C. Method of the Study…………………………………………………. 21 1. Data Collection………………………………………………….. 21 2. Data Analysis…………………………………………………… 22 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS…………. 24 A. The Type of Error Made by the Participants………………………… 24 1. Errors in Silent Letter “h”………………………………………. 25
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a. Initial Position……………………………………………… 26 b. Medial Position…………………………………………….. 28 c. Final Position………………………………………………. 30 2. Errors in Silent Letter “w”……………………………………… 31 a. Initial Position……………………………………………… 32 b. Medial Position…………………………………………….. 35 c. Final Position………………………………………………. 37 B. Phonological Factors Causing the Error…………………………….. 38 1. Indonesian Syllable Structure……………………………………. 38 a. Consonant-Vowel Form...……………..…………………… 39 b. Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Form……………………….. 41 c. Consonant-Consonant-Vowel Form………….……………. 42 d. VC, CVCC, and CCVC Form………………………………. 44 2. Indonesian Consonant Cluster .………………………………… 46 a. Silent Letter “h”.…………………………………………… ..46 b. Silent Letter “w”.………………………………………….. ..49 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…………………………………………… 52 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………….. 54 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………... 56 Appendix 1………………………………………………………….. 56 Appendix 2………………………………………………………….. 66
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LIST OF TABLES
No. Table Page
1. Table 1. Position of Sounds in English 13 2. Table 2. Possible Sequences of Sounds in English 13 3. Table 3. Possible Sequences of Sounds in Indonesian 14 4. Table 4. Possible Structure of Syllable in Indonesian 15 5. Table 5. Type of Error of the Learner 17 6. Table 6. List of Words of Data Collection 21 7. Table 7. List of Words Given to the Participants 22 8. Table 8. Result of the Students’ Pronunciation of Silent 26 Letter “h” 9. Table 9. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 28 “h” in the Initial Position 10. Table 10. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 30 “h” in the Medial Position 11. Table 11. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 31 “h” in the Final Position 12. Table 12. Result of the Students’ Pronunciation of Silent 32 Letter “w” 13. Table 13. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 34 “w” in the Initial Position 14. Table 14. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 36 “w” in the Medial Position 15. Table 15. Pronunciation of Words Containing Silent Letter 37 “w” in the Final Position
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ABSTRACT
TRIYOGA TYAS UTAMA (2018). Error Analysis of Silent Letters “H” and “W” in English Words by Non-English Department Students. Yogyakarta: English Letters Department, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. English is used in almost all around the globe and in many aspects of human life. That fact encourages people to learn English. For English learners, the phonological constraints of their mother tongue influence them how to perform English. Indonesian people have been taught to use Indonesian since early age. Thus, in their performance in using English, the Indonesian phonotactic constraints are carried. The English silent letter is one of the hardest parts to be learned. There are two problems discussed in this study. First is what types of error are made by non-English department students in pronouncing silent letters “h” and “w” in English words. Second is what phonological factors cause the error. In conducting this study, the researcher used a voice recorder as an instrument to collect the data. There are ten non-English department students involved in the study. The researcher used 24 words in English containing silent letters “h” and “w” in the initial, medial, and final position. In analyzing the data, the researcher used phonological approach. According to the data analysis, the students made 162 pronunciation errors from the total of 240 pronunciations. There are two types of error made by the students which are systematic and pre-systematic. The systematic error appears in the pronunciation of the words containing silent letter “h” in all positions and silent letter “w” in the final position. In the words containing silent letter “w” in the initial and medial position, the participants made pre-systematic error. The result of the analysis shows that the errors made by the students are caused by the Indonesian phonological system. In the pronunciation error made by the students, the rules of syllable structure and consonant cluster are applied.
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ABSTRAK
TRIYOGA TYAS UTAMA (2018). Error Analysis of Silent Letters “H” and “W” in English Words by Non-English Department Students. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Bahasa Inggris digunakan hampir diseluruh penjuru dunia dan di dalam banyak aspek kehidupan. Hal tersebut memicu orang untuk mempelajari bahasa Inggris. Bagi orang yang mempelajari bahasa Inggris, kaidah fonologi yang ada dalam bahasa ibu mereka akan mempengaruhi bagaimana mereka berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Orang Indonesia sudah diajarkan untuk menggunakan bahasa Indonesia sejak masih kanak-kanak. Maka dari itu, dalam penerapan berbahasa Inggris, kaidah-kaidah yang ada dalam bahasa Indonesia masih terbawa. Salah satu hal yang sulit dipelajari dalam bahasa Inggris adalah huruf senyap. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah yang dibahas dalam penelitian ini. Pertama, tipe-tipe galat apa saja yang dibuat oleh para mahasiswa program studi nonInggris ketika melafalkan huruf senyap “h” dan “w” dalam kata-kata berbahasa Inggris. Kedua, apa faktor-faktor fonologis yang memicu terjadinya galat. Dalam pelaksanaan penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan alat perekam suara sebagai instrumen untuk mengumpulkan data. Penelitian ini melibatkan sepuluh mahasiswa dari program studi nonInggris. Peneliti menggunakan 24 kata berbahasa Inggris yang mengandung huruf senyap “h” dan “w” pada posisi depan, tengah, dan akhir kata. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan fonologi dalam menganalisis data. Berdasarkan analisis data, para mahasiswa membuat 162 galat dalam pengucapan dari total 240 pengucapan. Terdapat dua jenis galat yang dibuat oleh mahasiswa yaitu sistematis dan pra-sistematis. Jenis galat sistematis muncul dalam pengucapan kata-kata yang mengandung huruf senyap “h” di semua posisi dan huruf senyap “w” di posisi akhir kata. Pada kata-kata yang mengandung huruf senyap “w” di awal dan tengah kata, para responden membuat galat jenis pra- sistematis. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa galat yang dibuat oleh para mahasiswa dipicu oleh kaidah-kaidah tata bunyi dalam bahasa Indonesia. Dalam pengucapan galat yang dibuat, para mahasiswa menerapkan aturan-aturan mengenai sruktur suku kata dan gugus konsonan yang berlaku di Indonesia.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
English spoken language is commonly used by people around the globe.
English is widely-spread and mostly used in communication between people from different countries. “It is a familiar story, in the history of the English language, though operating now on a global scale” (Crystal, 2003, p. 177). The possibility of
English to become the language of the world is on the progress. In the era of globalization, spoken English has a big role in communicating ideas between individuals. Thus, the competence of spoken English becomes a necessity. In order to perform fully-understandable English, the phonological terms of English must be considered.
Phonology according to McMahon “is the language-specific selection and organisation of sounds to signal meanings” (2002, p. 2). Phonology concerns the rules of spoken language in a particular language. Those rules are different from one language to another. Dardjowidjojo states that “Phonology does not deal with how sounds are formed, produced, or perceived, but how they are arranged in relation to other sound” (2009, p. 16). Phonology is different from Phonetics.
Whereas Phonetics deals with the production of sounds, Phonology is related to the actualization of those sounds. The Phonology of a language is distinct from other languages. English and Indonesian phonological systems have their own characteristics of Phonology.
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English and Indonesian phonological systems are different in certain aspects. In English, we have words containing consonant clusters [l] and [p] in the final position such as scalp, pulp, and help. However, those clusters are always situated in different syllables in Indonesian, such as in the word al-pa, pul-pen, and tel-pon. Therefore, Indonesians have difficulty in pronouncing those combinations and tendency to spell those words by adding schwa [ə] between [l] and [p]. In this case, Indonesian speakers have a problem in pronouncing English words regarding to the limitation of Indonesian phonological rules. This phenomenon can cause pronunciation error for Indonesian students who perform English spoken language.
The problem in pronouncing English words can be found in the words containing silent letters such as debris, psychology, and subtle.
Error is a phenomenon related to the influence of the mother tongue on the learning process. Error which made by the learners in the learning process is inevitable. However, the errors made by the learners are systematic and not random.
Therefore, by studying the pattern of the error, the occurrence of the error can be prevented (Corder, 1982, pp. 65-66). In this study, the researcher only focused on the error of the second language learner.
According to Richard (2002) error is the use of a linguistic item, such as a word, a grammatical item, or a speech act, in the way a learner of the language shows incomplete learning (p. 184). The error phenomenon indicates not only the effectiveness of the learning technique applied, but also the learner’s ‘levels’ in mastering a language. The errors made by learners, referring to Richard in Ellis
(1994, p. 58), is related to three things as follows. Interference error, which occurs
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as the result of applying the rule of L1 on L2; Intra-lingual error, which occurs as the result of faulty generalization, incompetence application of rules, and failure to learn condition under which rules apply and development error, which occurs when the learner attempts to conclude the rule of a particular language based on a limited experience.
In this study, the researcher is observing the error made by non-English department students in pronouncing silent letters “h” and “w” in English words.
According to Richard, the aim of error analysis is to find the causes of learner errors
(2002, p. 184). Then, the use of error analysis as the theoretical grounds of this study is appropriate in order to identify the factors causing the error made by
English learners.
Silent letter is a letter which is present in spelling but omitted in the pronunciation. According to Podhaizer (1998), “letters that are not heard making their "usual" sound in a word as silent” (p. 88). Silent letter that is completely un- pronounced in the actual speech is called empty letter. In English we have words containing empty letter as “b” in “debt”, “w” in “wreck”, and “l” in “walk” which are pronounced as [det], [rɛk], and [wɔ:k].
English silent letters were introduced in the Middle English and Early
Modern English period which is marked by major changes in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling. Most of the words which contain silent letters comes from Latin and French. The introduction of silent letter at that time was a solution since every letter had to be pronounced. Therefore, silent letters enable people to stop pronouncing long consonants (Pospíšilová, 2014, pp. 8-10).
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Non-English department students involved in this research are all under graduate students from any majors who are not exposed by adequate English lesson formally in class. This circumstance is chosen to fulfill the quality of the English learners who mostly speak in Indonesian. The interference of the mother tongue is one of the major factors causing the error, as Corder states, “This is called interference and the implication of this term can only be that his mother tongue habits prevent him in some way from acquiring the habits of the second language”
(1976, pp. 24-25).
In this study, the researcher focuses on analyzing the participants’ performance in pronouncing silent letters “h” as in the word “vehicle” and “w” as in “saw”. Silent letters “h” and “w” are analyzed because the researcher does not find any study analyzing the error pattern on silent letter “h” and “w”. The researcher aims to prove that the distinct phonotactic constraints between the
Indonesian and English can cause errors. Then, the researcher aims to identify the phonological factors causing the errors. In identifying the factors causing the errors, the researcher compares the words in the test with Indonesian vocabulary. The researcher also analyzes the syllabification in Indonesian to identify whether the cluster is available in Indonesian.
This study is conducted to encourage the students to acknowledge errors in pronouncing English words containing silent letters and urge them to pronounce more appropriate English. This study also aims at finding the influence of the mother tongue in learning English. As English has become the standard language in academic world, it is essential for students in higher education to comprehend
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fully-understandable English. According to Crystal, English has become familiar for people from around the globe and its presence is in every domain. “Similar attitudes will be encountered in all parts of the world where English is developing a strong non-native presence, and at all levels” (2003, p. 176). Therefore, acquiring fully-understandable English, particularly in spoken English, becomes a necessity.
The results of the study are the possibilities in what position of silent letter the learner made the error, the type of error the learner made in a particular position of silent letter, and the factors causing the error. Thus, this study can be used to identify the error made by the learners in a particular position of silent letter. The study explains in what position the learners perform most pronunciation error.
Then, the study explains why such error occurs.
B. Problem Formulation
In this thesis, the researcher has two research problems. Those research problems are:
1. What types of errors are made by non-English department students in
pronouncing silent letters “h” and “w” in English word?
2. What phonological factors cause the errors?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the problems formulated above, one of the objectives of this research is to find out the types of errors made by non-English department students in pronouncing silent letter “h” and “w” in English words. The participants’
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pronunciation is recorded and transcribed. The data will be analyzed and the researcher will categorize the errors into 3 (three) types of error which are pre- systematic, systematic, and post systematic (Corder in Ellis, 1994, p. 56). The other objective is to identify the factors causing the errors. Error analysis is used in identifying the cause of the error. The researcher aims to prove the theory that the phonological rules of the mother tongue will influence the pronunciation of the second language.
D. Definition of Terms
In this section, the researcher intends to clarify some terminology that used in this study. The first terminology is error. According to Taylor, error is the inevitable uncertainty that attends all measurements (1997, p. 3). The word error carries different definition with the word mistake or false. Error is related to the sense of uncertainty.
The second terminology is error analysis. Corder defines error analysis as the investigation of the language of second language learner (1982, p. 14). In all measurement which is done in science, there is always uncertainty. Then, it is important to identify this uncertainly and to maintain it as minimum as possible.
The third terminology is silent letter. Silent letter refers to the term used in the teaching of reading, where letters are often supposed to 'speak' to the reader
(Carney, 2012, p. 40). Silent letters are letters which not pronounced or minimized in order to perform more acceptable spoken English. Silent letter is presence on the spelling but minimized or omitted in the actual speech.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher provides theoretical review about the research topic. There are three main sub chapters discussed here. They are review of related studies, review of related theories, and theoretical framework.
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part, the researcher presents some studies which have similar topic to the researcher’s study. Dealing with this study, there are four studies consisting of two journal articles and two undergraduate theses which are previously conducted by some researchers before. Those studies are presented below.
The research entitled “Error Analysis of Sundanese English Pronunciation on Fricatives Sound” by Fauzi (2014) is conducted to find out the errors that frequently made by Sundanese students of English Letters Department in the year
2013 in Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, who already took a pronunciation class, in pronouncing a fricative sound. The focus of this study is on the freshman students who have Sundanese cultural background to know their accuracy in pronouncing some fricative’s words.
The collected data were analyzed through descriptive analysis technique and the researcher was involved in the process of collecting data by observing the respondents, recording their pronunciation, and analyzing the error on their pronunciation. In conclusion, the researcher finds that Sundanese students of
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English Letters Department made some errors of omission and addition on the vowels and consonant sounds except the fricative sounds on their pronunciation.
Then, the error of selection occurrs both on the fricative sounds and the rest of the sound. The researcher also finds that over generalization is one of the reasons why the Sundanese students made errors in their pronunciation.
The second research is by Kurniawan (2016) entitled “The Error Analysis of the Pronunciation of Dental Fricative Consonants /θ, /ð/ by The Students of
English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education,
Sriwijaya University” which aims to find patterns in the errors of the pronunciation of dental fricative consonants /θ, ð/ in the onset, in the middle and in the coda of a syllable. The data are taken from the sample of 120 students who pronounce 30 words in which some of the words were distractors and the rest contained the consonants on onset, in medial and coda. The pronunciation data were recorded and then analyzed. In analyzing the data, a native speaker of English was involved. The findings show that in pronouncing the two consonants, the most errors that arise are that they were pronounced as [t] and [d] which is the closest equivalents of the consonants in Indonesian. Meanwhile in other sounds, i.e. [s], [d], [θ], and [ð], also occur but in much lower frequency. It is suggested that the result of the study can be used in other similar studies and also used as teaching and learning material in relevant courses
The third is thesis by Ardi (2005) entitled “An Analysis of Students’
Pronunciation Error of English Silent Letters” which is conducted to analyze the students’ ability in pronouncing English silent letter and the students’ common error
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in pronouncing English silent letter. The participants of this research are 34 students of English department at IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin. The objects of this research are the students’ pronunciation of English silent letters and the students’ common error in pronouncing English silent letters. The data collected were analyzed in descriptive qualitative method. The result of this research shows that mean score of students’ ability in pronouncing English silent letters is 61.05% which falls to the in fair category. The students’ common error of silent letters in the part II test is on the empty letter “x” and “s” in the final position. There are 34 students (100%) that pronounced incorrectly in pronouncing letter [x] in faux and [s] in debris.
The last research is a thesis by Widyaningtyas (2014) entitled “Error
Analysis on English Consonants Pronunciation Produced by Second Semester
Students of Study Program of English Universitas Brawijaya” which concerns at analyzing the phonological errors made by second semester students of Study
Program of English in Universitas Brawijaya regarding English consonants. The writer conducted her research using qualitative approach. In collecting the data, the writer firstly recorded the participants’ pronunciation of 24 English consonants and transcribed their pronunciations. The result is that the second semester students have not mastered the pronunciation of English language yet because most of them are still influenced by their first language pronunciation system.
The studies previously mentioned have contributions for the researcher to develop his ideas on this study. The first, second, and fourth research help the researcher in the use of the error analysis as the theoretical grounds. As the result, the researcher was urged to conduct his research with the same theoretical grounds.
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The third research helps the researcher gathers information about English silent letters.
Furthermore, the researcher conducts this study as his concern to the phenomenon that occurs in his surroundings and there are some differences from the previous studies. The main distinction lies on the subject of the study which is non-English Department students who are not exposed to formal English courses.
The other difference is on the specific object of this study which is the production of silent letters “h” and “w” in actual speech. This study is developing a new idea from the related studies. This undergraduate thesis focuses on the silent letter “h” and “w” and aims to identify the factors causing the error among the learners.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Phonology
Phonology, as Odden states, is the study of sound structure in language
(2015, p. 2). The objective of Phonology is to examine language sounds as mental units and focuses on how these units function in grammar. In studying the sound of language, the term Phonetics cannot be omitted.
Phonetics focuses on analyzing the field of sound used by human in performing their language. According to McMahon, articulatory Phonetics aims to identify objectively which organs of speech are involved in producing different sounds of the world’s languages (2002, p. 1). The Phonetics is related to the anatomy, physiology, physics, and neurology.
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Phonetics and Phonology are studying the field of sound structure of a language, but they are different in the objective and the way to analyze the sound of language. According to Gut, Phonetic deals with the production, properties, and the perception of a speech sound of human languages, while Phonology deals with how the speech sounds form a pattern in particular language (2009, p. 7). In analyzing a sound of a language, Phonetics focuses on the production of the sound of all human language and Phonology concerns with the actualization of the sound of particular language in real conversation.
Syllable Structure
Syllable structure is a basic element of constituent structure that can be seen physically. As Laurel and Donna say, the syllable represents a level of structure as a unit that speakers of a language can identify (2010, p. 75). A syllable consists of a vowel or nucleus and potentially carries stress. A syllable initiates with one to three consonants, the onset of the syllable, and has one to four consonants, the coda of the syllable. The syllable structure can be presented in a form of tree diagram.
The tree diagram below is the illustration of the syllable structure of the words spring and quartz (in the form of orthography) by Laurel and Donna.
σ σ
/spr i ng/ /qu a rtz/
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In the tree diagram above, the syllables of spring and quartz are divided into three parts. The syllable spring has [spr] as the onset, [i] as the nucleus, and [ng] as the coda. Then, the syllable [quartz] has [qu] as the onset, [a] as the nucleus, and
[rtz] as the coda.
The syllables which develop words consist of three segments. According to
Levis and Reed (2015, p. 88), the vowel or nucleus is considered as the main part of the syllable, and is in peak position. One or more consonants, e.g., /taɪ/ in “tie”, which preceded the nucleus is known as the onset. There may also be one or more consonants, e.g., /aɪlz/ in “isles”, following the nucleus which is known as the coda.
Levis and Reed introduce the terms for syllables with an empty coda position as open syllables, while closed syllable for syllable which have final consonants.
Phonotactic Constraints
Phonotactic constraints, according to Laurel and Donna, is a unique combination of certain sound occurs in one language but does not permitted in other language (2010, p. 59). Phonotactic is a constraints related to the positions and sequences of sound in a particular language. Phonotactic of positions refers to the initial, medial, and final position, while phonotactic of sequences relates to the combinations of consonants, called consonant clusters, which may occur in the beginning or ending syllable. Since different language carries different phonotactic constraints, it can be used to analyze the problem of Indonesian as an English learner. The phonotactic constraints of English and Indonesian are described below.
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1) English Phonotactic Constraints
English phonotactic constraints as Laurel and Donna (2010, p. 59-63) describe are the possible positions and sequences. The term of possible positions of sounds in a language refer to word initial, medial, and final positions, and other positions, such as syllable initial. Table 1 shows the positions of sound in English.
Table 1 Positions of Sound in English (Laurel and Donna, 2010) Sound Position /ŋ/ Medial and final only. /ʃ/ Rare in initial and final but common in medial. /h/, /j/, and /w/ Always syllable initial before a stressed vowel. /j/ and /w/ In final only as part of a diphthong. /ð/ Restricted in initial, occurs freely word medially and finally.
The term of possible sequences or combinations of sounds in a language is concerned with the combinations of consonants, called consonant clusters, which may begin or end a syllable. The table 2 shows the possible sequences or combinations of sounds in English.
Table 2 Possible Sequences of Sounds in English (Laurel and Donna, 2010) Syllable Sequences Sounds Words voiced or voiceless stop + /pl, pr, br/ play, price, bleed approximant Initial voiceless fricative + approximant /fl, sl, th/ fly, sled, three /s/ + voiceless stop /sp, st, sc/ spend, sting, scare /s/ + nasal /sn, sm/ snail, sneak, small /s/ + voiceless stop + approximant /str, spl/ strong, split liquid + consonant /rp, rm/ harp, harm nasal + obstruent /nd, nt/ bend, bent fricative + stop /ft, ed/ lift, paved Final stop + fricative /ts, bs/ mats, grabs fricative + fricative /ves, fs/ leaves, reefs stop + stop /pt, ched/ apt, ached stop + fricative + stop /dst, xed/ midst, boxed nasal + fricative + stop /nsed, umphed/ rinsed, triumphed nasal + stop + fricative /mpse, nts/ glimpse, dents
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nasal + stop + stop /mpt, mbed/ prompt, thumbed liquid + stop + fricative /rpse, lps/ corpse, gulps Final liquid + stop + stop /lped, rped/ helped, warped liquid + fricative + fricative /lves, rves/ shelves, dwarfs liquid + fricative + stop /rst, rved/ first, starved liquid + nasal + fricative /lns, rms/ kilns, terms
2) Indonesian Phonotactic Constraints
Indonesian phonotactic constraints permit consonant cluster on the final position of a syllable. Foreign word which borrowed in Indonesian receive an addition or deletion in order to be appropriate for Indonesian speaker, as the word
“mars” into mares or “lift” into lif (Alwi et al, 2003, p. 77). The sequences or combinations of sounds in Indonesian are presented in the table below.
Table 3 Possible Sequences of Sounds in Indonesian (Alwi et al, 2003) Syllable Sequences Words Stop + stop /pt/ ptialin, pterosaur Stop + fricative /ps/ psikologi, /ts/ tsunami Stop + liquid /pl/ taplak, pleno /pr/ prangko, semprot /bl/ gamblang, blangko /br/ obral, ambruk /kl/ klinik, klasik /kr/ akrab, mikroskop /gl/ global, gladiator /gr/ gram, grafik /tr/ tragedi, sastra /dr/ drama, drastis Stop + glide /kw/ kuitansi, kuintal Fricative + liquid /fl/ flamboyan, flannel /fr/ frustasi, fragmen /sl/ slogan, Slipi /sr/ pasrah, Sriwijaya Fricative + glide /sw/ swalayan, swasembada
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Fricative + stop /sp/ spanduk, spora /sm/ smokel /sn/ snobisme /sk/ skandal, skema /st/ stamina, stasiun Fricative + stop + liquid /str/ Strategi, instruktur /spr/ sprei Fricative + stop + liquid /skr/ skripsi /skl/ sclerosis
The table 3 shows that if there are two consonants occurs in one syllable, the first consonant is stops and fricative, while the second consonant is /r/ or /l, w, s, m, n, f, t, k/ in particular words. Indonesian prohibits consonant clusters at the end of the syllable, except in the word pungut (Alwi et al, 2003, p. 77). Indonesian phonotactic only allows consonant cluster in the initial position of a syllable. There is only one possible combination of three consonants occurring in the initial position in particular order that is fricative followed by stop and ended by liquid.
According to Alwi et al., there are eleven possible patterns of syllable structure accepted in the Indonesian phonological system. The ideal syllable structure is described in the table below.
Table 4 Possible Structure of a Syllable in Indonesian (Alwi et al, 2003) No Structure Word No Structure Word 1 V a.mal 7 CCV slo.gan 2 VC ar.ti 8 CCVC trak tor 3 CV pa.sar 9 CCCV stra.tegi 4 CVC pak.sa 10 CCCVC struk.tur 5 CVCC teks.til 11 CCVCC kom.pleks 6 CVCCC korps *) V=Vowel C=Consonant
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2. Silent Letter
The letter is silent when its sound is not written and spoken in actual speech.
Carney defines silent letter as a condition where letters are often supposed to 'speak' to the reader (2012, p. 40). There are three types of silent letter as mentioned by
Carney. Those types are presented below. a. Auxiliary letter
Auxiliary letter is an extra letter to make up distinct complex graphical unit.
This type of letter can be seen in the letter “w” of [wr] in ‘wrest’ with [r] in ‘rest’ and “a” of [ea] in ‘leather’ with [e] in ‘tether’ (Carney, 2012, p. 40). b. Inert letter
Inert letter is the type of silent letter where the letter is spelled and pronounced in certain form, but unpronounced in other form. This type of silent letter can be seen in the letter “g” which is occur in the ‘signature’ and ‘signal’, but disappeared in the words ‘sign’ and ‘signed’ (Carney, 2012, p. 41). c. Empty letter
Empty letters are letters which are unpronounced but they do not have a special function like auxiliary letters or inert letters. The silent consonant can be classified based on its letter and its consonant cluster. Consonant only found in the onset and the coda of syllable. The letter containing empty letters in the onset like,
“h” in ‘heiress’, ‘honest’, and ‘ghost’. Empty letter on the coda is as in ‘hallelujah’,
‘myrrh’, and ‘rhythm’ (Carney, 2012, p. 42).
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3. Error
The word error is related to the terms uncertainty and not associated with wrong or mistakes. Error in a scientific measurement, as Taylor states, is the uncertainty which occurs in every measurement (1997, p. 3). The error is inevitable in all scientific measurement. The theory of error is used to determine the types of error made by the students.
The analysis of error can be used to identify the factors causing the language acquisition problems. According to Corder, “the study of learners' errors is part of the systematic study of the learners' language which is itself necessary to an understanding of the process of second language acquisition” (1982, p. 1).
Learners’ error is significance in understanding the problem in learning a new language.
There are three types of error which used in this study to identify the error of the participants. Corder in Ellis (1994, p. 56) categorizes three types of error depending on their systematization as presented in the table below.
Table 5 Type of Error of the Learner (Corder in Ellis, 1994) No Type Indicators 1 Pre-systematic The learner not aware of a particular rule. 2 Systematic The learner applied the incorrect rule. 3 Post-systematic The learner applied the correct rule but perform it inconsistently. According to Corder in Ellis, pre-systematic error occurs when the learner cannot explain why a particular form is chosen, systematic error occurs when the learner cannot correct the error but can explain the rule applied, and post-systematic error occurs when the learner can explain the correct rule (1994, p. 56). The researcher interprets the range of the percentage of error to categorize the data into
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a particular type of error. The first type is post-systematic error which occurs in the range between 0%-30%. The minimal error shows that the students already know that a particular rule occurs. However, the students did not apply the rule consistently. The next type is systematic error. Systematic error occurs between the range of 31%-70%. The range indicates that the students applied the incorrect rule.
Last, the amount of error that occurs between 71%-100% is categorized as pre- systematic error. The percentage reflects that the students are not aware of a particular rule.
C. Theoretical Framework
The definitions of Phonology from Odden (2015), the theory of silent letter according to Carney (2012), and the theory of error from Corder (1976) and Taylor
(1997) are the ground theories in this study. The aims of this study are to define the theory of silent letter, the theory of phonotactic constraints, and the theory of error are.
In designing the test, the researcher used the theory of silent letters. The theory was used to find the appropriate words which contain silent letters in the test.
According to the theory, the researcher chooses 24 words which contain empty letters in the initial, medial, and final position.
To answer the first problem formulation, theory of error is applied to categorize the types of error made by the participants and the theory of Phonology is used to analyze the sounds recorded as the data. To solve the second problem, the researcher conducts a comparative analysis. The theory of English syllable structure
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from Laurel and Donna (2010) and the theory of Indonesian syllable structure Alwi et al. (2003) are used to identify the factors causing the error. As Indonesian is the first language of the participants, the Phonology of Indonesian is needed to support the analysis.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the procedure of how the data were taken and analyzed. The chapter consists of three main sub chapters. They are object of the study, approach of the study, and method of the study.
A. Object of the Study
The main object of this study was the pronunciation of English words containing silent letters “h” and “w” by non-English department students. The pronunciation was taken from students from any majors who are not exposed by
English course intensively. The criterion of the participants is active students who have received English course in their first year. Ten participants were involved in this study. There were eight participants from Sanata Dharma University and two participants from Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa University. The participants were given 24 (twenty-four) words containing empty letters “h” and “w”. Empty letter has no specific role as extra letter to make up graphic unit (auxiliary letter) or as a letter pronounced in some forms of morpheme but omitted in other forms of the morpheme (inert letters) (Carney, 2006, pp. 40-42).
To analyze the consistency of the pronunciation error of the participants, the researcher used 3 (three) positions of the silent letter in a word which is in the initial, medial, and final on the test. This technique is also used in identifying the error
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pattern made by the participants of the test. The words are listed in the following table.
Table 6 List of Words of Data Collection Position Words “h” “w” hour wry heir wroth Initial honest written honor whom aghast answer Medial exhort awry ghost hawk nihilism brawl myrrh raw Final catarrh draw cheetah brew messiah paw
B. Approach of the Study
Phonological approach concerns the sound systems in human languages.
According to Odden, one of the foci of phonological theory is to find the correct set of features that defines the sounds and rule systems of all human languages (2013, p. 77). Since the data in this study were sounds, the phonological approach was suitable to analyze the data. Moreover, error analysis was used in this study to analyze the type of error made by the participants as the first problem formulation.
C. Method of the Study
1. Data Collection
In this study, the researcher applied a purposive sampling method.
According to Creswell, the use of this method is to purposefully select participants
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that will best help the researcher understand the problem and the research question
(2009, p. 179). The participants chosen were non-English department students.
The data were the audio recording of the pronunciation of the participants.
The researcher used a voice recorder, a Longman English Pronunciation Dictionary, and the test sheet to collect the data. The Longman English Pronunciation
Dictionary was used to find the correct pronunciation of the words. Then, the test sheet containing list of words and a sound recorder were prepared to collect the data. The researcher asked the participants to read the words and their pronunciations were recorded. The participants were limited to pronounce each of the words once. The list of the words given to the participants is presented below.
Table 7 List of Words Given to the Participants
No Words Intended No Words Intended Pronunciation Pronunciation
1 hour /ˈaʊə.r/ 13 wry /’raɪ/ 2 heir /’er/ 14 wroth /’rɔːθ/ 3 honest /ˈɑːn.əst/ 15 written /ˈrɪt.n/ 4 honor /ˈɑːn.ər/ 16 whom /’huːm/ 5 aghast /ə.ˈɡæst/ 17 answer /ˈæns.ər/ 6 exhort /ɪɡ.ˈzɔːrt/ 18 awry /ə.ˈraɪ/ 7 ghost /ɡoʊst/ 19 hawk /’hɑːk/ 8 nihilism /ˈnaɪ.ɪ.lɪz.əm/ 20 brawl /’brɑːl/ 9 myrrh /mɜː/ 21 raw /’rɑː/ 10 catarrh /kə.ˈtɑːr/ 22 draw /’drɑː/ 11 cheetah /ˈtʃiːt.ə/ 23 brew /’bruː/ 12 messiah /mə.ˈsaɪ.ə/ 24 paw /’pɑː/
2. Data Analysis
Corder in Ellis (1994) says that there are 5 steps that used in the Error
Analysis research. Those steps are, (1) collection of sample of a learner language,
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(2) identification of errors, (3) description of error, (4) explanation of error, and (5) evaluation of error. In the study, the researcher only uses the first, second, and the fourth step. The first step of analyzing the data was collecting the result of the pronunciation test of the words containing silent letter “h” and “w”. Then, the results of the test were transcribed using TranscriberAG (version 1.6.0), Phon
(version 2.1.8), and Longman English pronunciation dictionary referring to IPA.
The researcher focused on the silent letters of the words and omitted error of other letters of the words. The result of the pronunciation was categorized into two parts based on the silent letter contained. Then, the words were divided into three positions: initial, medial, and final.
The table was used to find the percentage of the error of the silent letters and to identify in which part did the participants performed higher number of error.
Then, the summary of the students’ pronunciation error was calculated using the formula presented below.
푡표푡푎푙 푛푢푚푏푒푟 표푓 푒푟푟표푟 푡표푡푎푙 푝푒푟푐푒푛푡푎푔푒 = { } × 100% 푡표푡푎푙 푛푢푚푏푒푟 표푓 푤표푟푑푠
In answering the first problem formulation, the data were analyzed using the indicators of the type of error in table 4 and relate it by means of the number of error performed by the participants. The second step was investigating the phonological factors causing the pronunciation errors of the participants. To analyze the factor, the researcher compared the intended pronunciation with the result pronunciation. Then, the phonotactic constraints of L1 and L2 were related to discover the phonological factors may cause the error.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter consists of two subchapters. The first subchapter discusses the analysis of the types of errors made by the participants in pronouncing silent letter
“h” and “w” in English words. The second subchapter discusses the phonological factors causing the errors. The findings are presented below.
A. The Types of Error Made by The Participants
There were 10 (ten) students who participated in this thesis. In pronouncing silent letters “h” and “w” in English word, the writer finds errors made by the students. The writer analyzes three positions of the silent letter “h’ and “w” in the different position in the words, there are initial, medial, and final position. Thus, the analysis of the type of error consists of three parts: the analysis of error in the initial position, medial position, and final position.
Corder categorize three kinds of errors as stated in chapter 2. There are pre- systematic error which occurs when the learner cannot explain why a particular form is chosen, systematic error which occurs when the learner cannot correct the error but can explain the rule applied, and post-systematic error which occurs when the learner can explain the correct rule.
In conducting the research, ten participants were involved in this study. The participants were given 24 (twenty-four) words containing silent letters “h” and
“w”. The words are containing silent letter in three different position; initial, medial,
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and final. In each position, there were 8 (eight) words to be tested which consists of 4 (four) words containing silent letter “h” and 4 (four) words containing silent letter “w”. In the result of the test, there are 240 pronunciations made by the participants.
According to the result of the pronunciation test, there are 162 errors made by the student in pronouncing silent “h” and “w” in English words from the total
240 data. In the result of the test, the participants made 67 pronunciation errors in the words containing silent letter “h” and 95 pronunciation errors in the words containing silent letter “w”. The result of the pronunciation error for each silent letter is described below.
1. Errors in Silent Letter “h”
The 67 pronunciation errors made by the participants in silent letter “h” consist of 28 errors in the initial position, 17 errors in the medial position, and 22 errors in the final position. In the initial position the participants made 70% pronunciation error. The type of error applied in the position is systematic error.
Then, in the medial position, there are 42.5% pronunciation error performed by the participants. The percentage of error shows that the participants made systematic error in the medial position. In the final position, the pronunciation error made by the participants is 55%. It is indicating that the participants perform systematic error. In the pronunciation of the words containing silent letter “h”, the participants made systematic error in all positions. The result of the students’ performance in pronouncing words containing silent letter “h” is shown in the following table.
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Table 8 Result of the Students’ Pronunciation of Silent Letter “h” Number of Number of Types of No Position Percentage words error error 1 Initial 40 28 70% Systematic 2 Medial 40 17 42.5% Systematic 3 Final 40 22 55% Systematic
The researcher divides the pronunciation into three positons to analyze the consistency of the error. The discussion of error of the words for each position is described below. a. Initial Position
The pronunciation error of the words containing silent letter “h” in the initial position is 70% of the total pronunciation. Thus, participants made systematic error in pronouncing silent “h” in the initial position. The result shows that the students do not apply the correct rule in pronouncing the silent letter.
In the word “hour”, the participants made the minimal error from the list of words containing silent “h”. There are five participants who pronounced the word
“hour” with pronunciation error. The examples of pronunciation error performed by the participants are [haʊər], [haʊr], and [hɒr] instead of the correct pronunciation
/ˈaʊə.r/. Participant 1 and participant 2 made the error by pronouncing the word as
[haʊər]. Then, participant 3 also made error by pronouncing the word as [haʊr]. The last two pronunciation errors are performed by participants 9 and 10 by pronouncing the word as [hɒr]. In the word “hour”, all the non-pronunciation errors are in the form of the intended pronunciation. The result shows that the participants who omit the silent letter have been exposed with the word adequately.
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In the next word, “heir”, all of the participants of this study pronounced the silent letter “h”. The word “heir” is the only word on the list which has 100% pronunciation error. There are four similar pronunciation errors performed by the participants. The participants pronounce the word as [hɛɪr], [heə], [hɛr], and [haɪə] instead of the intended pronunciation as /’er/. In the result of the pronunciation, participant 1 pronounced the word as [hɛɪr]. Then, participant 5 performs pronunciation error as [hɛr]. Participant 8 made a pronunciation error by pronouncing the word as [haɪə]. In the pronunciation as [heə], there are seven participants involved in the pronunciation error. Participants 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 made the similar pronunciation error. The result shows that all of the participants do not silence the letter /h/ in the word “heir”.
The remaining words on the list which are “honest” and “honor” which have six and seven pronunciation errors. In the word “honest”, the participants made three forms of pronunciation error. The intended pronunciation of the word
“honest” is /ˈɑːn.əst/ and the error forms are pronounced as [hɑnəst], [hɒnɛs], and
[hɒnɪst]. The pronunciation error in the form of [hɑnəst] is performed by participants
1, 4, 5, and 6. Then, pronunciation error, [hɒnɛs], is performed by participant 3 and
[hɒnɪst] is performed by participant 9. There are 6 participants who pronounced the silent “h” in the word “honest” and in the word “honor”, 7 participants still pronounced the silent “h”.
In the word “honor”, the participants made two similar pronunciation errors which are [hɒnɒr] and [hɒnər]. According to the Longman English pronunciation
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dictionary, the intended pronunciation of “honor” is /ˈɑːn.ər/. The pronunciation error of the word as [hɒnɒr] is performed by participants 1, 3, and 9. Then, participants 2, 3, 4, and 6 pronounce the word as [hɒnər]. In the pronunciation error, all of the participants pronounced the silent letter “h”. The following table shows the result of the students’ pronunciation of words containing silent “h” in the initial position.
Table 9 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “h” in the Initial Position Number of Total Percentage of error Position Words error pronunciation (%) hour 5 10 50 heir 10 10 100 Initial honest 6 10 60 honor 7 10 70
The table 9 shows the percentage of the pronunciation error made by the participants. In the word “hour”, the participants made 50% of pronunciation error and in the word “heir”, they performed 100% pronunciation error. Then, 60% of the participants made pronunciation error in the word “honest” and 70% participants performed pronunciation error in the word “honor”. b. Medial Position
There is one pronunciation error in the word “aghast”. In the pronunciation error made by participant 2, the word is pronounced as [ɑɡhɑs] instead of /ə.ˈɡæst/.
In the form of the pronunciation error, the participant pronounces the word in two syllables. Besides, in the structure of omitted “h” pronunciation, the participants pronounce the word in one syllable.
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There are seven participants who perform pronunciation error in the word
“exhort” which is not in the intended pronunciation as /ɪɡ.ˈzɔːrt/. The participants made two kinds of similar pronunciation error. There are six students who pronounced the word as [ɛkzhɔrt] and one student pronounced the word as [ɪɡzhɔrt].
The form of pronunciation as [ɛkzhɔrt] is pronounced by participants 2, 3 6, 7, 8, and 10. The only participant who silenced the silent letter “h” as [ɪɡzhɔrt] is participant 9.
In the word “ghost”, there are many variations of the form of the pronunciation. There are eight kinds of pronunciation made by the participants. The participants pronounced the word as [goʊs], [gɒs], [gɒsʃ], [gɒst], [gɑʃ], [ɡəst], [ɡɒʃ] and [ɡoʊst]. However, the participants made no pronunciation error in the word by omitting the silent letter. It is caused by the similar rule of the consonant cluster of
English and Indonesian which prohibit the cluster of /gh/.
Then, in the word “nihilism”, the participants made nine pronunciation errors. There are four kinds of similar error made by the participants. In the pronunciation errors, the word is pronounced as [nɪhɪlɪzəm], [nɪhɪlɪzm], [nɪhɪlɪs], and
[nɪhɪlɪsm]. The [nɪhɪlɪzəm] is pronounced four times by participants 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Then, there is only one participant who pronounced the word as [nɪhɪlɪs] which is participant 8. The last two pronunciation errors were performed twice, [nɪhɪlɪzm] is pronounced by participants 6 and 7 while [nɪhɪlɪsm] is pronounced by participants
9 and 10. The result of the students’ pronunciation of words containing silent “h” in the medial position is displayed in the table below.
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Table 10 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “h” in Medial Position Number of Total Percentage Position Words error pronunciation of error (%) aghast 1 10 10 exhort 7 10 70 Medial ghost 0 10 0 nihilism 9 10 90
The table 10 displays the percentage of the pronunciation error made by the participants in the words containing silent letter “h” in medial position. In the word
“aghast”, the participants made 10% of pronunciation error. Then, in the word
“exhort”, they made 70% pronunciation error. In the word “ghost”, all participants omitted the silent letter “h”. Moreover, in the word “nihilism”, there was 90% of pronunciation error performed. c. Final Position
In the word “catarrh”, there is only one participant who made pronunciation error. The pronunciation error is performed by participant 9 who managed to pronounce the word as [kɑtɑrɑh]. The rest of the participants omitted the silent letter
“h” in this word. Then, in the word “myrrh”, the participants perform 20% pronunciation error by pronouncing the silent letter “h”. There are two participants who performed pronunciation error of the word as [meɪrəh] and [mɪrəh]. In the pronunciation test, participant 9 pronounced the word as [meɪrəh] and participant
10 pronounced the word as [mɪrəh].
In the word “messiah”, there are 90% participants who made pronunciation error. In performing the pronunciation errors, the participants made four kinds of
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similar pattern; [məsɪɑh], [məʃɑh], [məʃɑɪɑh], and [məʃɪɑh]. There are four participants who pronounced the word as [məsɪɑh]. The pronunciation error is performed by participants 1, 2, 4, and 5. The word was pronounced as [məʃɑh] by participant 6. The pronunciation error as [məʃɑɪɑh] was performed once by participant 7. Then, [məʃɪɑh] is pronounced three times by participants 8, 9, and 10.
The word “cheetah” has 100% pronunciation error by the participants. In performing the pronunciation error, all of the participants made similar pronunciation. The participants pronounce the word as [tʃitɑh]. The result of the students’ pronunciation of words containing silent “h” in the final position is presented in the table below.
Table 11 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “h” in Final Position Number of Total Percentage Position Words error pronunciation of error (%) myrrh 2 10 20 catarrh 1 10 10 Final cheetah 10 10 100 messiah 9 10 90
The result of the pronunciation made by the participants in the words containing silent letter “h” in final position is shown in table 11 above. The participants performed 20% of pronunciation error in the word “myrrh”, 10% pronunciation error in the word “catarrh”, 100% pronunciation error in the word
“catarrh”, and 90% pronunciation error in the word “messiah”.
2. Errors in Silent Letter “w”
The result of the test shows that the participants made 95 errors in the pronunciation of words containing silent letter “w”. The total pronunciation error
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consists of 35 errors in the initial position, 34 errors in the medial position, and 26 errors in the final position. In the initial position the participants made 87% pronunciation error. The type of error performed by the participants in the position is pre-systematic error. Then, in the medial position, the participants made 85% pronunciation error. It shows that the participants made pre-systematic error in the medial position. In the final position, there is 65% pronunciation error made by the participants. The percentage indicates that the participants perform systematic error.
In conclusion, in the pronunciation of the words containing silent letter “w”, the participants made pre-systematic error in initial and medial position and systematic error in the final position. The result of the test is shown in the table below.
Table 12 Result of the Students’ Pronunciation of Silent Letter “w” Number of Number of Types of No Position Percentage words error error 1 Initial 40 35 87.5% Pre-systematic 2 Medial 40 34 85% Pre-systematic 3 Final 40 26 65% Systematic
There are three positions of silent “w” analyzed by the researcher. The discussion of error of the words for each position is described below. a. Initial Position
In the words containing silent letter “w” in the initial position, the participants made 87.5% pronunciation error. Therefore, the pronunciation error performed by the student in the words containing silent “w” in the initial position is categorized as pre-systematic error. The number of the pronunciation error of the
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words shows that the participants do not acknowledge the occurrence of the rule of silent letter.
The participants made 90% pronunciation error in the word “wry”, “wroth”, and “written” and 80% error in the word “whom”. Instead of pronouncing the word
“wry” as /’raɪ/, there are nine participants who made three similar errors: [wraə],
[wraɪ], and [wrɪ] in pronouncing the word. The pronunciation error as [wraə] is made by participant 1. Then, participant 6 made a different form of error by pronouncing the word as [wrɪ]. The pronunciation error as [wraɪ] is performed the most. There are participants 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 who pronounced the word in such way.
In the word “wroth”, with the intended pronunciation as /’rɔːθ/, the students made four similar types of pronunciation error. The students made pronunciation errors as [wrɑɪt], [wrɑt], [wrɑθ], and [wrɑts]. The pronunciation error as [wrɑɪt] and
[wrɑts] is performed once. The pronunciation error as [wrɑɪt] is pronounced by participant 1 and [wrɑts] is pronounced by participant 9. The next pronunciation error, [wrɑθ], is performed twice by participants 7 and 8. The last form of pronunciation error as [wrɑt] appeared the most in the test. There are five participants who pronounced the word as [wrɑt], which are participants 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Then, the pronunciation error made by the participants in the word “written” is 90% from the total pronunciation of the word. The participants made two similar types of pronunciation error by pronouncing the silent letter “w” instead of pronouncing the word as /ˈrɪt.n/. There are two participants who pronounced the
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word as [wraɪtn] and seven participants who pronounced the word as [wrɪtn]. In the pronunciation as [wraɪtn], the participants involved in the error are participants 1 and 9. The seven participants who pronounced the word as [wrɪtn] are participants
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10.
The word “whom” is the last word of the list which has different percentage of pronunciation error from the rest of the words. There are 80% pronunciation error performed by the participants. The participants who made an error pronounced the word as [wʊm] and [wɒm] instead of /’huːm/. Five participants who pronounced the word as [wʊm] are participants 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9. Then, three participants pronouncing the word as [wɒm] are participants 3, 6, and 7. The result of the students’ pronunciation test is displayed in the table below.
Table 13 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “w” in Initial Position Number of Total Percentage of Position Words error pronunciation error (%) wry 9 10 90 wroth 9 10 90 Initial written 9 10 90 whom 8 10 80
Table 13 above shows the percentage of the pronunciation error made by the participants in the words containing silent letter “w” in initial position. In the result of the test, the participants made 90% pronunciation error in the words “wry”,
“wroth”, and “written”. Then, in the word “whom”, they made 80% pronunciation error.
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b. Medial Position
The pronunciation error of silent letter “w” in the medial position with 85% is higher than the pronunciation error made by the participants in the words containing silent letter “h” in the medial position with 42.5%. Most of the errors in the medial position are performed in the words containing silent “w”.
The percentage of the pronunciation error of each word is 60% or more. The least number of pronunciation errors is in the word “brawl”. The result shows that there are six participants who performed pronunciation errors. The participant made three kinds of similar pronunciation error. There are four participants who pronounced the word as [brɑw]. It was performed by participants 4, 5, 6, and 8.
Then, the error form of [brɑwl] and [brəwl] are pronounced once. Participant 3 pronounced the word as [brɑwl] and participant 9 pronounced the word as [brəwl].
In the word “hawk”, the participants made 80% pronunciation error. The pronunciation errors are performed in three similar forms of error. There are [hɔw] with one pronunciation, [haw] with two pronunciations, and [hɑwək] with five pronunciations. The pronunciation error which pronounced as [hɔw] was performed by participants 1. Participants 8 and 9 pronounced the word as [haw] and the pronunciation error as [hɑwək] is made by participants 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10.
In the word “answer”, the participants made 100% pronunciation error. All of the participants pronounced the silent “w” in the word. There are three similar kinds of error made by the participants: [answər], [ænswər], and [ɑnswər]. The participants who pronounced the word as [answər] are participants 1, 2, 3, and 4.
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[ænswər] is pronounced five times in the test by participants 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Then,
[ɑnswər] is pronounced once in the test by participant 8.
The word “awry” also has 100% pronunciation error. In the word “awry”, the participants made three kinds of similar pronunciation error. There are [ɑwrɪ] with eight pronunciation errors, [ɔwrə] with one pronunciation, and [awrɪ] with one performance. The pronunciation error as [ɑwrɪ] is performed by participants 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Then, [ɔwrə] is pronounced by participant 9 and [awrɪ] which is pronounced by participant 10. In the word “awry”, all of the participants tend to pronounce the silent letter “w”. The result of the students’ pronunciation is presented in the following table.
Table 14 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “w” in Medial Position Number of Total Percentage Position Words Error Pronunciation of Error (%) answer 10 10 100 awry 10 10 100 Medial hawk 8 10 80 brawl 6 10 60
Table 14 displays the result of the pronunciation error made by the participants in the words containing silent letter “w” in medial position. In the result, all participants pronounced the silent letter “w” in the word “answer”. The participants also made 100% pronunciation error in the word “awry”. Then, in the word “hawk”, the participants made 80% pronunciation error and in the word
“brawl”, they performed 90% of pronunciation error.
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c. Final Position
All participants performed pronunciation error in the word “raw”. The pronunciation errors made by the student have one similar pattern of error. There is
[rɑw] which appeared nine times in the test. The pronunciation error of the word as
[rɑw] is performed by all participants except participant 7 who made no error in the pronunciation.
In the word “draw”, there is 80% participant who made pronunciation error.
There is one similar error pattern performed by the participants. The pronunciation as [drɑw] appeared eight times by participants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10.
In the word “brew” the participants do not make any pronunciation error.
Then, there are nine participants who pronounced the silent letter “w” in the word
“paw”. In performing pronunciation error, the participants made two kinds of similar error patterns. Eight participants pronounced the word as [paw] and one participant pronounced the word as [pɔw]. The participants who pronounced the word as [paw] are participants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10. Then, [pɔw] was pronounced once in the test by participant 6. The following table shows the result of the students’ pronunciation of the words containing silent letter “w” in the final position.
Table 15 Pronunciations of Words Containing Silent Letter “w” in Final Position Number of Total Percentage Position Words Error Pronunciation of Error (%) raw 9 10 90 draw 8 10 80 Final brew 0 10 0 paw 9 10 90
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Table 15 shows the pronunciation of the participants in the words containing silent letter “w” in final position. In the result, there are 90% pronunciation error occurred in the words “raw” and “paw”. Then, all participants omitted the silent letter “w” in the word “brew” and 80% participants performed pronunciation error.
B. Phonological Factors Causing the Error
There are 24 English words containing silent letter “h” and “w” used in this research. The words are divided into three categories based on the position of the silent letter. Furthermore, each of the words has distinct characteristic that the participants pronounce each word differently based on their phonological knowledge. In analyzing the phonological factor causing the error, the researcher focused on relating the error with the Indonesian syllable structure and Indonesian consonant cluster. The phonological factor which causes the error for each silent letters is discussed below.
1. Indonesian Syllable Structure
According to Alwi et al (2003, p. 77), there are six types of Indonesian syllable structure applied in the pronunciation errors of the words. The participants performed the pattern of Vowel-Consonant (CV), Consonant-Vowel-Consonant
(CVC), Consonant-Consonant-Vowel (CCV), Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-
Consonant (CVCC), Vowel-Consonant (VC), and Consonant-Consonant-Vowel-
Consonant (CCVC) as the member of possible Indonesian syllable structure. Each type of the syllable structure is discussed below.
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a. Consonant-Vowel Form
The application of the rule is seen in the pronunciation error of “hour”. The participants pronounced the word as [haʊ.ər]. Instead of omitting the letter “h” as a silent letter, the participants pronounce the letter to be in line with the Indonesian rule. The same pattern occurs in the pronunciation error of the words “honest”,
“heir”, and “honor”.
In the word “heir”, the pronunciation error as [hɛɪ.r], [heə], and [haɪ.ə] was performed. It is shown as well in the pronunciation error of the word “honest” as
[hɑ.nəst], [hɒ.nɛs], and [hɒ.nɪst] and “honor” as [hɒ.nɒr] and [hɒ.nər]. Furthermore, in the words “honest” and “honor”, all of the pronunciation errors have similar form of syllable structure. The participants reconstruct the words into two syllables. The first syllable consists of two sound segments.
In the words containing silent letter “h” in the medial position, the result of the test indicates that the participants also consonant-vowel type of Indonesian syllable structure on the words. In all pronunciation error of the words “nihilism’, the participants applied the same rule. It was pronounced as [nɪ.hɪ.lɪ.zəm],
[nɪ.hɪ.lɪz.m], [nɪ.hɪ.lɪs], and [nɪ.hɪ.lɪ.sm].
In the word containing silent letter “w”, the participants used the same pattern. It appeared in the pronunciation error of the word “hawk”, “paw” and
“raw”. In the words, the participants pronounced it as [hɔw], [hɑw.ək], [haw], [rɑw] and [paw]. The similar structure occurs in Indonesian words initiated with
Consonant-Vowel (CV), as shown in the words [ra.pat], [ho.nor], and [pa.gi]. The
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syllabification of the pronunciation error of the words and the Indonesian words containing similar pattern is presented in the tree diagrams below. The tree diagrams only discuss the syllable which contains the error.
Diagram 1 Participants’ (CV) Syllable Structure of the Words and the Similar Pattern in Indonesian Words “honor” honor
σ σ
/h ɒ -/ /h ɒ -/
“raw” rapat
σ σ
/r ɑw -/ /r ɑ -/
The tree diagrams, above show that the participants placed the consonants
/h/ and /r/ in the onset of a syllable. The similar pattern also occurs in Indonesian, as in the words honor and rapat. The consonant /h/ and /r/ can be placed in the onset position and followed by a vowel to form a consonant-vowel type of syllable.
Moreover, since the syllabification of Indonesian allows the occurrence of letter
“w” and “h” in CV structure, the silent letters of the words “honor” and “raw” were not omitted by the participants.
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b. Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Form
The next type of Indonesian syllable structure applied by the participant on the pronunciation errors is the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) type. In
Indonesian, such rule occurred in the words bahas and jarah. It is pronounced as
[ba.has] and [ja.rah]. The word jarah also indicates that the sound /h/ can be placed at the end of a word. The rule appeared in the pronunciation errors of the words containing silent letter “h” in the initial, medial, and final position.
The consonant-vowel-consonant type is presented in the pronunciation error made by the participants in the words “hour”, “heir”, “aghast”, “catarrh”,
“messiah”, and “cheetah”. The words are pronounced as [haʊr], [hɒr], [hɛr], [ɑɡ.hɑs],
[kɑ.tɑ.rɑh], [mə.ʃɑh], and [tʃi.tɑh]. The syllabification of the pronunciation error of the words and the Indonesian words having similar pattern is displayed in the tree diagrams below. The tree diagrams only discuss the syllable which contain the error.
Diagram 2 Participants’ (CVC) Syllable Structure of the Words and the Similar Pattern in Indonesian Words “aghast” bahas
σ σ
/h ɑ s/ /h ɑ s/
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“catarrh” jarah
σ σ
/r ɑ h/ /r ɑ h/
The tree diagrams above indicate that the sound /h/ can be placed in the onset or coda. The occurrence of the sound /h/ on the onset is shown in the words
“aghast” and bahas. Then, the occurrence of the sound /h/ on the coda shown in the words “catarrh” and jarah. In English, the sound /h/ which placed in the coda position is uncommon. Therefore, in the words containing sound /h/ in the coda, the sound is deleted in the pronunciation. c. Consonant-Consonant-Vowel Form
The next pattern used by the participants in performing pronunciation error is Consonant-Consonant-Vowel type. In Indonesian syllable structure according to
Alwi et al (2003, p.77), a syllable which has two consonants at the beginning, the first consonant must be stops and fricatives /p, b, t, d, k, g, f, s/ and the second consonant is limited in the consonant: /r, l, w, s, m, n, f, t, k/. The application of this rule is seen in the word “draw” which pronounced as [drɑw]. The sound /w/ in the word “draw” is categorized as a part of diphthong since it is occurred in the end of a syllable. Nevertheless, there are words which do not follow the structure and are still acceptable in Indonesian. Such exception occurs in the words wreda which pronounced as [wre.da] and wrisaba which pronounced as [wri.sa.ba]. The same
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pattern was applied by the participants in performing pronunciation error in the words “wry”, “wroth”, “written”, and “awry”.
In the word “wry”, the participants made error by pronouncing the word as
[wraə], [wra.ɪ], and [wrɪ]. The similar pattern is shown in the pronunciation error of the word “wroth” pronounced as [wrɑ.ɪt], [wrɑt], [wrɑθ], and [wrɑt.s], the word
“written” pronounced as [wraɪ.tn] and [wrɪ.tn], and the word “awry” which is pronounced as [ɑ.wrɪ], [ɔ.wrə], and [a.wrɪ]. The discussion of the syllable which contain the error and the Indonesian words having similar pattern is displayed in the tree diagrams below.
Diagram 3 Participants’ (CCV) Syllable Structure of the Words and the Similar Pattern in Indonesian Words “draw” drama
σ σ
/dr ɑw -/ /dr ɑ -/
“awry” wrisaba
σ σ
/wr ɪ -/ /wr ɪ -/
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The tree diagrams above show that the pronunciation error of the participants has similar pattern with the Indonesian words. The syllable structure of the word “draw” and “awry” have the similar pattern with drama and wrisaba. The syllable of each word has the pattern of consonant-consonant-vowel. d. VC, CVCC, and CCVC Form
The last patterns used by the participants in the pronunciation error of the words were Vowel-Consonant (VC), Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Consonant
(CVCC), and Consonant-Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CCVC). In Indonesian terms, the application of the VC type is seen in the word arti and ahli which are pronounced as [ar.ti] and [ah.li]. The participants used this pattern in pronouncing the error form of the words “myrrh” and “messiah” in the test. In the result of the pronunciation error, the word “myrrh” is pronounced as [meɪr.əh] and [mɪr.əh] while the word “messiah” pronounced as [mə.sɪ.ɑh], [mə.ʃɑɪ.ɑh], and [mə.ʃɪ.ɑh].
The word modern in Indonesian terms carried the syllable pattern CVCC. It should be pronounced as [mo.dern]. In the pronunciation test, the participants applied the same pattern in the pronunciation error of the word “exhort” which pronounced as [ɛkz.hɔrt] and [ɪɡz.hɔrt]. Then, in the word “wroth”, “answer”, and
“brawl”, the participants applied the pattern of CCVC. The participants pronounced the word “wroth” as [wrɑt], [wrɑθ], and [wrɑt.s]. It is also shown in the word
“answer” which are pronounced as [an.swər], [æn.swər], and [ɑn.swər] and the word
“brawl” which are pronounced as [brɑw], [brɑw.əl], and [brəw.əl]. In Indonesian terms, the same pattern presented in the word swasta which is pronounced as
[swas.ta]. The syllabification of the pronunciation error of the words and the similar
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pattern occurred in Indonesian words is presented in the tree diagrams below. The tree diagrams only discuss the syllable which contains the error.
Diagram 4 Participants (VC, CVCC, and CCVC) Syllable Structure of the Words and the Similar Pattern in Indonesian Words “messiah” ahli
σ σ
/ɑ h -/ /ɑ h -/
“exhort” modern
σ σ
/h ɔ rt/ /d e rn/
“answer” swasta
σ σ
/sw ə r/ /sw a s/
The tree diagrams above indicate that the pronunciation error made by the participants has similar pattern to the Indonesian words. In the pronunciation error
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of the word “messiah”, the participants construct a syllable consisting of a vowel and consonant. The same pattern can be found in the word ahli. Then, the pronunciation error of the word “exhort” has similarities to the word modern which has consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant structure. The word “answer” and swasta have the same syllable structure of consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant.
2. Indonesian Consonant Cluster a. Silent Letter “h”
In English, the sound /h/ is always syllable initial before a stressed vowel
(Laurel and Donna, 2010, p. 59). Then, it is possible to omit the letter “h” in the initial position of a syllable if such situation occurred. However, such regulation does not exist in Indonesian terms. The sound of letter “h” in the beginning of a syllable in Indonesian is pronounced in most occasion. Furthermore, Indonesian phonotactic constraints are different from the English phonotactic constraints. The result of the pronunciation error performed by the participants shows that the rule of Indonesian syllable structure influences how they pronounce the words containing silent “h” in the initial, medial, and final position.
In Indonesian phonotactic constraints, the sound /h/ can be placed in the initial, medial, and final position of a word. The regulation can be found in the word hari, paha, and darah. Indonesian also prohibits the sound /h/ to be coupled with other consonants as the immediate segment. This regulation is applied by the participants in all pronunciation error of the words containing silent letter “h” in all position.
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In the initial position, the participants pronounce the sound /h/ in the word
“hour” as [haʊ.ər], [haʊr], and [hɒr]. The same phenomenon occurs in the words
“honest”, “heir”, and “honor”. In the word “heir”, the participants pronounced the word as [hɛɪ.r], [heə], [hɛr], and [haɪ.ə]. The word “honest” was pronounced as
[hɑ.nəst], [hɒ.nɛs], and [hɒ.nɪst]. Then, “honor” was pronounced as [hɒ.nɒr] and
[hɒ.nər]. In all words containing silent letter “h” in the initial position, the participants tend to pronounce the sound /h/ since it is acceptable in Indonesian.
In pronunciation of the word containing silent letter “w” in the medial position, the participants also pronounced the sound /h/ as it occurred in Indonesian phonotactic constraints. The word “aghast” was pronounced as [ɑɡ.hɑs] instead of
/ə.ˈɡæst/. The words “exhort” and “nihilism” also received the same regulation. In the word “exhort”, the participants pronounced the word as [ɛkz.hɔrt] and [ɪɡz.hɔrt].
Then, the word “nihilism” was pronounced as [nɪ.hɪ.lɪ.zəm], [nɪ.hɪ.lɪz.m], [nɪ.hɪ.lɪs], and [nɪ.hɪ.lɪ.sm]. Through the pattern, the Indonesian phonotactic constraints of the syllable beginning with “h” is maintained. However, the participants who omit the silent letter “h” and pronounce the word as [ɑ.ɡɑs] do not prove the acknowledgement of the rule of silent letter in the word. The Indonesian phonotactic constraints prohibit the pattern of the sounds /gh/ as well. In a syllable which has two consonants at the beginning, the first consonant must be stops and fricatives and the second consonant is limited in the consonants: /r, l, w, s, m, n, f, t, k/. Thus, the pattern of /gh/ is prohibited in Indonesian phonotactic constraints.
The similar phenomenon occurs in the pronunciation of the word “ghost”. Although
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all of the participants omit the silent letter “h”, the pattern is accepted in Indonesian phonotactic constraints.
In final position, the English phonotactic constraints prohibit the sound “h” to be present at the end of a syllable. As stated before, the sound /h/ is only present in the initial position of a syllable and followed by a stressed vowel as in the word
“heat” which pronounced as [hiːt] (Laurel and Donna, 2010, p. 59). The rule enables the sound /h/ in the words “myrrh”, “catarrh”, “cheetah”, and “messiah” to be omitted. Nevertheless, Indonesian phonotactic constraints allow the sound “h” to be placed at the end of a syllable. The rule is represented in the word asuh and jauh which are pronounced as [asuh] and [ja.uh]. However, several words in Indonesian carry the omission of the sound /h/ as in the words rumah and boleh. The pronunciation of the words as [ru.ma] and [bo.le] are acceptable in non-formal
Indonesian.
The Indonesian syllable sequences do not allow the consonant cluster in the end of a syllable. Therefore, the cluster of consonant /r/ which coupled with consonant /h/ is uncommon. As in the words “myrrh” and “catarrh”, the sound /h/ is silenced to preserve the rule and avoid the uncommon sound. Then, Indonesian phonotactic constraints prohibit a syllable consisting one consonant. In order to obey the rule, the sound of /h/ is preceded with a vowel or inserting a vowel between the sound /r/ and /h/. The application of the method is presented in the pronunciation error of the words containing silent letter “h” in the final position on the test. The construction of the word “catarrh” as [kɑ.tɑ.rɑh] and the word “myrrh” as [meɪr.əh] and [mɪr.əh] carries the acceptable pattern in Indonesian phonotactic constraints.
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The similar pattern presented in the word “messiah” which pronounced as
[mə.sɪ.ɑh], [mə.ʃɑh], [mə.ʃɑɪ.ɑh], and [mə.ʃɪ.ɑh] and the word “cheetah” which pronounced as [tʃi.tɑh]. b. Silent Letter “w”
The Indonesian phonotactic constraints have similar rule of the sound /w/ as
English does. The sound /w/ is allowed to initiate a syllable if followed by a stressed vowel. The example of the rule is occurred in English in the words “war” and
“won”. According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the word “war” is pronounced as [wɔːr] and the word “won” is pronounced as [wʌn]. In Indonesian, the rule is contained in the words wajar and waktu. Furthermore, it is possible to place the sound /w/ at the end of a syllable only if it is a part of diphthong. As seen in the pronunciation of the English words “blow” as [bloʊ] and “sew” as [soʊ] and
Indonesian word kalau as [ka.law]. Nevertheless, there is a slight difference in the
Indonesian phonotactic constraints. It allows the sound /w/ to initiate a syllable followed by vowel or the consonant /r/. The application of the rule is seen in the word wreda and wrisaba.
Indonesian phonotactic constraints allow the sound /w/ to be placed in the beginning of a syllable. Then, the pronunciation error of the word “wry” as [wraə],
[wra.ɪ], and [wrɪ] and the word “whom” as [wʊm] and [wɑm] are accepted in
Indonesian term. The similar pattern is shown in the pronunciation error of the word
“wroth” as [wrɑ.ɪt], [wrɑt], [wrɑθ], and [wrɑt.s] and the word “written” as [wraɪ.tn] and [wrɪ.tn].
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As stated in above, if a syllable has two consonants at the beginning, the first consonant must be stops and the second consonant is limited in the consonant:
/r, l, w, s, m, n, f, t, k/. According to the rule, the form of the consonant cluster /wr/ as in the word “wry”, “wroth”, and “written” is not possible in Indonesian.
Nevertheless, consonant /w/ in Indonesian can be classified as a semi-vowel.
Through the rule, the form of consonant cluster /wr/ is acceptable. The word contains the rule are wreda which pronounced as [wre.da] and wrisaba which pronounced as [wri.sa.ba]. Then, Indonesian phonotactic constraints also permit the combination of sound /wh/ in a syllable. The rule is applied in the word “whom”.
The participants pronounced one of the sounds /w/ or /h/ as the beginning of a syllable in order to preserve the rule.
The application of the Indonesian phonotactic constraints are also presented in the pronunciation error of the words containing silent letter “w” in the medial position. The structure of a syllable as /sw/ is possible in Indonesian. It is shown in the word swasta which pronounced as [swas.ta] and swalayan which pronounced as [swa.la.yan]. Then, the sound /sw/ is common and acceptable in Indonesian. The result of occurrence of such syllable structure is the pronunciation error in the word
“answer”. Instead of omitting the sound /w/ as the intended pronunciation in
English, the participants pronounced the word as [an.swər], [æn.swər], and [ɑn.swər].
As stated before, the form of consonant cluster /wr/ in the beginning of a syllable is acceptable. It is applied by the participants in the pronunciation error of the word
“awry” as [ɑ.wrɪ], [ɔ.wrə], and [a.wrɪ]. The occurrence of the sound /w/ at the end of a syllable appeared in the pronunciation error of the words “brawl” and “hawk”.
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The error was made in the pronunciation of the word “brawl” as [brɑw], [brɑw.əl], and [brəw.əl] and “hawk” as [hɔw], [hɑw.ək], and [haw]. The participants pronounce the sound /w/ in the end of a syllable regarding to the Indonesian phonotactic constraints which accept such pattern.
The Indonesian phonotactic constraints do not prohibit the occurrence of the sound /w/ in the final position. The sound /w/ is presented in the final position as a part of diphthong /aw/ which is seen in the pronunciation of the word walaupun as [wa.law.pun]. The rule was adopted by the participants in the pronunciation error of the word “raw”, “draw”, and “paw”. Instead of omitting the sound /w/, the participants treat the sound /w/ as a part of the diphthong. The participants who made error in the word “raw”, “draw”, and “paw” have similar pronunciation pattern. All of the error form appeared in the words “raw” were pronounced as [rɑw], in the word “draw” were pronounced as [drɑw], and in the word “paw” were pronounced as [paw].
In the word “brew”, such error pattern did not appear regarding to the
Indonesian phonotactic constraints. The only accepted form of the sound /w/ at the end of a syllable is as a diphthong /aw/. Then, in the word “brew”, the participants swift the sound /ə/ and /w/ with a diphthong /əʊ/ which more acceptable in
Indonesian.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the analysis, the researcher concludes that the non-
English department students made many errors in the pronunciation of the words containing silent letters “h” and “w”. There are 162 errors appeared in the test. The participants made 67 pronunciation errors in the words containing silent letter “h” and 95 pronunciation errors in the words containing silent letter “w”. In the test, the students made two kinds of error: systematic error and pre-systematic error.
In the words containing silent letter “h” in all positions and silent letter “w” in final position, the students made systematic error. In the pronunciation of words containing silent letter “h” in initial position, the students made 70% error. Then, the students performed 42.5% pronunciation error in the medial position and 55% pronunciation errors in the final position. The systematic error also appeared in the words containing silent letter “w” in the final position. There are 65% pronunciation errors performed by the students. Within this category, the words “heir” and
“cheetah” have 100% pronunciation errors. Moreover, the students made no pronunciation error in the words “ghost” and “brew”.
Pre-systematic error appeared in the words containing silent letter “w” in initial and medial position. In the initial position the participants made 87.5% pronunciation errors. There are two words which have 100% pronunciation error in this position. All students in the test pronounced the words “answer” and “awry” in
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an error form. Then, in the medial position, the participants made 85% pronunciation errors.
According to the result of the test, the researcher concludes that the phonotactic constraints of Indonesian as the mother tongue of the students affect the pronunciation error they made. It is reflected through 162 pronunciation error made by the students from the total 240 pronunciations in the test.
The result of the analysis shows that the pronunciation error is done by applying the rule of Indonesian phonotactic constraints. It is the rules of syllable structure and consonant cluster in Indonesian. In the error form of the pronunciations, the students do not omit the silent letters “h” and “w” to maintain the rules.
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REFERENCES
Alwi, Hasan, Soenjono Dardjowidjojo, Hans Lapoliwa, & Anton M. Moeliono. (2003). Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa Indonesia (3rd ed). Jakarta: Balai Pustaka. Ardi. (2015). An Analysis of Students’ Pronunciation Error of English Silent Letters (undergraduate Thesis). Universitas Islam Negeri Pangeran Antasari, Banjarmasin. Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. (2010). The Linguistics Structure of Modern English. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Carney, Edward. (2012). A Survey of English Spelling. New York: Routledge. Corder. (1982). Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cresswell, John W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed). California: Sage Publication. Crystal, David. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dardjowidjojo, Soenjono. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology for Indonesian. Jakarta: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia. Ellis, Rod. (1994). The Study of Second Language Ac quisition (Oxford Applied Linguistics). Philadelphia: Oxford University Press. Fauzi, Fakhri. (2014). Error Analysis of Sundanese English Pronunciation on Fricatives Sound. Al-Turas, 20(1), 199-217. Gut, Ulrike. (2009). Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Kurniawan, Dedi. (2016). The Error Analysis of the Pronunciation of Dental Fricative Consonants (/θ, /ð/) by The Students of English Education Study Program Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Sriwijaya University. The Journal of English Literacy Education, 3(2), 157-163. McMahon, April. (2002). An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Odden, David. (2013). Introducing Phonology (2nd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Podhaizer, Mary E. (1998). Painless Spelling. New York: Baron’s Educational Series.
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Pospíšilová, Markéta. (2014). The Ability of Czech Speakers of English to Pronounce Words with Silent Letters (Bachelor Thesis). Charles University, Prague. Reed, Marine & John M. Levis (Eds.). (2015). The Handbook of English Pronunciation. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. Richard, Jack & Richard Schmidt. (2002). Longman Dictionary of Teaching and Applied Linguistics (3rd ed). London: Pearson Education Limited. Setawan, Ebta. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia 2012-2017. Retrieved from https://kbbi.web.id/ (on 8 March 2018-20 March 2018). Taylor, John R. (1997). An Introduction to Error Analysis (2nd ed). California: University Science Books. Widyaningtyas, Ishardini. (2014). Error Analysis on English Consonants Produced by Second Semester Students of Study Program of English Universitas Brawijaya (Thesis). Universitas Brawijaya.
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APPENDIX 1
The Result of the Participants’ Pronunciation P1 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [haʊər] 2 heir [hɛɪr] 3 honest [hɑnəst] 4 honor Initial [hɒnɒr] 5 wry [wraə] 6 wroth [wrɑɪt] 7 written [wraɪtn] 8 whom [wʊm] 9 aghast [ɑɡɑs] - 10 exhort [ɛgzɔrt] - 11 ghost [goʊs] - 12 nihilism - Medial [naɪlzəm] 13 answer [answər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɔw] 16 brawl [brɑol] - 17 myrrh [mɪr] - 18 catarrh [kɑtɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məsɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brɛʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P2 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [haʊər] 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [ɒnɛst] - 4 honor Initial [hɒnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑt] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wʊm] 9 aghast [ɑɡhɑs] 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [gɒs] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzəm] 13 answer [answər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɑwək] 16 brawl [brɑol] - 17 myrrh [mɪrtʃ] - 18 catarrh [kɑɵɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məsɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brɛʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P3 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [haʊr] 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [hɒnɛs] 4 honor Initial [hɒnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑt] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wɒm] 9 aghast [ɑɡɑs] - 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [gɒs] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzəm] 13 answer [answər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɑwək] 16 brawl [brɑwl] 17 myrrh [mɪr] - 18 catarrh [kɑtɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah - Final [məsɪɑ] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brɛʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P4 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [ou(ə)r] - 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [hɑnəst] 4 honor Initial [hɒnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑt] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wʊm] 9 aghast [ɑɡɑs] - 10 exhort [ɛkzɔrt] - 11 ghost [gɒsʃ] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzəm] 13 answer [answər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hoɑk] - 16 brawl [brɑw] 17 myrrh [mɪər] - 18 catarrh [kɑtɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məsɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brɛʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P5 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [ou(ə)r] - 2 heir [hɛr] 3 honest [hɑnəst] 4 honor Initial [hɒnɒr] 5 wry [raɪ] - 6 wroth [wrɑt] 7 written [rɪtn] - 8 whom [hʊm] 9 aghast [ɑɡɑs] - 10 exhort [ɛkzɔrt] - 11 ghost [gɒst] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzəm] 13 answer [ænswər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɑwək] 16 brawl [brɑw] 17 myrrh [meɪər] - 18 catarrh [kɑtɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məsɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brəʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P6 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [ou(ə)r] - 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [hɑnəst] 4 honor Initial [hɑnər] 5 wry [wrɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑt] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wɒm] 9 aghast [ɑɡəst] - 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [gɑʃ] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzm] 13 answer [ænswər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɑwək] 16 brawl [brɑw] 17 myrrh [meɪr] - 18 catarrh [kətɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məʃɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɛʊ] - 23 brew [brəʊ] - 24 paw [pɔw]
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P7 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [ou(ə)r] - 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [ɑnəst] - 4 honor - Initial [ɑnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑθ] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wɒm] 9 aghast [eɡəst] - 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [ɡəst] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪzm] 13 answer [ænswər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [hɔk] - 16 brawl [brɔl] - 17 myrrh [mer] - 18 catarrh [kɑtɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məʃɑɪɑh] 21 raw [rɔ] - 22 draw [drɔ] - 23 brew [brəʊ] - 24 paw [pɔ] -
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P8 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [ou(ə)r] - 2 heir [haɪə] 3 honest [ɑnəst] - 4 honor - Initial [ɑnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑθ] 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [wʊm] 9 aghast [eɡəst] - 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [ɡɒʃ] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪs] 13 answer [ɑnswər] 14 awry [ɑwrɪ] 15 hawk [haw] 16 brawl [brɑw] 17 myrrh [mɪer] - 18 catarrh [kɑθɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məʃɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brəʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P9 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [hɒr] 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [hɒnɪst] 4 honor Initial [hɒnɒr] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [wrɑts] 7 written [wraɪtn] 8 whom [wʊm] 9 aghast [eɡəst] - 10 exhort [ɪɡzhɔrt] 11 ghost [ɡɒʃ] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪsm] 13 answer [ænswər] 14 awry [ɔwrə] 15 hawk [haw] 16 brawl [brəwl] 17 myrrh [meɪrəh] 18 catarrh [kɑtɑrɑh] 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məʃɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [brəʊ] - 24 paw [paw]
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P10 No Words Position Pronunciation Error 1 hour [hɒr] 2 heir [heə] 3 honest [ɑnəst] - 4 honor - Initial [ɑnər] 5 wry [wraɪ] 6 wroth [rɔθ] - 7 written [wrɪtn] 8 whom [hʊm] - 9 aghast [əˈɡæst] - 10 exhort [ɛkzhɔrt] 11 ghost [ɡoʊst] - 12 nihilism Medial [nɪhɪlɪsm] 13 answer [ænswər] 14 awry [awrɪ] 15 hawk [hɑwək] 16 brawl [brɔl] - 17 myrrh [mɪrəh] 18 catarrh [ketɑr] - 19 cheetah [tʃitɑh] 20 messiah Final [məʃɪɑh] 21 raw [rɑw] 22 draw [drɑw] 23 brew [bru] - 24 paw [paw]
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APPENDIX 2
Pronunciation Test Given to the Participants
PRONUNCIATION TEST
Description: This test aims at knowing how the non-English department students pronounce English words. Instruction: Please read the following words once.
No. Words No. Words 1 hour 13 myrrh 2 answer 14 heir 3 catarrh 15 hawk 4 honest 16 cheetah 5 awry 17 honor 6 messiah 18 brawl 7 aghast 19 wry 8 raw 20 exhort 9 wroth 21 draw 10 ghost 22 written 11 brew 23 nihilism 12 whom 24 paw
This is the end of the test. Thank you for participating this test.