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Filosofická Fakulta Masarykovy Univerzity Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Veronika Bartošová Comparison of English Pronunciation of Italian and Spanish Speakers Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph. D. 2019 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, PhD., for her kind advice and guidance she offered me. I would also like to thank my dear friends, the speakers, who kindly provided the recordings. Last but not least, I am grateful for my family and friends´ unconditional support and patience. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................ 7 2 Theoretical Framework ............................................ 10 2.1 Sound Systems ................................................................................ 11 2.1.1 The English Sound System ....................................................... 11 2.1.2 The Spanish Sound System ...................................................... 26 2.1.3 The Italian Sound System ......................................................... 34 2.2 Second Language Acquisition and Learning.................................... 40 2.2.1 First Language Interference ...................................................... 42 2.2.2 English Teaching and Learning in Spain ................................... 44 2.2.3 English Teaching and Learning in Italy ..................................... 45 2.2.4 Exposure to the English Language and Native Speakers of English in Spain and Italy ............................................................................. 49 3 Case studies ............................................................ 52 3.1 Methodology .................................................................................... 52 3.2 Analysis of the Recordings and Questionnaires .............................. 57 3.2.1 Spanish Speakers ..................................................................... 58 3.2.2 Italian Speakers ........................................................................ 71 3.3 Comparison ..................................................................................... 82 3.4 Socio-Cultural Factors ..................................................................... 85 4 Conclusion ............................................................... 86 5 Bibliography ............................................................. 89 5.1 Sources............................................................................................ 89 5.2 Works Cited ..................................................................................... 89 Summary…………………………………………………………………………...91 Shrnutí……………………………………………………………………………...92 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………...93 List of Tables Table 1: Classification of the English diphthongs ......................................... 16 Table 2: Classification of the English consonants ........................................ 21 Table 3: Classification of the Spanish consonants ....................................... 27 Table 4: The vowel phonemes of Spanish ................................................... 28 Table 5: The vowel phonemes of Italian ...................................................... 34 Table 6: Classification of the Italian consonants .......................................... 35 Table 7: Questionnaire template .................................................................. 54 Table 8: Assigned text template ................................................................... 56 Table 9: Model transcription of the assigned text in General American ....... 57 Table 10: Pablo – speech transcription ........................................................ 58 Table 11: Pablo – questionnaire .................................................................. 60 Table 12: Enrique – speech transcription ..................................................... 62 Table 13: Enrique – questionnaire ............................................................... 65 Table 14: Manuel – speech transcription ..................................................... 67 Table 15: Manuel – questionnaire ................................................................ 68 Table 16: Sara – speech transcription ......................................................... 71 Table 17: Sara – questionnaire .................................................................... 72 Table 18: Chiara – speech transcription ...................................................... 75 Table 19: Chiara – questionnaire ................................................................. 76 Table 20: Marco - speech transcription ........................................................ 78 Table 21: Marco – questionnaire.................................................................. 80 Table 22: Overview of the pronunciation errors ........................................... 82 6 1 Introduction Pronunciation, being one of the most important features of learning a second language, is usually put second after the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar in the process of learning of foreign languages. Nevertheless, pronunciation is of immense importance regarding speech comprehensibility and, subsequently, shapes listeners´ perception of the speaker, therefore, a significant amount of effort should be put into acquiring a satisfactory, almost native-like, level of pronunciation proficiency. This thesis is concerned with the comparison of English pronunciation of Spanish and Italian speakers. As both Spanish and Italian are Romance languages, their sound systems share many commonalities and learners of English from both countries share certain struggles while acquiring English pronunciation due to the distinctness of the sound system of English as a Germanic language. Several researchers conducted research on the identification and listing of mistakes Italian and Spanish speakers make during their speech in English; however, in this thesis, they will be combined in a comparative study while considering cultural and social factors that influence the acquisition of pronunciation as well as the first language interference. This thesis will focus on occurrence of the earlier identified and expected pronunciation errors of the Spanish and Italian speakers in this research while reading a text and speaking English without preparation. It will also focus on occurrence of previously non- listed pronunciation mistakes while identifying possible reasons behind these mistakes in the respondents´ speeches. 7 The theoretical part of this thesis will provide an overview of the sound systems of English, Spanish and Italian. For this purpose, the most useful sources of information on the matter were Hualde´s The Sounds of Spanish (2005), Roach´s English Phonetics and Phonology: A practical course (2009) and Radimský´s Fonetika Italštiny (2018). This part of the thesis will also include a list of recurrent English pronunciation errors made by Spanish and Italian speakers. Furthermore, the theoretical part will examine second language learning in general, introducing some of Stephen Krashen´s theories; and the factors that influence this process in a positive or negative manner. In addition, it will also examine English teaching and learning in Spain and Italy and exposure to the English language in these two countries. The biggest source of data for this purpose was found in Caraker´s study “Spain and the Context of English Language Education” (2016) and Faez´s “English Education in Italy: Perceptions of Teachers and Professors of English” (2011). In the case studies of this thesis, analysis of English pronunciation of three Spanish speakers and three Italian speakers will be done. Their pronunciation skills will be challenged by reading an English text and then answering an assigned question without preparation. Their speeches will be recorded, transcribed and then objectively analysed and compared in the Results section, mainly focusing on segmental mistakes and stresses. Mistakes from the lists of possible pronunciation errors from the theoretical part will be identified in this section while pointing out other errors not listed in the theoretical part. Besides recording their speech, the respondents will be asked to fill in a questionnaire for the purpose of connecting the evaluation of their pronunciation to the socio- cultural factors that influence successful acquisition of English, such as their 8 exposure to the English language and the native speakers of it and their perception of the quality of English teaching in their countries as well as their own motivations. The conclusions of this research will be drawn based on which of the two language groups of speakers display higher occurrence of pronunciation errors than their counterparts while speaking English. The presupposed reasons behind the speakers´ lack of English pronunciation proficiency are the insufficient exposure to English and the native speakers of it and the relatively low effectivity of the English language teaching methods in Spain and Italy. Even though these two countries share similar teaching environments and possibilities of exposure to English through media and literature, the proposed hypothesis, based on the authors own observation of speakers of Spanish and Italian, is that the
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