Department of English and American Studies English Language And

1 Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Vanesa Marenišťáková Non-Native Performers in English Bachelor's Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. 2021 2 / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. Author's signature 3 Acknowledgement I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. for her consistent support, guidance, and encouragement throughout the whole process of writing this thesis. 4 Table of Contents List of Tables 6 List of Figures 6 Introduction 7 1 English and Slovak pronunciation 10 1.1 Similarities and dissimilarities in classification and pronunciation of vowels 11 1.2 Common mistakes in the pronunciation of English vowels by Slovak speakers 15 1.3 Similarities and dissimilarities in classification and pronunciation of consonants 16 1.4 Common mistakes in the pronunciation of English consonants by Slovak speakers.... 19 1.5 Amalgam English 20 1.6 Difference in articulatory settings 21 2 Factors influencing second language acquisition 22 2.1 An early age influence of bilingual environment 23 2.2 English speaking country immersion 25 2.3 Other factors and individual differences 28 2.4 Interference of mother tongue 29 3 A survey on the perception of English accents of Slovak performers 32 3.1 Participants 32 3.2 Methodology 32 3.3 Procedure 33 5 3.4 Analysis 34 3.4.1 Perceived 'nativeness' and 'non-nativeness' of the performers 34 3.4.2 Common pronunciation mistakes 36 3.4.3 Authenticity of accent and effect of different factors on SLA 38 3.4.4 Ability to differentiate between native and non-native speakers 41 3.4.5 Slovak accent 41 3.5 Research outcome 42 Conclusion 43 Works cited 45 Summary (English) 48 Summary (Czech) 49 Appendix - Questionnaire blank and survey responses 50 6 List of Tables Table 1 Consonants [Konsonanty] 16 Table 2 Classification of English and Slovak consonants 17 Table 3 Performers detected as native and non-native speakers by the respondents 34 Table 4 Rating of the authenticity of accent of the performers 38 Table 5 Ranking of the performers based on the authenticity of accent 39 Table 6 Factors influencing acquisition ofL2 40 List of Figures Figure 1 Daniels Jones' vowel chart 12 Figure 2 IP A vowel chart 13 7 Introduction The prominence and popularity of songs produced in English, rather than those produced in languages with lesser global impact, is becoming a leading factor in the choice of music, especially among the young population. The need and desire of singers to break into the music industry by targeting the mass audience of young people are increasing, and it consequently results in the production of their songs in English. There is a higher possibility for the performers to be recognized abroad rather than those producing the music in their native languages. The Slovak performers are no exception and many of them pursue this career. In many cases, it is possible to distinguish between native and non-native speakers if the accent sounds too foreign. It is a stereotypical representation that Slavic speakers have a very prominent foreign accent, due to their distinct Slavic mother tongues. This foreign accent can consequently have a negative effect on the later success of the performers. Much research has been done on singing pronunciation, second language acquisition and its possible influencing factors, the interference of the mother tongue, and the effect on the speaker's accent. Such researchers are for instance J.E. Flege, who wrote many research papers on the SLA and different influencing factors, or Rod Ellis and her The Study of Second Language Acquisition. From the Slovak scholars, Martin Ološtiak provides very detailed research on the Pronunciation adaption of English propria in Slovak language [Výslovnostná adaptácia anglických proprií v slovenčine], which is a source of beneficial information for this thesis. In addition, many university students of English have also focused in their theses on these topics. However, due to the growing focus on authentic English accent as a precondition of success not only in the music industry, and also on various factors which presuppose higher degrees of language proficiency, questions crucial for this thesis arise. What is the main 8 influencing factor in second language acquisition? And which one of these factors has the biggest effect on the pronunciation of English? Can native speakers, the British and Americans, recognize that the singers are non-native? Is it possible for non-natives, specifically Slovaks, to be mistaken for native speakers? The focus of this thesis is to analyze and assess the pronunciation of the non-native performers, Slovaks, based on their singing pronunciation. The aim is to find out if they can be mistaken for native speakers and which internal and external factors have the biggest effect on second language acquisition (SLA) with the focus on their pronunciation. English, as an international language, is an inseparable part of the everyday life of modern people. Examination and perception of different backgrounds of language acquisition, in addition to realization what the most common pronunciation mistakes are, can have an additional benefit not only on SLA but also the success of already mentioned performers. For this reason, a study, focused on all the aspects mentioned, was carried out and provided as a source of useful information in understanding the core of acquisition of not only English. Firstly, the theoretical part provides general information about the similarities and dissimilarities of the Slovak and English language and the consequent common pronunciation mistakes and errors. It also provides information about the factors influencing SLA such as bilingual environment, age, motivation, as well as interference from the mother tongue. The second part consists of the practical analyses of the questionnaire. The total number of respondents was 8, they were divided into two groups of natives and non-natives, and then into two subgroups - the British and the Slovaks. Each subgroup consisted of four respondents. They were given a questionnaire with a set of recordings to analyze the performers and to detect non-native singers. All of the recordings were produced by Slovak performers, but the respondents did not know that. They were only given the information that there are three options - all the recordings are produced by non-natives, all of the recordings 9 are produced by natives, or there is a mix of songs produced by non-natives and natives. The recordings were labeled by numbers and not the actual names of the singers. Another information unknown to the respondents was that the performers were divided into three groups based on a different background of their SLA. The first group comprises of performers who grew up in a bilingual environment, either one of their parents was English or they lived in an English-speaking country since early childhood. The second group consists of performers who acquired English later in their lives, either by moving to an English-speaking country or by study abroad programs. And the last group includes performers who did not acquire English until later in their lives, either through general formal instruction in school or via social media, movies, etc. The aim was to find out if the performers could be mistaken for native speakers, purely based on their singing pronunciation. Based on the outcome of the questionnaire, the focus was then put on the possible factors which could influence the singing pronunciation of the performers. The author focused on the research questions already stated earlier and also whether it is necessarily true that people growing up in a bilingual environment, where the parents are bilingual, are going to have better pronunciation. The outcome of the questionnaire stated which performers were mistaken for native speakers. Then, the individual backgrounds of each singer were taken into consideration and consequently, the main influencing factors were discovered. Besides, the thesis also focuses on the common mistakes and errors which made the non-natives sound foreign. As the thesis is not based on the quantitative method of research and the questionnaire was rather time demanding, the total number of the respondents was relatively low. However, it does not affect the quality of the results. 10 1 English and Slovak pronunciation Firstly, it is important to define the main similarities and differences between Slovak and English phonetics sounds - vowels and consonants. There is a great number of factors, which contribute to the difficulties in learning a second language. However, different patterns in pronunciation in English and particular mother tongue may be regarded as one of the most influential. In the case of singing pronunciation, it is, however, very difficult to take as an example only one pronunciation model of English. For the general classification of the similarities and dissimilarities, the RP system is used as a reference, but the term Amalgam English is considered as well and explained in chapter 1.5. Slovak and English vowels and consonants bear common features as well as dissimilarities. In some cases, Slovak equivalents of English sounds are apparent and easy to find, however, it is not a perfect match and slight changes may occur. The subchapters will individually deal with the phenomenon called transphonemization, which will be crucial in finding and defining the similarities and dissimilarities in the pronunciation of phonetic sounds. This term was developed by Croatian linguist Rudolf Filipovic (1982), who proposes a new name for substitution on the phonological level, "in order to better organize, classify and describe the changes that occur in the course of substitution" (p. 36) and calls it transphonemization.

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