Universidad de Chile Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades Departamento de Lingüística An analysis of the pronunciation of English consonantal sounds in proper names and other capitalized items by Chilean advanced learners of English Informe final de Seminario de Grado para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Inglesas Alumnas Laura Ibaceta Quintanilla María Teresa Lobos Yañez Tamara Olivos Muñoz Glendy Soto Zúñiga Profesor Patrocinante Clotilde Vivanco Torres Santiago, Chile 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to deeply thank Professor Clotilde Vivanco for the time and effort spent guiding and reviewing this seminar study and for her constant support throughout the years. We would also like to express our gratitude to Professors Hiram Vivanco and Carlos Zenteno, who assisted us in answering our queries. Finally, we are very grateful for the participants’ disposition to be part of this project. AGRADECIMIENTOS Agradecimientos a Beatriz, porque solamente tú le das sentido a todo y tu amor es el sol que me ilumina. A mis padres, por la vida. A mis amigas Carolina y Karin por su apoyo y amistad a toda prueba. A mis compañeras de seminario por su arduo trabajo y dedicación. Y Sally, por tu inmenso amor perruno. Laura Ibaceta Quintanilla Agradezco a Dios por haberme permitido terminar este gran desafío. A mi familia, por enseñarme a perseverar y a luchar por lo que quiero. A mi madre, especialmente, por apoyarme y no dejarme caer cuando más lo necesité. A mi tía Nana por creer en mí, por apoyarme y mimarme siempre. A mis amigas (S.O.C.A), por haberme aguantado todo este tiempo y, también, por el apoyo constante durante estos años de universidad; gracias por alegrarme la estadía en la carrera y por creer en mis capacidades. A mis compañeras de seminario, por su perseverancia a pesar de las dificultades. También agradezco sinceramente a Miss Coty, por su paciencia y dedicación durante todos estos años y, en especial, durante la realización de este informe. Finalmente agradezco infinitamente a mi abuelita que me ha acompañado y apoyado siempre desde su lugarcito en el cielo; siéntete orgullosa, viejita, esto va para ti. “Thanks to anyone who’s ever given us a lift or anything and to those who believed in us from the early days. They can all say what they want now but they’ll never do what we’ve done”. María Teresa Lobos Yañez A mis amigos Cristina y Valentín que estuvieron conmigo siempre. A Pablo, por su amor y cariño. Agradezco también a mis papás por su apoyo incondicional, y porque me enseñaron que con esfuerzo y dedicación todo es posible. Gracias por todo. Tamara Olivos Muñoz Agradezco en primer lugar a Dios por su refugio constante. A mis amigas S.O.C.A por su apoyo incondicional durante todos estos años de universidad. A mi familia por su constante preocupación y a mis amigos de toda la vida por darme ánimos para terminar esta tarea. También me gustaría agradecer a mis compañeras de seminario por su dedicación y a nuestra profesora guía por su infinita paciencia. Glendy Soto Zúñiga Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………........... 1 1. Objectives…………………………………………………………………………... 2 2. Research questions………………………………………………………………… 2 3. Theoretical and descriptive framework………………………………………….. 3 3.1. Phonology…………………………………………………………………………. 3 3.1.1. Segments………………………………………………………………………… 3 3.1.1.1. Description of the phonological system of English consonant sounds……….. 4 3.1.1.2. Description of the phonological system of Chilean Spanish consonant sounds 6 3.1.1.3. Chart including English and Chilean Spanish consonant systems……………. 13 3.2. Interlanguage……………………………………………………………………… 14 3.3. Contrastive Analysis………………………………………………………………. 17 3.4. Error Analysis……………………………………………………………………... 18 3.5. Taxonomy applied in the study…………………………………………………… 19 4. Methodology………………………………………………………………………... 33 4.1. Subjects……………………………………………………………………………. 33 4.1.1. Criteria for the selection of subjects…………………………………………… 33 4.2. Data……………………………………………………………………………… 33 4.2.1. Data elicitation…………………………………………………………………... 34 4.2.1.1. Reasons for the choice of news headlines…………………………………….. 34 4.2.2. Data elicitation procedure……………………………………………………….. 35 4.2.3. Data processing…………………………………………………………………. 36 4.2.3.1. Tasks performed prior to the data processing…………………………………. 36 4.2.3.1.1. Predictions of possible deviant forms learners may produce……………….. 36 4.2.3.2. Tasks performed to process the data………………………………………….. 72 5. Analysis and discussion of the results…………………………………………….. 73 5.1. General results…………………………………………………………………….. 74 5.2. Specific results…………………………………………………………………….. 77 6. Conclusions………………………………………………………………………… 89 7. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………... 91 Appendix 1 Orthographic transcription of the news headlines Appendix 2 Analysis of the actual deviances produced by the subjects according to the taxonomy applied in the study Appendix 3 Number of deviances produced by each subject according to the taxonomy applied in the study Introduction The purpose of the present study was to analyze the pronunciation of English consonantal sounds in proper names and other capitalized items by a group of 12 advanced Chilean Spanish learners of English with the aim of studying the deviances produced. These learners were undergraduate students of the English Linguistics and Literature academic programme, Universidad de Chile. The data of the study consisted of the subjects' recordings of a selection of news headlines taken from the BBC World News. The data processing involved the identification of deviant forms, their classification on the basis of a taxonomy of the difficulties caused by English consonant sounds to Chilean Spanish speakers proposed by Professor C. Vivanco (1991), the corresponding explanation of such deviances, and the quantification of the different types of difficulties. In the field of linguistic studies, our main concern was phonology at a segmental level; therefore, we made use of descriptions of the consonantal systems of English and Chilean Spanish. Thus, the study focused on descriptive and contrastive phonology. As we dealt with subjects in the process of acquiring a second language, an important role was assigned to the field of applied linguistics, specifically to second language acquisition studies. Special importance was given to studies on contrastive analysis, error analysis, and interlanguage. Such studies were also present in the taxonomy applied in this research. In this research report, we have presented the theoretical and descriptive framework of the study focusing our attention on consonantal segments. In addition, the methodology used is described providing information on the selection of subjects, procedures for data collection, data, and procedures for the analysis of the subjects' performance. Next, an analysis and explanation of the deviances in the pronunciation of consonantal sounds produced by the 12 subjects are provided. Results are shown, first, individually, presenting the types of deviant forms produced by each subject, and then, general results are provided. At the end of this research report, conclusions have been drawn from the findings including potentialities, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further investigation. 1 1. Objectives The following general and specific objectives were formulated. General objective To identify and explain the deviations in the pronunciation of consonantal sounds in proper names and other capitalized items produced by Chilean Spanish advanced learners of English. Specific objectives 1. To identify the deviant forms produced by Chilean Spanish advanced learners of English concerning the pronunciation of consonantal sounds in proper names and other capitalized items. 2. To classify the deviant forms according to the taxonomy of the difficulties English consonant sounds present to Chilean Spanish speakers. 3. To quantify the types of deviations produced by Chilean Spanish advanced learners of English. 2. Research questions The following research questions guided our study. 1. Which types of deviances do Chilean Spanish advanced learners of English produce in the pronunciation of English consonantal sounds present in proper names and other capitalized items on the basis of the taxonomy applied in the study? 2. What is the frequency of occurrence of the types of deviations produced by Chilean Spanish advanced learners of English? 2 3. Theoretical and descriptive framework 3.1. Phonology In linguistic studies, phonology goes hand in hand with phonetics. According to Cruttenden (2008: 3) in his book Gimson’s Pronunciation of English, the phonetics of a language “concerns the concrete characteristics (articulatory, acoustic, and auditory) of the sounds used in language”. Phonology, on the other hand, corresponds to “how sounds function in a systemic way in a particular language” (p.3). Phonological units can be divided into two main classes. One class is constituted by segments, which correspond to “any discrete unit in a stream of sounds that can be identified, either physically or auditorily” (Roach 1991: 69). The minimal distinguishable component of a segment is the phoneme, which is also a fundamental unit of phonology. The phoneme is used to form meaningful contrasts between utterances by means of distinctive features1.The other class corresponds to suprasegments, which can be defined as “aspects of sounds that do not seem to be properties of individual segments” (Roach 2002: 75) such as stress, tone and intonation, among other