Anglophone Pronunciation of Foreign Languages Information
The following is a list of common non-native pronunciations English-speakers make when trying to speak foreign languages. Much of it is due to transfer of phonological rules from English to the new language as well as differences in grammar and syntax that they encounter.
This article uses International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation. See Help:IPA pronunciation key and IPA chart for English for an introduction.
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Arabic
- English has no pharyngeal consonants and speakers are likely to have difficulty with the both the voiced and voiceless pharyngeal fricatives.
- The voiceless pharyngeal fricative (/ħ/) may be pronounced as the voiceless glottal fricative ([h])
- The voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ has no clear equivalent in English and speakers may simply omit it.
- Speakers may omit the glottal stop /ʔ/
- English has no voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ and speakers may replace it with [ɡ].
- Arabic distinguishes certain emphatic (pharyngealized) consonants (mostly alveolar) with non-emphatic ones; English makes no such distinction and speakers are likely to pronounce them as their English equivalents.
- Speakers have difficulty with gemination of consonants, which is contrastive in Arabic (i.e. /darrasa/ 'taught' vs. /darasa/ 'studied') but not in English.
German
There are several German vowels that create problems for English speakers:[1]
- One of the most difficult is German /eː/ as it is further forward in the mouth than in varieties of Standard English so that speakers may pronounce German Geht as if it were English gate.
- Similarly, /a/ is very similar to the accent of northern and central England. Hall (2003) suggests that the vowel in English hut is closest.
Japanese
- Speakers may have trouble distinguishing between long and short vowels. They may also pronounce short vowels closer to English lax vowels:
- Speakers may pronounce long /ɯː/ with full lip rounding (i.e. [uː]).
- May use stress accent, as is normal in English, rather than the standard Japanese pitch accent, and may replace /a/ with a schwa when making syllables unstressed.
- Standard Japanese postalveolars (the sounds spelled with sh, ch and j) are alveolo-palatal and English speakers may pronounce them as [ʃ], [tʃ] and [dʒ] instead of [ɕ], [tɕ] and [dʑ] respectively.
- May have difficulty producing geminated consonants.
- Speakers may fail to pronounce an utterance-final [ɴ] as uvular and, instead, may pronounce it as a velar nasal.
Mandarin Chinese
- English speakers have difficulty with the 4 lexical tones of Mandarin Chinese.[2]
- Chinese initials also cause a problem.
- The aspiration is stronger in Chinese and the English voiced consonants have voiceless Chinese counterparts: /d/, /b/, /g/ are missing in Chinese and are pronounced as unaspirated /t/, /p/, /k/, English speakers often pronounce them as /d/, /b/, /g/.
- Distinguishing between /tʂ/ (zh) and /tɕ/ (j), or /tʂʰ/ (ch) and /tɕʰ/ (q) is often difficult for English speakers.
- Final /y/ (ü) is often mispronounced [u].
- Final [ɨ] (in zhi, zi, chi, ci, shi, si, ri) is often substituted with [i] by English speakers.
Portuguese
IPA note: Portuguese diphthongs contain one of two glides (semivowels). Final <i> and <e> are represented as /j/, and final <u> and <o> are represented as /w/. The IPA /x/, which is sometimes associated with Portuguese <r>, is similar to English <h>, but more dorsal (like <k>).
- Although Portuguese and Spanish have a similar written language, the oral language is substantially different. Phonetically, Portuguese is closer to Catalan and French. Thus, it has a much larger phonemic inventory than Spanish, while, on the other hand, the written language does not automatically indicate all of these pronunciation changes. Speakers may not know the rules, or overlook them, resulting in many mispronounced words.
- Many Brazilians have great difficulty understanding those from Portugal due to phonemic changes. An Anglophone speaker who learns some European Portuguese (i.e. still has a strong English accent) will hardly be understood in Brazil.
- Speakers may have difficulty with nasal vowels, especially in the nasal diphthongs /ɐ̃w/ (as in João, pão etc.) and /ɐ̃j/ (as in Magalhães, mãe etc.). They also may not fully understand the complex rules as to where nasal vowels exist in words. For example, um /ũ/ (a/an/one masculine) is a nasal vowel, but neither vowel in uma /uma/ (a/an/one feminine) is nasalized. The nasalization of <u> is left completely unmarked on muito /ˈmũj.tu/ (all variations), mui /mũj/ (archaic muito), and ruim /xũj/ (Brazil only), causing more confusion. Following a nasal vowel, <m> and <n> are not fully pronounced, though beginning Anglophone speakers will often over-enunciate these two nasal consonants.
- Although rare, speakers may forget that orthographic <h> is always silent in Portuguese (as in French and Spanish). Example: humano /uˈman.u/ (human). However, it is part of three digraphs: <ch> /ʃ/ (see below), <lh> /ʎ/, and <nh> /ɲ/.
- As with French, Portuguese <ch> represents the equivalent of English <sh>. English speakers may commit a spelling pronunciation error and say /tʃ/ instead of /ʃ/. The letter <x> (but not <ex>) is also commonly (but not always) pronounced as /ʃ/. Examples: chuva /ˈʃu.va/ (rain), baixo /ˈbaj.ʃu/ (low, short). On the other hand, the <t> in <te> and <ti> (but not <té> or initial <te>) does sound as English <ch> in many Brazilian dialects. Examples (Brazil only): teste /ˈtɛʃ.tʃi/ (test), artigo /axˈtʃi.gu/ (article), tipo /ˈtʃi.pu/ (type).
- Speakers may not realize the acute accent changes not only which syllable is stressed, but also the pronunciation of the vowels <á>, <é>, and <ó>. Thus, nós (we) is /nɔs/, but nos (us) is /nus/. (See below for diphthongs)
- Speakers may have trouble distinguishing between two or three similar pairs of Portuguese diphthongs:
- /oj/ vs. /ɔj/ Example: coisa" /ˈkoj.za/ (thing) and herói /eˈrɔj/ (hero)
- /ew/ vs. /ɛw/ Example: museu /muˈzew/ (museum) and chapéu /ʃaˈpɛw/ (hat)
- /ej/ vs. /ɛj/ (Brazil only) Example: queijo /ˈkej.ʒu/ (cheese) and idéia /iˈdɛj.a/ (idea)
- Speakers may have difficulty with stressed vowel alternations such as novo /ˈno.vu/ (new, masc. singular) versus novos /ˈnɔ.vuʃ/ (new, masc. plural) and nova /ˈnɔ.va/ (new, fem. singular). Open and closed vowel alternations can also be a problem, such as avó /aˈvɔ/ (grandmother-open) and avô /aˈvo/ (grandfather-closed). The circumflex (ˆ) in Portuguese indicates both a closed and stressed vowel which is subject to possible nasalization.
- Similar to French where the preposition "à" combined with the definite article "le" forms the contraction "au," Portuguese combines "a" with the definite article "o" to form a contraction. However, this Portuguese contraction is spelled "ao" instead of "au." Speakers may not realize "ao" is pronounced the same as the diphthong "au" /aw/, and break it into two syllables instead.
- As "ai" is a diphthong /aj/ in Portuguese, speakers may mispronounce words such as saída /saˈi.da/ (exit) with two syllables **/ˈsaj.da/** instead of three. (The accent breaks the diphthong.) This can even extend to Portuguese-origin words in English, where typesetting limitations may preclude accent marks. Example: açaí /a.saˈi/ (South American fruit), not **/aˈsai/**.
- Speakers may have difficulty with Portuguese <r> and and its diagraph <rr>. The various sounds can differ between English, Spanish, European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and even among different dialects within Portugal and Brazil. Examples (using standard dictionary IPA, as noted, these can vary): raro /ˈxa.ru/ (rare), ferro /ˈfɛ.ʁu/ in Portugal or /ˈfɛ.xu/ in Brazil (iron), nadar /naˈdax/ (to swim--infinitive). If the word following an infinitive begins with a vowel sound, the terminal /x/ changes to /r/. See also Guttural R in Portuguese.
- Without an accent mark, Portuguese words ending in letter <l> are stressed on the last syllable. However, in English, many cognates (via French and Latin) are stressed on the first or middle syllable--even if spelled identically. Examples: Portuguese normal /noxˈmaw/ vs. English normal /ˈnɔr.məl/, and Portuguese hospital /oʃ.piˈtaw/ vs. English hospital /ˈhɔs.pi.təl/.
- Since many Anglophone speakers learning Portuguese have previously studied Spanish (but are not fluent), subtle, yet obligatory differences in pronunciation may be overlooked. Examples: Spanish dos /dos/ (two) instead of dois /dojʃ/, Spanish no /no/ (no) instead of não /nɐ̃w/ , and Spanish año /ˈaɲo/ (year) instead of ano /ˈanu/. In addition, both the Spanish diphthong <oy> and the final stressed vowel <ó> have affinity to the Portuguese monophthong <ou>. However, only Spanish <ó> is pronounced similarly. Thus, they may mispronounce Portuguese words such as sou /so/ (I am), as the Spanish equivalent soy /soi/.
- As with Italian, but notably absent in Spanish, the final syllable in words ending with the vowels <i> or <u> is stressed (assuming no accent mark elsewhere). Speakers with a stronger background in Spanish may stress the wrong syllable. Furthermore, in Brazilian Portuguese, words ending with the vowel <e> or <o>, take the sound of <i> or <u> respectively, but without affecting the stress. Examples: comi /koˈmi/ (I ate), comeu /koˈmew/ (he/she ate), breve /ˈbɾɛ.vi/ ("brief" in Brazil) or /ˈbɾɛ.v(ɨ)/ ("brief" in Portugal), o bolo /u ˈbo.lu/ (the cake).
- Though technically not incorrect, in most popular dialects (including Brazil) the -am ending on third person plural -ar verbs is pronounced as "ão" /ɐ̃w/, rather than the expected "ã" /ã/. This extends the ending of são /sɐ̃w/ and estão /ˈiʃ.tɐ̃w/ (English: "they are," from the irregular verbs ser and estar "to be") and vão /vɐ̃w/ (English: "they go" from the irregular verb ir) to virtually all third person plural -ar verbs. Examples: cantam /ˈkã.tɐ̃w/, usam /ˈu.zɐ̃w/, jogam /ˈʒo.gɐ̃w/, etc.
- In a similar manner as above, the -em ending on third person plural -er and -ir verbs is pronounced as "ãe" /ɐ̃j/ in European Portuguese, and as an "imaginary" <ẽi> /ẽj/ in Brazil, rather than the expected /ẽ/. Example: vivem /ˈvi.vɐ̃j/ (Portugal) or /ˈvi.vẽj/ (Brazil).
- As with English, Portuguese uses rising intonation to indicate a question. However, the inverted question mark (as in Spanish) "¿" is not used, nor (in most cases, especially Brazil) is the subject and verb reversed (e.g. Is he coming? vs. He's coming?). Furthermore, no Romance language uses the equivalent of the English auxiliary verb to do (e.g. "Did she leave?" vs. "She left?"). Therefore, in Portuguese, a question without an interrogative is usually formed the same way as a statement. Anglophone speakers reading aloud from unfamiliar Portuguese text might not know to scan ahead looking for question marks before it is too late to use rising intonation.
Russian
- Speakers are likely to have difficulty with Russian's extensive palatalization system. Instead of palatalized sounds they may produce a C+[j]:
- Speakers of English dialects that have undergone yod-dropping may have more difficulty with /tʲ/, /dʲ/, /sʲ/, /zʲ/, and /nʲ/ (coronal consonants) than other speakers.
- Most speakers have little difficulty with /fʲ/ and /vʲ/.
- Some speakers have difficulty with the trilled [r] in Russian, especially the palatalized [rʲ] since neither are sounds of English.Jones & Ward (1969:185)
- Non-rhotic speakers, even after learning the rolled-r, are prone to omit /r/ in such Russian words as удар [uˈdar] ('blow') and горка [ˈɡorkə] ('hillock').
- Depending on the speaker's dialect, they may have difficulty with "dark l" (that is, velarized /l/, which in Russian contrasts with a palatalized /lʲ/) in positions other than in the syllable coda.Jones & Ward (1969:168)
- Speakers may have trouble with consonant clusters that do not exist in English such as тьма [tʲma] ('darkness'), ждать [ʐdatʲ] ('to wait'), ткнул [tknul] ('prodded'), всегда [fsʲɪɡˈda] ('always'), мной [mnoj] ('me', instrumental), and взморье [ˈvzmorʲjə] ('sea-shore'). Most likely, they will insert an epenthetic schwa.
- Difficulty with Russian vowels:
- Most English speakers have no [ɨ] (although it is an allophone in some dialects) and speakers generally have difficulty producing the sound.Jones & Ward (1969:33) They may instead produce [ɪ].
- Speakers may replace /e/ with the diphthong in day. e.g. [ˈdeɪlə] instead of /ˈdʲelə/ дело ('affair').Jones & Ward (1969:41)
- Speakers are likely to diphthongize /u/, making сижу /sʲɪˈʐu/ ('I sit') sound more like [sɪˈʒʊu]. Some speakers may also universally front it to [ʉ].Jones & Ward (1969:64)
- Speakers may also diphthongize /i/ in a similar fashion, especially in open syllablesJones & Ward (1969:30)
- Speakers may have difficulty with Russian /o/, pronouncing it as either [ɔ] or the diphthong in boat.Jones & Ward (1969:56)** It is likely that speakers will make the second element of Russian diphthongs insufficiently close, making them resemble English diphthongs (e.g., [druzʲeɪ] instead of [druzʲej]) or pronounce it too long.Jones & Ward (1969:75)
- Speakers may pronounce /a/ as [æ] in closed syllables так ('so') and [ɑ] in open syllables два ('two').Jones & Ward (1969:47)
- Speakers may also have difficulty with the Russian vowel reduction system as well as other allophonic vowels.
- Tendency to reverse the distribution of [ɐ] and [ə]. English speakers tend to pronounce [ə] in the pretonic position, right where [ɐ] is required in Russian, while they pronounce [ɐ] in pre-pretonic positions, where [ə] occurs. Thus, speakers may say голова ('head') as [ɡɐləˈva] instead of [ɡəlɐˈva] and сторона ('side') as [stɐrəˈna] instead of [stərɐˈna].Jones & Ward (1969:55)
- There are no cues to indicate correct stress in Russian. Speakers must memorize where primary and secondary stress resides in each word and are likely to make mistakes.Jones & Ward (1969:212)
- Speakers tend to forget to geminate double consonants.Jones & Ward (1969:214)
Spanish
- Some speakers may fail to distinguish between the trilled /r/ and the tapped /ɾ/, making word pairs like ahorra ('save') and ahora ('now') homophones.
- Non-rhotic speakers often omit /ɾ/ in words like carne ('meat') and tercer ('third').
- Speakers may not pronounce voiced stops (/b/ /d/ /ɡ/) as fully voiced. They may also fail to pronounce them as approximants or fricatives between vowels and word-finally (in such positions, /b/ is realized as [β], /d/ as [ð], and /ɡ/ as [ɣ].
- Speakers may pronounce orthographic B as [b] and orthographic V as [v]; or, in an attempt to imitate native speakers, pronounce both as /b/ initially and /v/ between vowels. In most dialects of Spanish, these two letters represent a single /b/ phoneme with an allophone [β]; /v/ does not exist in Spanish.
- English speakers frequently split diphthongs into two distinct vowels, pronouncing words like tienes ('you have') as [tʰiːˈɛnɛs] instead of [ˈt̪jenes] and jueves ('Thursday') as [huːˈɛvɛs] instead of [xweβes].
See also
References
- ^ Hall, C. (2003). Modern German pronunciation: An introduction for speakers of English (2ed). New Your: Manchester University Press.
- ^ Gottfried & Suiter (1997)
Bibliography
- Gottfried, T.L.; Suiter, T.L. (1997), "Effect of linguistic experience on the identification of Mandarin tones", Journal of Phonetics 25
- Jones, Daniel; Dennis, Ward (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press
Categories: Phonology
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