Analysis
Diphthongs
Native speaker
Respondent
/ʃɔː/
[ʃʊər]
eɪ
e
Table 1
Table 1 shows the examples of differences in pronouncing diphthongs taken from the
analysis. Based on our analysis, the respondent had used a diphthong instead of a long vowel
and vice versa.
The first example shows the comparison in pronouncing the word ‘sure’. The correct
pronunciation of ‘sure’ is /ʃɔː/. However, as a non- native speaker, our respondent pronounced
the word as [ʃʊər]. There are other words that is supposed to be a long vowel /ɔː/ but is
pronounced as a diphthong /ʊə/, such as poor. Slow speech delivery is responsible for this
manner of pronunciation (Jaseem, 2014). Another reason why the respondent pronounced the
long vowel /ɔː/ as a diphthong /ʊə/ may be because of the spelling. The word ‘sure’ has a
similar spelling to ‘pure’ and ‘cure’. Both of those words contain the diphthong /ʊə/. Since the
spelling is similar, the respondent, being a non-native speaker, may assume that the
pronunciation would be the same.
Next, based on our analysis it is found that the respondent had reduced the use of
diphthong and pronounced it as a monophthong instead. In the audio, the native speaker
pronounced the letter ‘a’ as /eɪ/ and our respondent on the other hand pronounced it as /e/.
There are a few factors on why this mispronunciation happens. The factors found are
from a research conducted on Bahasa Indonesia. Since Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia
are quite similar in many ways, we hope that it can be related and used to explain why our
respondent omit the diphthong /eɪ/. For Indonesian speakers, there are possibilities for learners
to have problems in diphthongs which are not found in Bahasa Indonesia: /ɪə/, /ʊə/, /eɪ/, /eə/,
and /oʊ/ (AGPS, 1986). Our respondent did not pronounce the diphthong /eɪ/ may be because
the diphthong /eɪ/ is not commonly found in Bahasa Malaysia and to produce a sound that is
not commonly used in our first language could be difficult.
Short and Long Vowels
Native speaker
Respondent
ˈiː.zi
ɪzɪ
Table 2
Table 2 shows the examples of short and long vowels involved in our respondent’s
mispronunciation of words in the script.
The first example is for the word ‘easy’. From the audio, it can be heard that the native
speaker pronounced it as / ˈiː. zi/ while the respondent pronounced it as [ɪzɪ]. This is an example
of how the respondent produced a short vowel /ɪ/ instead of a close front vowel /i:/. This may
be because in Bahasa Malaysia, the vowels tend to be produced the same length each time.
(Yong, 2001) states that because there is a difference in the phonological system between
Malay/Indonesian and English, there are serious problems that can cause confusions in
pronunciations. For example, most vowels are pronounced with comparable lengths.
Production of Consonants and Vowels Sounds
Native speaker
Respondent
ðə
də
ðiː
ðə
əv
ɒv
kæn
kən
tʊ
tə
fə
fɔː
kəmˈpjuːtə
kɒmˈpjuːtə
Table 3: Vowels
Native speaker
Respondent
ðə
də
ma:k
ma:rk
ˈɜː.li
ˈɜrː.li
Table 4: Consonants
Table 3 shows the differences in vowels and consonants produced by the native speaker
and our respondent.
Firstly, based on our analysis, it can be heard that there is a difference in producing the
word ‘the’ by our respondent and the native speaker. When the word ‘the’ comes before a
vowel, the native speaker will produce it as / ðiː/. Our respondent on the other hand, pronounces
it as / ðə/, like the normal way to say ‘the’. However, there is no grammar rule that states ‘the’
should be pronounced as ðiː/ when it comes before a vowel.
In addition, there are also a few other differences that our respondent made when
producing certain vowel sounds. For example, [ɒv] instead of /əv/, [kən] instead of /kæn/ and
a few more. The differences are not that prominent as the reason to why some of these
differences happen is because of connected speech. Our respondent also made a
mispronunciation on the word ‘computer’. She pronounced it as [kɒmˈpjuːtə] as appose to
/kəmˈpjuːtə/. This may be because of how the word is pronounced in Bahasa Malaysia. In
Bahasa, the word is borrowed from English. Our respondent produced the word as of the
Bahasa Malaysia pronunciation.
Next, Table 4 shows the difference in production of consonants by the native speaker
and our respondent.
Our respondent sometimes would mispronounce fricative consonants and to be more
precise, the voiced ‘th’ /ð/. Instead of producing /ð/, our respondent tends to replace it with the
consonant /d/. It can be heard quite frequently for the word ‘the’. A factor that relates to this is
the fact that in Bahasa Malaysia, the fricative consonant /ð/ does not exist. (Yamaguchi, 2014)
states that these TH sounds (/ð/ and /θ/) are not found in the sound inventory of any local
languages in Malaysia. This explains why our respondent made this mistake as the sound TH
is not a familiar sound.
Plus, our respondent occasionally would pronounce /r/ for words that have /r/ in the
final position. For example, the words ‘mark’ and ‘early’. The native speaker speaks in a British
accent and it is not common for British people to produce /r/ that is present at the end of a
syllable in certain words. This type of accent is called non-rhotic where the /r/ only occurs
before vowels. Malaysians are exposed to both British and American accents. This is the reason
why our respondent produce a few words in rhotic accents, which are commonly heard used
by Americans.
Although the differences and mispronunciations are not prominent, the differences still
affect the quality of pronouncing those words. There were not many significant
mispronunciations as our respondent is fluent in English.
Stress