CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this part, the writer will discuss some theories that connect to this study. The
theory starts from the definition of linguistic and technology in human life.
2.1. Linguistics
Based on Jhon Lyons (1968, p.1), linguistic may be defined as the scientific
study of language. Language is a media for every living to communicate each others.
Todd (1987; 6) describes language as a set of signals by which we communicate. There
are two ways, especially for human to communicate; speech and writing. However, it’s
not easy for people to understand and get the meaning from every language that is
spoken. Therefore there are sciences that study about language, which is linguistic
(Department of Linguistic, 2010). That means linguistic is study of persons’ ability in
catching the language both oral and writing. In linguistic study, there are several types
which study about catching the language; Semantic, Syntax, Pragmatic, Sociolinguistic,
and Phonology. Each type has its respective.
2.1.1. Type of Linguistics
There are some types the way to get the meaning of language that studies it;
Semantic is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions (Richmond, 1996). For
example, in English “book” can be has two meaning as a written or printed work
consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers or to
reservation something. When in concerned on the structure and ordering of components
within a sentence called syntax (Yule, 2010: 96). That means this study focus in
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grammatical structure to became correct sentence. Sometimes when people talk to each
other, they assume that their are talking with somebody who grow up in the same
environment. Whereas not everyone can understand what they are talking about.
Therefore, there are studies that learn what speakers mean called pragmatic (Yule,
2010:127). And the type of linguistic that studies about sound that produces from people
is phonology.
2.1.2. Phonology
Every language has a wide variety of speech sounds. The study that learns about
speech sounds is phonology. Phonology is that branch of linguistics, closely related to
phonetics, which studies the manners of organization and usage of the speech sounds in
natural language (Wiśniewski, 2007). That means phonology is related to how people
produce and pronounce some words. There are two type studies that study phonology;
phonetic and phonemic. Phonetic is the study of speech sound which humans are
capable of producing (Katamba, 1989:1). There are three major branches of phonetic;
acoustic phonetic, auditory phonetic and articulatory phonetic. Acoustic phonetic studies
the physical properties of sounds made by the vocal tract. Auditory phonetic studies how
the human ear perceives sounds and how the human brain recognizes and interprets them
as distinctive units. Articulatory phonetic studies the production of single sounds by the
vocal tract. That means to study about how speech produce that related with the
phonology is articulatory phonetic.
According to Roach (1991; 9-10), there are 7 main articulatory using by people
to produce sounds; first, pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. There are
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differences long of pharynx between women and men. It is about 7 cm long for women
and 8 cm long for men. Second, soft palate (velum) is one of the articulator that can be
touched by the tongue. Third, hard palate is called the roof of the mouth. Fourth,
alveolar ridge is the position is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. Fifth,
tongue. Sixth, teeth and seventh is lips. Below is the picture of articulatory phonetic that
used to produce sounds.
Figure 2.1 : The Articulatory
Source
: Roach, 1991 p.21
Meanwhile, phonemic is the study of phoneme; speech sound that signals a
difference in meaning ( Stageberg & Oaks, 2000: 11). It means phoneme studies that
learn about how to pronounce some word in order to understand meaning of the word
clearly. As an example, fine / faɪn / and vine / vaɪn / which have a same sound when
people pronounce them, but actually has a different meaning. There are three types of
phoneme; consonant, vowel and diphthong.
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2.1.2.1. Consonant
A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a constriction
or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract, such as the lips, tongue and teeth.
The word "consonant" also refers to each letter that denotes this type of sound. This term
comes from a Latin word and means "sounding together" or "sounding with" — the idea
being that consonants generally don't sound on their own but occur only with a nearby
vowel.
Based on Stageberg & Oaks (2000:23), there are three main features must be
considering when discuss about the articulation of consonants: voicing which refers to
whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating, place of articulation refers to the location
where sounds produce, and manner of articulation is what kind of obstruction occurs.
Todd (1987:21) also said that three of five characteristic to describe about consonant are;
the position of vocal cords whether is vibrate or not, the manner of articulation and the
place of articulation.
In the making of speech sound, the position of vocal cord divided into two parts;
voiced and voiceless. Voiced is a sound that needs a vibration when it is produced such
as, / z /, / b /, / g /, and so on. Meanwhile voiceless is a sound no need vibration when
produced such as, / p /, / f /, / t /, and so on.
There are eight commonest in place of articulation; Bilabial is sound produce
when two lips come together as in the sounds / p / “ pin”, / b / “ bin” and / m / “ mouth”.
Labiodental is where the lower lip and the upper teeth come together and produce
sounds / f / “fat” and / v / “ vase”. Dental is where the tip or blade of the tongue contact
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with the upper teeth and represented sound / θ / “ those” and / ð / “ then”. When the tip
or blade of the tongue touches alveolar ridge is called alveolar as example sounds / t / “
tick”, / d / “ down”, / s / “ sea” , / z / “ zoo”, / n / “ no” , / l / “ line “ and / r / “ rough”.
Palato – alveolar produce sounds when the tip of the tongue is close to the alveolar ridge
as example / ʃ / “ sky “ , / tʃ / “ chin “, / dʒ / “ gin “ and / ʒ / “ measure”. Palatal
produce sounds when the front of the tongue approximate to the hard palate; / j / “ you”.
When the back of the tongue approximate to the soft palate called velar. Velar produce
sounds / k / “ kill “, / g / “ go “, / ŋ / “ sing “. The table on the below will make it easy
Glottal
Velar
Palatal
Alevolar
Palato-
Alveolar
Manner
Dental
Labiodental
Bilabial
Place
Voicing
to understand about consonant.
Voiceless
p
t
k
Voiced
b
d
g
Stops
Voiceless
f
θ
s
Voiced
v
ð
z
ʃ
h
Fricative
ʒ
Voiceless
tʃ
Voiced
dʒ
Affricative
Nasals
Voiceless
m
n
Lateral
Voiceless
l
Retroflex
Voiceless
r
ŋ
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Glides
Voiceless
j
w
Table 1 : Consonant Table
Source : Todd (1987)
2.1.2.2. Vowel
It is known that there are two ways to produce sounds in linguistics; vowel and
consonant. Sounds produced by a relatively free flow of air called vowel (Yule, 2010:
33) and sounds are produced by obstructing the flow of air called consonant ( Katamba,
1989: 4). Vowels are divided into two types, long and short vowels. There are seven
English short vowels; /ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ, ə/ (Roach, 1991, p. 15 – 21). Vowel / ɪ / is made
by spreading lips. The example words with this vowel are ” it “ / ɪt / and “sit” / sɪt /.
Vowel / e / in words “bet” / bet /, “men” / men / and “yes” / jes / made by lips which are
slightly spread. Vowel / æ / made with the lips in a neutrally open position and it occurs
in words like “add” / æd /,”sat” / sæt /. Vowel / ʌ / in example words; “but” /bʌt /,
“some” / sʌm /, “rush” / rʌʃ / made by lip position in neutral. Vowel / ɒ / made with lips
are slightly rounded and the example words for this vowel is “gone” / gɒn /. Vowel / ʊ /
produced by lips are rounded and create words “put / pʊt /, ”pull” / pʊl / and “push” /
pʊʃ /. Vowel / ə / also called ‘ schwa’ which is the most unstressed English vowels and
the example of this vowel is “ ago” / əˈgoʊ /. The table on the below will make it easy to
understand about short vowel.
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English Short vowel
Words
Transcription
/ɪ /
“ it”, “sit”
/ɪt /, / sɪt /
/e /
“bet”, “men”, “yes”
/bet /, / men , / jes /
/æ /
“add” , ”sat”
/æd /, / sæt /
/ʌ /
but”,“some”,“rush”
/bʌt /,/sʌm /,/ rʌʃ /
/ɒ /
“gɒn”
/gɒn /
/ʊ /
“put”,“pull”,“push”
/pʊt /, / pʊl / ,/ pʊʃ /
/ə /
“ago”
/əˈgoʊ /
Table 2: English Short Vowel
Meanwhile, there are five English long vowel; / iː , ɑː , ɔː , uː , ɜː / (Roach, 1991 ).
Vowel / iː / made by spread lips and it occurs in such words as “eat” / iːt /. Vowel / ɑː /
in word “art” / ɑːt / made by slightly rounded lips. Vowel / ɔː / in example word “all” /
ɔːl / made by lip rounding. Vowel / uː / made by lip rounding and produce sound like
“too” / tuː /. Vowel / ɜː / produced sound “church” / ʧɜːʧ /.
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English Long vowel
Words
Transcription
/ iː /
“eat”
/ iːt /
/ ɑː /
“art”
/ ɑːt /
/ ɔː /
“all”
/ ɔːl /
/ uː /
“too”
/ tuː /
/ ɜː /
“church”
/ ʧɜːʧ /
Table 3 : English Long Vowel
According to Prawati (2013), there are one of short vowels that difficult for
people who learning English, especially Indonesian, sound it; / æ /, because this vowel
doesn’t appear in Indonesia vowel.
2.1.2.3. Diphthong
Diphthongs are types of vowels where two vowel sounds are connected in a
continuous, gliding motion. They are often referred to as gliding vowels. Most languages
have a number of diphthongs, although that number varies widely, from only one or two
to fifteen or more. The most important thing to remember about diphthong is that the
first part is much longer and stronger than the second part, for example; most of the
diphthong aɪ (as in the words “eye”). The total number of diphthongs is eight (though ʊə
is increasingly rare). And it’s divided in two part; centering and closing.
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The easiest way to remember them is in terms of three groups divided as in this
figure;
Figure 2.2 : Diagram of Diphthong
Source
: Roach , 1991 p. 20
Based on the diagram of diphthong, there are three types of sound in the centering part
of diphthong with ending / ə /; / ɪə / which the sound is a little closer than vowel / ɪ / and
the example of this diphthong is ‘beard’ /bɪəd/. The diphthong that begins with the same
vowel sound as the / e / in the example words ‘aired’ /eəd/ is / eə /. For the diphthong /
ʊə / this sound like vowel / ʊ / but slightly closer, one of example words of this
diphthong is ‘tour’ /tʊə/ . In the closing part which ending with / ɪ / divided into three
components; / eɪ / in example words like ‘paid’ /peɪd/. For the diphthong / aɪ / which is
quite similar to the vowel /ʌ / which the example word of this is ‘time’ /taɪm/. And the
diphthong / ɔɪ / sound in word ‘voice’ /vɔɪs/. And then for the closing part which ending
with / ʊ / divided into two parts; diphthong / əʊ / which the sound same as vowel / ə /
and the example words for this diphthong is ‘load’ /ləʊd/, ‘home’ /həʊm/. And the last
diphthong in this part is / aʊ / which produce the sound for word ‘ loud’ /laʊd/.
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2.2. Technology in Human Life
During Ad 1500 until 20 century, technology progress rapidly. It has been
already attached in society and most people know about them. Started from using simple
tools until machine. Based on Cantech (2013) the word technology is a combination of
two Greek words, techne and logos. Techne means art, craft, or skill. Logos means to
speak of. That’s means; technology is a thing that aimed to speak of an art or skills.
Meanwhile according to Teachers’ Guide (2013), technology is a body of
knowledge used to create tools, develop skills, and extract or collect materials. And
according to Queensland (2013), technology involves the design and production of
innovative and creative products to meet the needs and wants of others. Refers to the
two definitions, in simple words, technology is a product that people use to meet what
they needs. For example, long time ago, before people find mobile phone as a tool for
them to send message or talk to each others, they write a letter to give and take
information about anything. Day by day, the invention of technology grows rapidly until
there is a one of product of technology that exist use by people, which is the Internet.
Most people use it for many things as example to help them find some information or
news and even language learning. One of the example is English learning where most of
the Internet use English as a primary language .So, it makes people inevitably learn and
improve their English.
2.2.1. The Internet for Language Learning
In this day, the Internet cannot be separated from society. Most people know and
use the Internet to support their activities. They used the Internet for help them to make
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it easy in browsing a news or even language learning. According to Shinghal (1997), the
Internet is the latest in a series of technological innovations for second language
education. In addition, Greany (2002) said that the use of technology in foreign language
learning also appears to influence the development of linguistic skills. Linguistic skills
measure the capacity of individuals to understand and express themselves, both in
written and oral form (LOIA: 2013). That means based on Shinghal and Greany concept
that through the Internet people can increase their ability in learn foreign language.
It is known that, language that used by the Internet is English. When people
using the Internet directly they learn the language where most of them not really
understand about English. Muhanna (2012) said that language learning sometimes can
be frustrating. Moreover, people will feel bored when they just learn from textbooks.
Along with the Internet, people can learn language skills through fun ways like playing
online game.
2.2.2. Online Game in English Learning
Learning foreign language, specially English seems difficult for non-native
English speakers. It is known that, there are several kind of language skills; reading,
writing, listening and speaking. Before the invention of technology, especially the
Internet, people just learn the language skills from the books or in the classroom. It
seems dull when the learners of English only learn through books. One idea to solve the
situation is by using the Internet. Through the Internet, learning English will be fun for
the people who learn it because most of language used in the Internet is English.
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One of the utilization of the Internet in learning English is online gaming. Not
only entertain the learners but also help them to improve their language skills. Through
the online game, people can get several language skills in one type of game. When
people want to learn or increase their language in reading and writing skills, there is an
online game, which facilitates to learn about it.
One example can find in this site; http://classroom.jc-schools.net/basic/laread.html, called Language Art. In this site, people can increase their reading ability that
connected with grammar and writing skills. The players not only play but also improve
their language skills. Meanwhile, for the listening and speaking skills, people can
improve them through one online game named Showtime.
2.2.3. Showtime Online Game
Showtime is a free karaoke online game that offers some players speaking skills.
This online game appears in 2011 by PT. Integrasi Nusa Gamindo. Through this online
game, the players can train their listening skill when they play the game and also
improve their speaking skill. Speaking is related to how people pronounce the words
correctly. In this game, players can train themselves to speak like native speakers. Below
is how the players play the game and will explain in several stages;
The
players
can
find
the
game
by
downloading
it
at
http://www.ingame.co.id/showtimewebsite/home.php site. After the players input the
site, the display will show like figure 2.3
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For download
Figure 2.3 : Download Button
In this part, the players can click Download option and choose Client. After the
players finish download all the file, the players install and run the game. To create and
get the avatars of this game, the players register their information in Daftar Baru (New
List) in the same site when download the game.
Install and Run
Figure 2.4 : Symbol of Showtime
After the players finish install the game, there will a microphone symbol like
figure 2.4 . That is a symbol as a signs if the players succeed installing the game.
Afterwards, the players can click the symbol of the Showtime as shown in figure 2.4.
Figure 2.5 : Start Button
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After the players click the microphone symbol, figure 2.5 will appear. Then the players
can click Start button to run the game. After the player click start, the next scene will
appear as figure 2.6.
Figure 2.6 : Fill Account Showtime
In this part, the players must enter the account and password existing
player. For the new user, they can make a new account at Daftar Baru (New
List). For example, the writer will enter an account ‘chaciko’ and password
‘xxxxx’ of the writer account and click log in as figure 2.7.
Figure 2.7 : Log in
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Figure 2.8 : Choose the Channel
The next stage is the players enter the home of the Showtime game where
the Showtime gives two options to the players to choose channels where shown
in figure 2.8.
Figure 2.9 : The type of player
After the players choose the channel, there will appear features like figure 2.9
that shows several options which can be chosen by the players. The players must
choose ‘multiplayer’ for playing the game.
Figure 2.10 : Type of Rooms
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Next step, there will be a figure 2.10 where there are many optional rooms for
players who want to start singing. As an example, the writer as the players choose one of
many rooms which shown by cursor in picture. After that, click ‘ bergabung ‘, means
join. If the players want to make their own room, they can choose “create room” and
follow the next stage to their own room like figure 2.11 and 2.12. And then, there will
appears figure 2.13.
Figure 2.11 : Individual Room
Figure 2.12 : Create Room
Figure 2.13 : Choose the Songs
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In this figure shown the room for the player to choose the song for singing,
gathering with their friends or just chatting. If the player wants to sing, they will
choose the square in the right bottom of the scene as shown by cursor in the
figure. When the player click the square as figure 2.13, figure 2.14 will appear.
In this figure, there are a list of songs.
Figure 2.14 : List of Songs
In this stage, the players can choose any songs as they want to sing or play. As
example, the writer chooses one of the songs in list like and clicks ‘OK’.
Figure 2.15 : Start Button to Play
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After choosing the song, the player can start the game by click ‘start’ button as
shown by cursor in figure 2.15. After that, figure 2.16 will appear where the
player be able to singing a song.
Figure 2.16 : Scores Column
In the right bottom, there are score columns to know the score by the player get.
When their voice match with the bar, the score will appear on the screen.
Figure 2.17 : Grades Column
Finally, after the player finish singing the song, the screen showing the score
will appear as showing in figure 2.17. The audience or spectators can give vote for the player
and the scene will be back to home as figure 2.13.
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There is a few stages for players or users who want to play Showtime online game.
Through this online game, people can train their language skills with a more fun way and based
on the Kiki Aryani (2007) conducted a research with the title Analyzing The Pronunciation of
Diphthong [eɪ],[oʊ] and [ee] as Conducted to Fourth Semester Students of Faculty of Letters,
English Department, he uses quantitative method by analyzing 04 PAG and 04 PBG as his
respondents. In his study, he found out that most of fourth semester students mispronounce
diphthong [eɪ],[oʊ] and [ee] one time per sound.