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- Title
Understanding Problems in Learning English Vowels by Manipuri Speakers.
- Authors
B., Sujeta; Pramodini, N.
- Abstract
This paper raises an important question why Manipuri speakers speaking English (MSSE) do not have appropriate English pronunciation. It is identified that a lack of adequate knowledge of English sounds, LI interference and other related negative transfers while speaking contribute to this situation. This paper compares and investigates the differences between the RP (Received Pronunciation) English and Manipuri vowels in order to explain why it is difficult for Manipuri speakers to pronounce English vowels. Manipuri has only 12 vowels (6 pure vowels and 6 diphthongs) whereas Standard British English (RP) has 20 vowels (12 pure vowels and 8 diphthongs). It has been found that English long and short vowel pairs /i:/ and /i / , /ᵓ/ and /ᵓ/ , /u:/ and /u/ are substituted by MSSE with their nearest available vowel sounds /i/, /o/,/u/ respectively. Manipuri has no phonemic contrast between long and short vowels, so MSSE tends to under-differentiate the distinction between the English long and short vowel pairs. English diphthongs / ai , au , ᵓi / are almost identical to Manipuri diphthongs / ai, au, oi/ respectively, and they are substituted with the available pure vowels in order to pronounce English diphthongs / ei , ᵓu , uᵓ , eᵓ , iᵓ /. It is observed that there are many vowels and diphthongs available in English but these are not found in Manipuri. Similarly, there are triphthongs in English but not in Manipuri. These contrastive features seem to be a great challenge to Manipuri speakers in their effort to acquire English vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs.
- Subjects
VOWELS; PHONOLOGY; MANIPURI language; ENGLISH language; SONORANTS (Phonetics)
- Publication
Language in India, 2011, Vol 11, Issue 6, p361
- ISSN
1930-2940
- Publication type
Article