SMALL PROJECT “ANALIZING PRONOUNCATION ERRORS IN PRONOUNCING /SY/ SOUND OF 2ND SEMESTER STUDENT OF ENGLISH PROGRAM OF STAIN PAREPARE”

A.  background

Pronoucation is one of the most important component in english. Bad pronouncation Indicate bad english abiity. That’s way to become good english speaker, we have to pronounce the english word correctly. We have to follow the rule of english pronouncation because wrong pronouncation affect wrong meaning. So, to anticipate missunderstanding between the speaker and the interlocutor, we have to notice the good pronouncation it self. In pronouncation it self, there are some parts called consonant such as /s/,/sy/,/z/,/s/, etc. Each of these sounds must be pronounced correctly. 

In fact, the writer have found many students in STAIN PAREPARE who get some difficulties in pronouncing /sy/ sound correctly. For example the writer found the speaker prononcing /si:/ when they want to say ‘’she”. Totally, this is an emergency pronouncation problem bacause the correct one is “syi”. Another case, the writer heard a short conversation between two students and one of them actually want to say “ i have shell in my house”, but he pronouncing “ i have sell in my house”, so the intelocutor or the speaker’s friend said “ what do you mean?”, not only that, but also there are many cases that the writer found about pronouncation errors of STAIN STUDENT (sem.4).

all of those examples indicate some of STAIN students, especially semester 4 students still bad in pronouncing “sy” sound. That’s way the writer makes this small project to analyze why the pronouncation error happened and how to overcome it.. the writer hope by this small research, the writer find the factors of the problem so the writer can recommand some suggestion to help the speaker in improving english pronouncation ability.

May 27th, 2011

The writer

B.  Review literature

            Pronouncation is an important point that can not be neglected bacause bad pronouncation will cause misscommunication.in pronouncation there are two pats, they are consonant and vowel. In this small project the writer will tell more about consonant. Based on oxford consonant is a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h). In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of thevocal tract. Examples are [p], pronounced with the lips; [t], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f] and [s], pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting with consonants are vowels.

Since the number of possible sounds in all of the world's languages is much greater than the number of letters in any one alphabet, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique and unambiguous symbol to each attested consonant. In fact, the Latin alphabet, which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so digraphs like "ch", "sh", "th", and "zh" are used to extend the alphabet, and some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, the sound spelled "th" in "this" is a different consonant than the "th" sound in "thin". (In the IPA they are transcribed [ð] and [θ], respectively.)

Each spoken consonant can be distinguished by several phonetic features they are :

·         The manner of articulation is how air escapes from the vocal tract when the consonant or approximant (vowel like) sound is made. Manners include stops, fricatives and nasals.

·         The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and which speech organs are involved. Places include bilabial (both lips), alveolar (tongue against the gum ridge), and velar (tongue against soft palate). Additionally, there may be a simultaneous narrowing at another place of articulation, such as palatalisation orpharyngealisation.

·         The phonation of a consonant is how the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. When the vocal cords vibrate fully, the consonant is called voiced; when they do not vibrate at all, it's voiceless.

·         The voice onset time (VOT) indicates the timing of the phonation. Aspiration is a feature of VOT.

·         The airstream mechanism is how the air moving through the vocal tract is powered. Most languages have exclusivelypulmonic egressive consonants, which use the lungs and diaphragm, but ejectives, clicks and implosives use different mechanisms.

·         The length is how long the obstruction of a consonant lasts. This feature is borderline distinctive in English, as in "wholly" [hoʊlli] vs. "holy" [hoʊli], but cases are limited to morpheme boundaries. Unrelated roots are differentiated in various languages such as Italian, Japanese and Finnish, with two length levels, "single" and "geminate". Estonianand some Sami languages have three phonemic lengths: short, geminate, and long geminate, although the distinction between the geminate and overlong geminate includes suprasegmental features.

·         The articulatory force is how much muscular energy is involved. This has been proposed many times, but no distinction relying exclusively on force has ever been demonstrated

·         The phonation of a consonant is how the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. When the vocal cords vibrate fully, the consonant is called voiced; when they do not vibrate at all, it's voiceless.

In consonant it self there is points of articulation. Poins of articulation is the posisition at which parts of the mounth come together to produce a closure of near a closure thats allows the passage of narow stream of air. In primary there are seven points of articulation, they are :

a.   Bilabial

(p,b,m,w)

b.Labio dental

    (f,v)

c.Dental

    (ᶿ/th/,ᵟ//th)

d.Alveolar

   (t,d,n,l,s,z)

e.Palatal

   (ᶴ,ᶚ,tᶴ,dᶚ)

f.Valar (k,g)

g.Glottal (h)

The seven of points of articulation above, they are position of mounth. in this small project, the writer will focus to palatal point because here the writer will analyze the sy sound. The two palato-alveolar fricatives identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet, and their common affricate homologues, are:

IPA	Description	Example
		Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
	Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative	English	shin	[ʃɪn]	shin
	Voiced palato-alveolar fricative	English	vision	[vɪʒən]	vision
	Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate	English	chin	[tʃɪn]	chin
	Voiced palato-alveolar affricate	English	gin	[dʒɪn]	gin

The way to producing /sy/ sound :

In palato alveolar sound, there are Features of the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative,they are:

·         Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along a groove in the back of the tongue up to the place of articulation, at which point it is focused against the sharp edge of the nearly clenched teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.

·         Its place of articulation is palato-alveolar, that is, domed (partially palatalized) postalveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the front of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate.

·         Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.

·         It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

·         It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

·         The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

In consonant sound, especially palato alveolar, there what we called  initial sound, middle sound, and final sound.

a.    Sound initial /sy/

She	Shabby
Shy	Shack
Sheet	Shadow
Show	Shaft
Shore	Shake
Shop	Shale
Sheel	Shall
Shield	Shallow
Ship	Shaman
Shift	Share

b.    Middle sound

Earshoot	Irishman
Flashback	Longshoreman
Freashman	Marshal
Enshrine	Mushy
Assurre	Paroshioner
Issue	Friendship
Fashion	Perishable
Wishes	Pusher
Tension	Fishy
Machine	Inshore

c.    Final sound /sy/

Finish	Gash
Flourish	Crash
Grayish	Fish
Wash	Flash
Crush	Dish
Wish	English
Brush	Ravish
Clash	Ambush
Bash	Finnish
Occupation	Flesh

C.   Procedure and collecting data

1.    Respondent

The writer have gotten 4 correspondents from second semester of english education program of STAIN PARE-PARE, they are :

Mr. A from A.5 english education program

Mr. B  from A.5 english education program

Mr. C from A.5 english education program

Mr. D  from A.5 english education program

From the four correspondents above, the writer try to analyze their difficulties in distinguishing sound /s/ and /sy/.

2.    Instrument

·      She sees an irishman and a freshman in the crash

·      The ship assure all of longshoreman occupation

·      Finnish is an interesting language in the marshal’s shop because almost all of sellers speak finnish

·      An issue that fashion is a shield for girls show a girl’s ambush.

·      Shally wishes to sell some shell in the sea shore.

·      The grayish of this sheet makes us become shy and get high tension.

·      Gas of the machine wash the fish aquarium

·      My shabby sheet is a perishable sheet so i share it to the shaman in the shack.

·      Mr.shadow is fishing a good fish for dish under the flash with the pusher.

·      The mushy boy revish the girl who shall go to english course.

3.    procedure

the procedure in finishing this small project is trought some steps. The first step that writer has done is : looking for some correspondents as a volunter to be recorded their voice. Although the writer get some problems in finding some corresspondents because they are from second semester but because the writer’s spirit was still burned, finally the writer success to get some students as the writer’s correspondent. The second step is the writer must meet with those correspondent and record their voice. This step is not easy, because the writer have to wait about two hours because the correspondents was having class.after waiting for two hours, finally the writer meet with all of correspondent and record their voice.

     Unforgetable, the writer want to say thanks to some people who has help the writer,because This small project will not finish without their helps. First, the writer say thank to pronouncation lecturer who always guide the writer when the writer getting problem in this small project. Second, the writer also say thanks to writer’s friend because this small project will not finish without support of them who always encourage the writer During collecting data process.   

D.   Finding and discussion

1.    finding

a)      Correspondent I (Mr.As) :

1)    Si :

2)    airismen

3)    fresmᵆn

4)    kras.

5)    Sip

6)    assur

7)    longsormᵆn

8)    okkopokasion.

9)    Fainish

10) Marsal

11) sop

12) finnis.

13) isyu

14) fesyien

15) syailed

16) sow

17) ambush.

18) Syelly

19) wisis 

20) sell

21) sisər.

22) grayish

23) shet

24) sai

25) tensyien.

26) Mesyin

27) fish

28) sheby

29) perisibəl

30) seir

31) semən

32) syek

33) syedow

34) fishing

35) fish

36) dis

37) ples

38) puser.

39) muzi

40) revis

41) sal

42) englis

b.    Correspondent II (Mz. ST)

1)    si

2)    eiresemen

3)    fresmen

4)    kras.

5)    sip

6)    longsmen

7)     okkopsyen.

8)    Fainis

9)    marsal

10) sop

11) finis.

12) isyu

13) fesyien

14) syed

15) show 

16) ambush.

17) Selly

18) wisis

19) sell

20) si: sor.

21) gryis

22) dis

23) sai

24) tensyen.

25) mesyin

26) fish.

27) stebbi

28) perisyibel

29) syeir

30) semen

31) seik,

32) sedow 

33) fising

34) fis

35) dus

36) dis

37) ples

38) pazer.

39) Mezy

40) revais

41) sel

42) englis.

c.    Correspondent III (Mr. First respondent)

1)    Si

2)    presman ,

3)    creisy.

4)    sip

5)    asyur

6)    longsormen

7)    okupesyen.

8)    Finnis

9)    marsal

10) sop

11) issu

12) fesyen

13) syeld

14) sow

15) ᵊmbyush.

16) Selly ,

17) wisis

18) sel

19) sor.

20) grᵊyis

21) sit

22) sai

23) tensyen

24) mezin

25) fis.

26) sheebi

27) sit

28) perishible

29) sit

30) seir

31) syeman

32) sek.   

33) Sedow 

34) fising

35) fish

36) dishde

37) plas

38) puzer

39) mouzi

40) revish

41) shᵆl 

42) englis.

d.    Mr. L

1)    si

2)    eirizmen

3)    presyman

4)    kuasyh

5)    sip

6)    asyur

7)    songsohrmen

8)    okkupesyen

9)    finnisy

10) marsal

11) sop

12) finis

13) isyu

14) fesyen

15) syaeld

16) sow

17) ambes

18) selli

19) wis

20) sel

21) shor

22) grayis

23) sit

24) sai

25) tensyen

26) mesin

27) fis

28) sebi

29) si

30) perishabel

31) sher

32) semen

33) seik

34) shadow

35) fesing

36) fis

37) dis

38) pisyer

39) mousi

40) revis

41) shel

42) englis

E.     Discussion

From 42 words in instrument that correspondents have read above, finally the writer  get these data :

Mr.  As = 8 correct

Mrs. ST = 8 correct

Mr. First correspondent  = 6 correct

Mr. L = 7 correct

            This data indicate that the four students still have bad pronouncation especially in pronouncing /sy/ sound. Why the writer dare to say that those correspondent still bad in pronouncing /sy/ sound?  its because just about 15 % of the sound /sy/ in instrument can be pronouncing correctly.

            That is way the writer try to find the factors that cause their mistakes in pronouncing /sy/ sound. based on writer observation, the factors of this case are :

1)    the correspondent can’t distinguish between /sy/ sound and /s/ sound even /z/ sound because Some of the correspondents don’t know the theory of /sy/ sound in pronunciation lesson.

    

2)    Although some of the correspondents know the theory but they are seldom to practice their English speaking so their tongue become strange in pronouncing English sounds.

The two factors are the main factors of those correspondent errors. The writer think that actually this mistakes in not genuine for the university student because they had gotten the theory of pronouncing /sy/ sound in Senior high school, but they are not late improve their skill, because in the 3^rd and 4^th semester, they will learn pronunciation practice.

Based on the correspondent errors above, the writer recommend a teaching method that the writer called “ Practicing /sy/ sound in short conversation in pronunciation class” .in this method the lecturer have to prepare two short conversations that consist of many /sy/ sounds. After the lecturer explain the theory of /sy/ sound, the lecturer choose two partners to come forward to read the conversation, while the other students try to correct the partners mistakes and tell them the correct one. By this method, indirectly, the student will practice to pronounce /sy/ sound. Besides that, the students also indirectly will habituate to apply the theory of using /sy/ sound in their daily English speaking.

F.     Conclusion

Based on data that have been analyzed, the writer found emergency errors in all position whether in initial position, medium position, and final position. It can be proven by seeing the results of finding above. From 42 words available ,only 6-8 words that can be pronounced correctly.  Once more the writer emphasize that it is happened because the correspondent don’t know the theory well and because they are seldom to practice the sound.

Most of them do not know because they do not get the lesson in senior high school, but they still have chance to overcome this case because in the 3^rd  semester  they will learn pronunciation practice. Pronunciation lecturer has an urgent role in improving their skill. Besides that, pronunciation lecturer have to emphasize the student to practice the lesson in daily English speaking because as we know that practice make perfect. The writer believe that pronunciation lecturer in STAIN is the professional lecturer who can guide them well.  

References

F.orion, gertrude. 1987. Pronouncing american english: sound, stress, and intonaton. New york: heinle and heinle publishers.

Roach, peter. 1983. English phonetics and phonology. New york: cambridge university press.

Arsyad, azhar. 1988. English phonology: an introduction. Ujung pandang:..............

Yates, jean.1995. Pronounce it perfectly in english. America: barron’s educational series, inc.

Bull, victoria. 2008. Oxford learner’s pocket dictionary . New york: oxford university press.

M. Echols, john and shadily, hasan........... An english-indonesian dictionary. Jakarta: pt gramedia.