GRADUATEPROGRAMOFENGLISHLANGUAGESTUDIES...
Transcript of GRADUATEPROGRAMOFENGLISHLANGUAGESTUDIES...
POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES FOR NATAIA SPEAKERS INLEARNING ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsto Obtain theMagister Humaniora (M.Hum.) Degree in
English Language Studies
by
Firmus Madhu Dhengi
146332003
GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIESSANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA2017
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POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES FOR NATAIA SPEAKERS INLEARNING ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsto Obtain theMagister Humaniora (M.Hum.) Degree in
English Language Studies
by
Firmus Madhu Dhengi
146332003
GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIESSANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA2017
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES FOR NATAIA SPEAKERSIN LEARNING ENGLISH PHONOLOCN
Approved by
Dr. Fr. Borsias Alio. M.Pd.. MA..
Advisor
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Yogyakarta, August 5, 2016
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poTENtup.,Drryr,b ronNArara srn *s. IN LEARNTNGENGLTSII?IIONOLOGY
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X'irmus Madhu Dhengi
Chair
Secretary
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The Cnaduate Program Director
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STAT..EITffNT Or OruGINALITY
This is to certiff that all ideas, phrasss, sentsnce.s, unless otherwise statdare the idecs, phrases, and seuterces o}'ths thesis lr.ritff. The writer uuOerstanAsthe full.consoquence, includiug dogreE caucellation, if he took somebody else.sideas, phrases, sentences without profr references.
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUANPUBLIKASIKARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bbrtanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma,
nama : Firmus Madhu DhenginomorMahasiswa :146332003
demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES FOR NATAIA SPEAKERSIN LEARNING ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan. Dengan demikian, saya memberikan kepada
Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan. mengalihkandalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,
mendistribusikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademistanpa perlu meminta izin maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetapmencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pemyataan ini saya buat del'rgan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di YogyakartaPada tanggal: 2 November 2016
/q44{"*'" a./
Firmus Madhu Dhengi
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writer would first of all like to express his deepest and sincerest gratitude to
Dr F. B Alip MPd, MA, academic advisor of this thesis, for his untiring and
meticulous guidance without which this work could not have been completed.
The writer also feels very much indebted to Prof Dr Soepomo
Poedjosoedarmo Ph.D, Dr B.B Dwijatmoko MA, Drs F.X Mukarto Ph.D, Drs
Barli Bram M.Ed. Ph.D, Dr Novita Dewi M.S, M.A, Dr J. Bismoko and Dr E.
Sunarto M.Hum, for their professional expertise and personal views which have in
one way or another contributed to the completion of this study.
The writer would also like to thank his friend Erik Christopher, who edited part
of this work and translated some Nataia proverbs and sayings into English.
The writer’s deepest and heartfelt thanks also go to Hendra Soenardi Law
Firm, which has granted him a scholarship for this graduate study. The writer
understands that the scholarship would not have been offered without the
benevolent heart of his younger brother and former student, Edi Hendra SH. MML.
The writer would also like to dedicate this thesis especially to his beloved
wife, Maria Arita Listyandari, who has been so loving and faithful all along. The last
but not the least, may God the Merciful bless anyone to whom the writer has reasons
to be grateful.
Firmus Madhu Dhengi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER PAGE................................................................................................ i
APPROVAL PAGE........................................................................................ ii
THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE..................................................... iii
STATEMENT ON ORIGINALITY............................................................. iv
LEMBARAN PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI..................... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................... xi
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................ xii
LIST OF APPENDICES…………………………………………………... xiii
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................... xiv
ABSTRAK........................................................................................................ xvi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................. 1
1.1 Background of the Study........................................................................... 1
1.2 Statements of the Problems......................................................................... 6
1.3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................. 6
1.4 Significance of the Study......................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................... 8
2.1 Review of Related Theories...................................................................... 8
2.1.1 Nataia and Foreign Language Studies ............................................ 8
2.1.2 Nataia and Language Family ……................................................... 12
2.1.3 Nataia and Verbal Preservation ....................................................... 14
2.1.4 English Articulatory Phonetics......................................................... 17
2.1.4.1 English Vowels................................................................... 17
2.1.4.2 English Consonants............................................................ 1 9
2.1.4.2.1 Bilabial.............................................................. 19
2.1.4.2.2 Labiodental....................................................... 20
2.1.4.2.3 Interdental......................................................... 20
2.1.4.2.4 Alveolar............................................................ 20
2.1.4.2.5 Palato Alveolar................................................. 21
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2.1.4.2.6 Palatal............................................................... 21
2.1.4.2.7 Velar................................................................. 21
2.1.4.2.8 Glottal............................................................... 22
2.1.5 English Manner of Articulation................................................... 22
2.1.5.1 Voiced and Voiceless...................................................... 22
2.1.5.2 Oro nasals........................................................................ 22
2.1.5.3 Fricatives......................................................................... 23
2.1.5.4 Affricates ........................................................................ 24
2.1.6 English Phonological System...................................................... 24
2.1.7 English Phonological Processes.................................................. 25
2.1.7.1 Assimilation..................................................................... 25
2.1.7.2 Aspiration........................................................................ 27
2.1.7.3 Deletion........................................................................... 27
2.1.7.4 Insertion or Epenthesis.................................................... 27
2.1.7.5 Phonotatic Rules.............................................................. 27
2.1.7.6 English Stress.................................................................. 27
2.1.8 Contrastive Analysis.................................................................... 29
2.1.8.1 Historical Perspective...................................................... 29
2.1.8.2 Purpose of CA................................................................. 29
2.1.8.3 Movement Against Contrastive Analysis........................ 31
2.1.8.4 In Defense of Contrastive Analysis................................. 33
2.2 Review of Related Studies.......................................................................... 35
2.3 Theoretical Framework............................................................................... 38
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......................................... 41
3.1 Object of the Study.................................................................................... 41
3.2 Type of Research....................................................................................... 41
3.3 Procedure of Data Collection.................................................................... 42
3.4 Procedure of Data Analysis....................................................................... 44
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ANDANALYSIS ............................................ 47
4.1 Nataia Segmental Phonemes..................................................................... 47
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4.1.1 Nataia Vowel Phonemes.............................................................. 47
4.1.2 Nataia Consonant Phonemes....................................................... 5 3
4.1.2.1 Places of Articulation...................................................... 54
4.1.2.1.1 Bilabial.............................................................. 55
4.1.2.1.2 Labiodental....................................................... 5 5
4.1.2.1.3 Dental................................................................ 55
4.1.2.1.4 Alveolar............................................................ 56
4.1.2.1.5 Alveo Palatal..................................................... 56
4.1.2.1.6 Retroflex........................................................... 56
4.1.2.1.7 Velar................................................................. 57
4.1.2.1.8 Glottal stop........................................................ 57
4.1.2.2 Manner of Articulation.................................................... 58
4.1.2.2.1Voiced and voiceless......................................... 58
4.1.2.2.2Nasals................................................................ 59
4.1.2.2.3 Stops.................................................................. 60
4.1.2.2.4 Fricatives........................................................... 60
4.1.2.2.5 Tap/ trill............................................................. 61
4.1.2.2.6 Laterals.............................................................. 61
4.1.2.2.7 Implosive........................................................... 62
4.1.3 Nataia Phonological Process......................................................... 63
4.1.3.1 Aspiration.......................................................................... 64
4.1.3.2 Vowel Reduction............................................................... 64
4.2 English Segmental Phonemes with Potential Difficulties..................… 66
4.3 English Suprasegmental Phoneme with Potential Difficulties................. 77
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................. 85
5.1 Conclusions................................................................................................. 85
5.1.1 Difficulties Behind Nataia Segmental Phonemes ………………… 85
5.1.2 English Segmental Phonemes and Potential Hurdles...................... 87
5.1.3 Suprasegmental Phoneme with Potential Difficulties.…................. 89
5.2 Suggestions................................................................................................. 91
5.2.1 Further Research .............................................................................. 91
5.2.2 More Exposure ................................................................................ 9 2
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5.2.3 Textbook Writers ………................................................................. 93
REFERENCES............................................................................................... 9 4
APPENDICES….........................................................................................… 97
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 English Consonant Chart ............................................................ 24
Table 4.1 Commutation Test of Nataia Vowels.......................................... 48
Table 4.2 Contrast of Vowel Length........................................................... 49
Table 4.3 Distribution of Nataia vowels...................................................... 50
Table 4.4 Commutation Tests of Consonant Phonemes.............................. 53
Table 4.5 Bilabial Sounds............................................................................ 55
Table 4.6 Labiodental Sounds..................................................................... 55
Table 4.7 Dental Sounds.............................................................................. 55
Table 4.8 Alveolar Sounds.......................................................................... 56
Table 4.9 Alveo-Palatal Sounds.................................................................. 56
Table 4.10 Retroflex Sounds......................................................................... 57
Table 4.11 Velar Sounds............................................................................... 57
Table 4.12 Glottal Sounds............................................................................. 58
Table 4.13 Nasal Sounds............................................................................... 59
Table 4.14 Stops Sounds............................................................................... 60
Table 4.15 Fricative Sounds.......................................................................... 61
Table 4.16 Tap / Trill..................................................................................... 61
Table 4.17 Lateral Sound............................................................................... 61
Table 4.18 Implosive Sounds........................................................................ 62
Table 4.19 Comparison of English and Nataia Phonemes............................ 67
Table 4.20 Sounds Unknown To Nataia Speakers........................................ 69
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Nataia Speaking Area ................................................................. 13
Figure 2.2 English Vowel Chart .................................................................. 1 9
Figure 4.1 Nataia Vowel Chart ...................................................................... 52
Figure 4.2 Consonant Phonemes of Nataia & Consonant Orthography......... 63
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Oko Utu as a Research Instrument ...................................... 97
Appendix 2 Nataia Proverbs and Sayings Often Quoted .......................... 113
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ABSTRACT
Firmus Madhu Dhengi, 2017, Potential Difficulties for Nataia Speakers in LearningEnglish Phonology, Yogyakarta, English language Studies Graduate Program,Sanata Dharma University.
Nataia, a small language in central Flores, is showing early signs of being endangered.Its native speakers, for instance, now tend to use Bahasa Indonesia as a lingua franca intheir communication with other ethnic groups around them, pushing their own language toa passive position. The present writer, therefore, considers it important to take necessarymeasures to prevent the language from further endangerment. The first step taken is toformally set its phonology down to formal writing. The phonology of the language is thencompared and contrasted with that of English in order to find their similarities anddifferences. Attention will be directed especially to the differences that contrastiveanalysts claim to be potential trouble spots. That is exactly what this thesis entitled‘Potential Difficulties for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology’ is attempting toreveal.
For a start, the present writer uncovered all the segmental phonemes of Nataia.Both the vowel and consonant phonemes of the local language were extracted bymeans of commutation tests and minimal set tests from Oko Utu and the lexicon of thepresent writer as a native speaker of the language. Oko Utu is a research text thatcontains an account of how an extended family of Nataia gets together to solve theircommon problems. The long tradition has it that the main speaker of the forum opens thegathering with a long introduction in which he shows off his ability to use traditionalproverbs and sayings. In addition to the moral values, the proverbs and sayings alsocontain all the segmental phonemes of the local language, five of which i.e., /ɗ/, /ř/, /ɣ/, /ğ/and / β/ turn out to be unique. The revelation of all the segmental phonemes of Nataia leadsto the answer to the first research question of this thesis “what are the vowel and consonantphonemes found in Nataia?”.
Secondly, the writer conducted a Constrastive Analysis (CA) of Nataia and Englishphonology. The result of the CA clearly indicates that English possesses /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/,/tʃ/, and /dʒ/, six characteristic consonant phonemes of the language which are absentfrom the inventory of Nataia. The problem begins when a Nataia speaker learningEnglish p h o n o l o g y tries to find the ‘ substitutes’ for these ‘unknown’ sounds fromthe inventory of his or her own language. As a result, the substitution gives rise to aproblem of ‘intelligibility’, at least of irritation or amusement. The revelation of theproblematic English phonemes leads to the answer to the second research question of thisthesis“What segmental English phonemes may cause difficulties for Nataia speakers inlearning English phonology?”.
To solve these segmental phonological problems, English teachers may begin withexercises in which one difficult sound is contrasted with another in minimal pairs. At thesame time, they can ask their students to find the native pronunciation of words containingthe difficult sounds in digital dictionaries. However, they should avoid over-dwelling onthe accurate production of these individual sounds. Thus, they should immediately assigntheir students to read aloud passages in which these problematic sounds appear inconnected speech.
Thirdly, a Nataia speaker learning English phonology may find it difficult to master‘stress and rhythm’, a vital part of the suprasegmental aspect of the language. Masteringthe suprasegmental aspect is essential because in a day-to-day speech people do not
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produce and recognize sounds in isolation, but in larger forms such as words, phrasesand sentences. In fact, a Nataia speaker learning English will have to exert extra effortsbecause Nataia is a syllable-timed language, whereas English is a stress-timed language.The revelation of the stress and rhythm problems leads to the answer to the third researchquestion of this thesis“What suprasegmental phonemes of English may cause difficultiesfor Nataia speakers in learning English phonology?”.
To alleviate the pinch of suprasegmental problems, English teachers may begin withdrills on ‘word stress’ from a particular word list. Then, they can ask their students to findin a digital dictionary where the primary stress of a certain word is assigned. Later, theyhave to provide higher units of utterance such as phrases and sentences in which rhythmicpatterns of English are extensively exhibited.
Keywords: Nataia language, segmental and suprasegmental errors.
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ABSTRAK
Firmus Madhu Dhengi, 2017, Potential Difficulties for Nataia Speakers in LearningEnglish Phonology. Yogyakarta, English language Studies Graduate Program,Sanata Dharma University.
Nataia, sebuah bahasa kecil di Flores tengah, mulai menunjukkan tanda-tandaterancam. Para penutur aslinya, misalnya, sekarang cenderung memakai Bahasa Indonesiasebagai lingua franca dalam komunikasi kesehariannya dengan suku-suku lain di sekitarmereka. Akibatnya, bahasanya sendiri terdesak ke posisi pasif. Dengan alasan ini, penulismerasa perlu mengambil langkah guna melindungi bahasa itu dari ancaman lebih lanjut.Langkah pertama ke arah sana adalah menuliskan fonologinya secara formal. Lalu,fonologi Nataia diperbandingkan dengan fonologi Inggris untuk mencari persamaan danperbedaannya. Perhatian diarahkan secara khusus pada perbedaan yang menurut para analiskontrastif berpotensi menimbulkan masalah. Memang inilah yang akan dibeberkan lewattesis berjudul ‘Potential Difficulties for Nataia Speakers in Learning English Phonology’ini.
Sebagai langkah awal, penulis lebih dahulu menyingkapkan semua fonem Nataia.Fonem- fonem itu diperoleh melalui tes-tes komutasi dari Oko Utu dan leksikon penulissendiri sebagai penutur asli bahasa Nataia. Oko Utu adalah teks riset yang berisikan ceritatentang cara sebuah keluarga besar Nataia menyelesaikan persoalan mereka secarabersama. Menurut tradisi, pembicara utama dalam forum itu membuka pertemuantersebut dengan mengutip sejumlah peribahasa dan pepatah. Selain mengandung ajaranmoral, peribahasa dan pepatah itu juga berisikan fonem-fonem segmental bahasa Nataia,lima di antaranya yaitu /ɗ/, /ř/, /ɣ/, /ğ/ and /β/ terbilang unik. Penyingkapan semua fonemNataia itu menjawab pertanyaan pertama dalam formulasi masalah tesis ini “Apa sajafonem vokal dan konsonan yang terdapat dalam bahasa Nataia?”
Selanjutnya, penulis mengadakan Analisis Kontrastif antara fonologi bahasa Nataiadan Inggris. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa bahasa Inggris memiliki /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/dan /dʒ/, enam fonem khas Inggris yang tidak terdapat dalam daftar fonem bahasaNataia. Muncul persoalan ketika seorang penutur Nataia yang mempelajari bahasa Inggrismencari pengganti bagi fonem-fonem asing itu dalam daftar fonem bahasa ibunya.Akibatnya, bisa muncul persoalan ‘kesalahpahaman’, setidaknya rasa risi atau rasa geli.Penyingkapan enam fonem khas Inggris yang menimbulkan kesulitan dalam pelafalan ituakan menjawab pertanyaan kedua dalam formulasi masalah tesis ini “Fonem segmentaldalam bahasa Inggris manakah yang bisa menimbulkan kesulitan bagi penutur bahasaNataia dalam mempelajari fonologi bahasa Inggris?”
Sebagai langkah awal guna membereskan persoalan fonologis segmental ini, gurubahasa Inggris bisa menggunakan latihan di mana suatu fonem dikontraskan denganfonem lain melalui pasangan minimal. Guru juga perlu meminta anak didiknya mengecekpelafalan asli kata-kata yang memuat fonem-fonem sulit itu di kamus digital. Akan tetapi,guru tidak perlu berlama-lama melatih pelafalan fonem-fonem segmental yang sulit itu.Mereka mesti segera menugaskan peserta didiknya ‘membaca lantang’ suatu bacaan dimana fonem-fonem itu berfungsi dalam suatu arus ujaran. Membaca lantang itu bisadilakukan secara perorangan maupun secara bersama.
Tambahan pula, seorang penutur bahasa Nataia yang mempelajari bahasa Inggrisakan berhadapan d e n g a n persoalan ‘tekanan dan ritme’. Ini adalah urusan‘suprasegmental’ yang perlu penanganan tersendiri. Soalnya, dalam kegiatan komunikasilisan sehari-hari, orang lebih banyak berurusan dengan kata, frasa dan kalimat daripadadengan bunyi-bunyi secara terpisah. Orang Nataia yang belajar bahasa Inggris memangakan kesulitan karena ‘tekanan dan ritme’ dalam bahasa Nataia tergantung pada jumlah
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suku kata dalam suatu ujaran. Lain halnya dengan b ahasa Inggris yang tekanan katanyasangat bervariasi dan berfungsi untuk mengatur irama dalam bertutur. Penyingkapanperbedaan dalam hal ‘tekanan dan ritme’ ini akan menjawab pertanyaan ketiga dalamformulasi masalah tesis ini “Fonem suprasegmental Inggris mana saja yang bisamenyulitkan penutur Nataia dalam mempelajari fonologi bahasa Inggris?”.
Sebagai langkah awal guna membereskan masalah suprasegmental ini, guru bisamengandalkan dril mengenai tekanan kata dari sebuah daftar kosa kata. Guru bisa jugameminta anak didiknya mengecek tekanan sebuah kata dalam kamus digital. Kemudianguru harus memperkenalkan satuan-satuan ujaran yang lebih besar semisal frase dankalimat. Soalnya, di sana akan tampak lebih jelas pola-pola ritmis yang khas Inggris.
Kata kunci: bahasa Nataia, kesalahan fonologis segmental dan suprasegmental.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Nataia people, a small ethnic group living on the north central part of the
island of Flores, speak a language that is also known as Nataia language. The
area where t h e l a n g u a g e i s s p o k e n is part of Nagekeo, a newly
established regency that broke away from the Regency of Ngada in 2007. Both
Ngada and Nagekeo are parts of the Province of the Southeast Islands.
The figures indicating the precise number of speakers of Nataia are not
available. However, the educated guess is that they could be around four thousand.
This estimate is based on the recent local government data taken before the
regional election in 2008 in which the first regent of Nagekeo was elected. The
data show that the number of eligible voters from four villages (Watuwawi,
Boanio, Kotakisa, and Boaroja) where the language is spoken is approximately
three thousand people. According to the electoral law, eligible voters must be at
least 17 years of age. Thus, the government data imply that the reasonable
number of Nataia speakers may range from a little below to a little above four
thousand after those under 17 are counted and included.
Historically and politically, the area where Nataia is spoken today was
formerly part of Onderafdeling Nage. For almost four decades (1907-1945), the
onderafdeling was ruled by a local king appointed by the Dutch colonial
government. Below the puppet ruler whose royal palace was in the village of
Boawae, there were some gemente chiefs who had several villages under their
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commands (Steffan Dietrich, 1942). One of them was the chief of Gemente Nataia
who lived in the village of Nataia, on the north-central slope of the Lambo (also
known as Amegelu) mountain. A few years after the Indonesian independence in
1945, all the inhabitants of the village of Nataia moved downwards to the level
land, close the meadow of Malawitu, and established new villages which are
Boanio, Watuwawi, Kotakisa and Boaroja of today.
From these four villages, the people of Nataia can now witness a new
development in the history of their language. The local language which has so far
been transmitted only verbally is beginning to be formally set down in writing and
described linguistically. Therefore, now the people of Nataia have a good reason
to be excited because their language is being introduced to the global linguistic
community. The logical implication is that Nataia will from now on be part of the
written linguistic wealth of the world. Though what is presently introduced is
limited to the phonetic and phonological systems of the language, it can still be
considered a humble contribution in the absence of any older texts of the language.
The present discussion and description of Nataia is based primarily on Oko
Utu, a research text that was read by four native speakers of the language in
October of 2015. Oko Utu, the literal meaning of which is ‘gathering to
contribute’, comprises 128 simple sentences that contain adequate information
about the phonetic and phonological system of the language.
A quick look at Oko Utu immediately reveals several eye-catching linguistic
features of Nataia. The most noticeable of all is that it is a vocalic language in
which every one of its words ends in a vowel phoneme. In fact, Nataia is just a
small member of a group of vocalic languages in central Flores which is known as
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the Ngada-Lio language grouping (Verheijen, 1977). The bigger members of the
group which have a larger number of speakers include Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende,
and Lio.
Outside Flores, quoting Mansoer Pateda (1977) and Abdul Muthalib (1985),
Soepomo explains, there are a number of other vocalic languages all over
Sulawesi, from Gorontalo in the north all the way down to Kendari in the
Southeast. This explanation implies that very few out of more than seven
hundred languages in Indonesia are vocalic (Kompas, com, 03 February, 2011).
All these vocalic languages share one specific feature i.e., every one of their
words ends in a vowel phoneme. Interestingly, in the case of Nataia, even every
syllable ends in a vowel phoneme.
The vocalic nature of Nataia may theoretically become a stumbling block for
its speakers in learning English phonology. The reason is that a vocalic language
such as Nataia does not tolerate any consonant phoneme in the coda position of its
words. On the opposite side, English allows a huge number of its syllables and
words to end in a consonant phoneme.
Oko Utu text also reveals that most words of Nataia are bisyllabic i.e.,
consisting only of two syllables. A few monosyllabics do exist but they are mostly
function words which tend to reduce their vowels to schwa in a sentence (ne in 2
of the appendix). A few trisyllabics and foursyllabics also exist but they are
mostly loan words (sobaza ‘pray’ in 9 of the appendix) or frozen compounds
mosalaki ‘honorable people’ (in 1 of the appendix).
Regardless of the number of its syllables, every word of Nataia ends in a
vowel phoneme (open syllable). The word mona ‘negation’, for example, is
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composed of two syllables. The first syllable mo- ends in [ɔ-], while the second
syllable -na ends in [-ɑ]. The same word mona also indicates that the main
syllable structure of Nataia is of the c onsonant v owel (CV) type. The first
syllable of mona is mo- which is composed of one consonant [m] and one
vowel [ᴐ]. The second syllable -na is also composed of one consonant [n] and one
vowel [ɑ]. In addition, a word of Nataia also allows a syllable to consist only of
one vowel (V) or V type. The word a’i ‘leg’( in 100 of the appendix), for instance,
a l s o consists of two syllables i.e., [ a-] as the first syllable and [ - ’ i ] as the
second syllable.
The syllable structures of Nataia which consist simply of one consonant and
one vowel (CV) or just one vowel (V) may also be another potential trouble spot
for a Nataia speaker in learning English phonology. This is because English allows
various patterns of consonants (C) and vowels (V) such as VC (in), V (a), CCV
(pre), CV (vi), VC (ǝs) CVC (kæp), CVC (ʃǝn), etc, in the formation of its
syllables (Finegan, 2004: 126).
Each word of Nataia consists of one or more syllables and each syllable
consists of one or t w o sounds. The speech sounds of Nataia comprise a
certain number of vowels and consonants. Both the vowels and consonants of the
local language possess certain characteristics that may i g n i t e the inquisitive
mind of a linguist. For example, each vowel of Nataia, except the schwa, has
its long counterpart. As for consonants, the local language is proud of its five
characteristic sounds i.e., alveolar implosive /ɗ/ as in dhora [ɗᴐrɑ] ‘throw
away’, ve la r implos ive /ğ/ as in ‘geo [ğeᴐ] ‘shine’ , alveola r fr i ca t ive /ř/
as in rhinga [řɪŋɑ] ‘ear’, bi labia l implosive /ß/ as in bhada [ßɑdɑ] ‘buffalo’,
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and velar fricative /ɣ/ as in ghama [ɣɑmɑ] ‘grope’ which may lengthen the
inventory of unique global speech sounds.
It is to be regretted, however, that two out of the five characteristic sounds
of Nataia are being gradually pushed to the sidelines. The way Antonius Moti
(42) and Patrisius Seo (40), two out of the four respondents of this study,
pronounced the alveolar fricative /ř/ and the velar implosive /ğ/ indicate that
the younger speakers are beginning to avoid using the two characteristic sounds.
Now the younger speakers seem to prefer using the alveolar trill /r/ instead of the
alveolar fricative /ř/. Thus, the words such as rhasa [řɑsɑ] ‘fence’ and rhoba
[řᴐbɑ] ‘sarong’ are now pronounced simply as [rɑsɑ] and [rᴐbɑ], perhaps due to
regular contacts with Bahasa Indonesia and neighboring languages or just for
easier pronunciation. In addition, the younger speakers also tend to prefer oe [ᴐe]
to ‘goe [ğᴐe] for negation, pushing the velar implosive sound [ğ] to a cornered
position.
This shift in the phonological preference such as in the use of /r/ instead of /ř/
may be taken simply as an indication of a change or may also be a threat. It is to be
noted, however, that there is a bigger problem menacing the existence of Nataia
as a whole. Native speakers of the local language are now mingling with
transmigrants from different areas who speak different languages. Therefore, they
v e r y often have to speak Bahasa Indonesia as a lingua franca in their daily
communication, pushing their own language to a passive position.
As a native speaker, one who learned to speak and think for the first time in
Nataia, the present writer feels obliged to keep track of the language by formally
introducing its phonology to the global linguistic community. The phonology of
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Nataia is then compared and contrasted with that of English to find their
similarities and differences. The comparison and contrast is also expected to
answer the research questions of this thesis entitled “Potential Difficulties for
Nataia Speakers in Learning English Phonology”.
1.2 Statements of the Problems
This is the very first time Nataia has been set down in formal writing.
Therefore, the writer takes advantage of this work to introduce all the phonemes of
the local language. At the same time, by way of this work, the writer also tries to
find out if there are characteristic phonemes of English that may pose problems for
Nataia speakers in learning English phonology. The following research questions
are the formulations of the problem statements.
1. What are the vowel and consonant phonemes found in Nataia?
2. What segmental phonemes of English may cause difficulties for Nataia
speakers in learning English phonology?
3.What suprasegmental phonemes of English may cause difficulties for Nataia
speakers in learning English phonology?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
In line with the problem statements above, the writer would in the first place
like to discover what vowel and consonant phonemes are found in Nataia. Then the
writer studies how these segmental phonemes of the local language are combined
to form syllables and words. It is right here that the problems for Nataia speakers
studying English phonology begin.
In the second place, these segmental phonemes of Nataia are compared and
contrasted with those of English. The comparison and contrast will eventually
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show what specific consonants of English are absent from the inventory of the local
language. Contrastive analysists claim that these foreign phonemes are potential
trouble spots for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology.
Finally, the writer would like to reveal two suprasegmental phonemes of
English whose nature is quite different from those of Nataia. This difference in
nature turns out to be the reason why these two suprasegmental phonemes cause
difficulties for Nataia speakers in studying English phonology.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The present work seems to have the following three benefits:
1. By formally introducing the phonemes of Nataia, the present writer wants to
make sure that the local language is also preserved in its written form. Besides,
the revelation of the phonemes of the local language may help to lengthen the
list of unique global speech sounds.
2. Comparison and contrast of Nataia phonology with that of English may reveal
which characteristic English phonemes may pose problems for Nataia
speakers in learning English phonology. Then, CA can help English teachers
in central Flores as a whole, especially in the Nataia speaking area, to be
consciously aware of the problems and prepare necessary steps to help their
students surmount the hurdles.
3. Based on the predictions by a contrastive analyst, English textbook writers can
pinpoint which regional phonological problems in Central Flores, particularly
in the Nataia speaking area, should be given special treatment.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents a review of related theories, a review of related studies
and a theoretical framework. The review of related theories comprises some basic
ideas in support of this study; the review of related studies reveals contributions of
some language scholars to this study; the theoretical review shows how this study
was conducted and completed.
2.1 Review of Related Theories
The review of related theories comprises Nataia and Foreign Language
Studies, Nataia and Language Family, Nataia and Verbal Preservation, English
Articulatory Phonetics, English Manner of Articulations, English Phonological
System, English Phonological Processes, and Contrastive Analysis (CA).
2.1.1 Nataia and Foreign Language Studies
In the 1920-s, Nage and Keo were registered among tens of onderafdeling
under the larger Afdeling Flores that was ruled by G.A Bosselaar, the then Dutch
assistent resident. Bosselaar deserves a respectable place in the history of
secondary education in Flores because he was the first highest colonial official in
the Southeast Islands who allowed the Catholic Mission of Flores to establish the
first formal minor seminary of the island. His permission was considered
‘extraordinary’ because the Dutch government was then dominated and steered
by the Protestants, ‘political enemies’ of the Catholics in the Netherlands (Steffan
Dietrich, 1942). The establishment of the seminary in Mataloko, Onderafdeling
Ngadha, in 1929 was intended primarily to prepare the indigenous people to
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have their own native priests. The local priests were expected to take over the
church leadership from the foreign missionaries in due time (De Katholieke
Missien en het Christelijk Huisgezin, Uden , 1929: 67)
The important fact is that eight decades after its birth, the seminary has
yielded a good number of indigenous priests. Of equal importance is that it has
produced thousands of graduates who have served as layman leaders of Flores. Of
no less importance is the silent agreement among the people of the island that the
graduates of the minor seminary were fairly good at foreign languages.
Early graduates of the seminary are reputed to be good at Latin and Dutch,
the main language courses in the curriculum of the institution. They are said to
have gone through difficult times learning the languages only during the first three
years (junior high school). Towards the end of the second three years (senior high
school), however, they are said to have begun tasting the “sweet fruits” of their
tireless efforts.
It is to be noted, however, that they were only good at speaking Dutch. They
did not speak Latin, ‘a dead language’ specifically set for church service and bible
studies. Their success in the foreign language learning is said to have been due to
several interrelated factors. The first is that Dutch was the language of instruction
in the classroom. The second is that Dutch was a single recommended means of
communication between the teachers, the students and their peers within the
compounds of the seminary. The third, the seminary was free to design a
curriculum of its own in which language received a very large portion of time.
The last but not the least, there were only a small number of selected participants,
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10
seven in the first class of 1929, who wished to identify themselves with the white
ruling elite (Plechtige Opening van het nieuwe Seminarie, Uden, 1929: 67).
After Indonesia proclaimed her independence in 1945, Dutch was abolished
from the curriculum of the new independent state. Soon after, English replaced it
as the main foreign language to be learned at the minor seminary. From early
1950-s to the 1960-s, the English teachers in the institution were native speakers
from the United States, at least from countries such as the Netherlands and the
Philippines where practically everybody speaks English with some ease. This time
the participants who were from different local language backgrounds, mostly
from the Ngadha-Lio language grouping of which the Nataia is a member, also
turned out to be fairly good speakers of English.
Stephanus Djawanai, a former student of the seminary, recalls how the fourth
year students of his generation were often asked by their English teacher to make
a short speech or even a sermon in English. “Father Garger also asked us to make
daily notes on who we spoke to, what we talked about and how long we made a
conversation in English,” Djawanai wrote in “Learning a Language, Opening Up a
Horizon (2004: 99)”, an article in memory of his unforgettable years in the
seminary.
Djawanai, now a professor of linguistics, also recalls that his former English
teachers such as William Pop, a Catholic missionary from Chicago, the United
States, were very flexible and creative. Though grammar-translation was the
method in vogue at the time, he noted, hi s teachers did not hesitate to try out a
more communicative approach. He also noticed that his teachers applied an
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integrated approach in which “listening and comprehension, speaking, reading
and comprehension, and writing” received a relatively balanced treatment.
Unfortunately, the glorious years of foreign language learning in the
seminary are now said to be history. In a way, the national policy of the
Indonesian government seems to have played a part in the sad story. In the early
1970-s, the Department of Religious Affairs (now Ministry of Religious Affairs)
issued a xenophobic decree that offered two difficult choices for every foreign
missionary: become a holder of an Indonesian passport or leave the country
immediately. Also xenophobic, F.M Parera (2004:15)) notes, was a regulation
that all the foreign aids for religious purposes should first be notified to the
department. In the aftermath, most white missionaries fled this country. Devoted
native speakers of English on duty in the seminary were gone. Also gone were
English textbooks and graded story-books that had regularly entered the
shelves of the library of the institution.
To sum up, the seminary has witnessed the ‘rise and fall’ of three foreign
languages. Initially, it was Dutch that was abolished from the curriculum for
reasons of nationalism. Then, Latin was relegated from the church service and the
curriculum of the seminary, owing to the decree of the Second Vatican Council in
the early 1960-s. The decree stipulated that Latin be no longer ‘the one and only’
language of service of the Catholic Church. Finally, English has been staggering
all along for a number of reasons. Rano Aoh, a student of the late 1990-s, for
instance, poured out his disappointment at the failure of the seminary to maintain
the old tradition of good foreign language performance. “We missed the English
speaking skill which had always been the pride of the previous generations.
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Another clear proof of our language skill decline was that we were not even able
to conduct an English Night or English Day, a showcase in which everyone of the
former classes showed off their English speaking skill,” Rano wrote in “In
Aeternum Memorandum (2004:205)”.
All the three foreign languages have surely gone past their golden days in the
institution. Special notes, however, should be taken about the change of status of
Latin. The relegation of Latin by the Papal government proves to have had a
far-reaching repercussion. Since then, every national language or even a local
language such as Nataia has been permitted to be used during the religious
ceremony in the Catholic Church. This is presumably the background reason why
in the middle of 1960-s, the Catholic Mission of Flores published a ‘Prayer and
Hymn’ book entitled Sua Budju Ngadji which accentuated an amalgam of
Nage languages.
The Nataia people enjoyed praying and singing using the book because on
the whole they were familiar with a lot of words and expressions in it. However,
they wanted more i.e., a special ‘prayer and hymn’ book of their own in which the
characteristic sounds and expressions representing their ethnic, emotional and
cultural pride are prominent.
2.1.2 Nataiaand LanguageFamily
The decade of the 1960-s also marked the beginning of a new era in which all
the remaining symbols of the Dutch colonial rule were one by one removed. Nage
and Keo as the symbols of the puppet governments, for instance, were stripped of
their royal status. They were then split up into a number of districts under the
jurisdiction of the Ngada Regency. Only recently have Nage and Keo managed
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to break away and form a separate regency which now claims to have a
population of a little over one hundred thousand people.
Figure 2.1 Nataia Speaking Area (Adapte From Djawanai, 1983)
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Though Nagekeo has detached itself from Ngada administratively, the two
regencies remain closely affiliated in terms of language. Th e family of
Ngadha and Nagekeo languages of which Nataia is a member is generally
assumed to belong to the Austronesian family of languages. As for the
relationship of Nataia with the surrounding languages, Verheijen (1977)
ind i ca t e s that Nataia belongs to the Ngadha-Lio subgroup, which is part of the
larger Bima-Sumba group (in line with Jonker, 1898). This system of language
grouping has remained unchallenged for over a century and is still recognized by
well-reputed institutions such as the Indonesian National Language Institute.
Recently, therefore, Inyo Jos Fernandez (1996: 16) suggested that Jonker’s
finding be immediately r e v i s e d a n d updated in order to keep pace with the
other latest developments in the Austronesian group studies.
Unfortunately, not a single historical-comparative linguist has come up with
a fresh idea that challenges Jonker’s proposition. This fact clearly indicates that
Jonker’s way of grouping languages in Flores remains in the status quo. The only
new development in the Ngadha-Lio language grouping is that Nataia, one of its
members, has finally got its turn to be formally described and analyzed in its own
right. Indeed, the present work marks the beginning of a completely new era
for Nataia language in which it has started to be formally set down in writing and
analyzed linguistically for the very first time.
2.1.3 Nataia and Verbal Preservation
The way Antonius Moti (42) and Patrisius Seo (40), two out of the four
respondents for this study, pronounced the alveolar fricative sound /ř/ and the
implosive velar sound /ğ/ as is heard from Oko Utu text suggests that the younger
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speakers of the language are beginning to avoid using the two characteristic
sounds of the Nataia. Though now already in their early forties, Moti and Seo are
here representing the younger speakers who show a shift in their phonological
preference. The younger speakers are beginning to prefer using the alveolar trill /r/
instead of the alveolar fricative /ř/, perhaps due to regular contacts with Bahasa
Indonesia and other neighboring languages or simply for the sake of easier
pronunciation. Thus, words such as rhasa [řɑsɑ] ‘fence’ and rhoba [řobɑ]
‘sarong’ are pronounced simply as [rɑsɑ] and [robɑ]. In addition, the younger
speakers also tend to use oe [ɔe ] instead of ‘goe [ğɔe] for negation, putting the
implosive velar sound [ğ] in a critical position. This is quite in contrast with
Tadeus Leu (72) and Anselmus Jogo (52), two elder respondents for this study,
who remain faithful to the traditional way of pronouncing the /ř/ and /ğ/.
This phenomenon is certainly an initial indication that Nataia is undergoing
change in which two of its unique phonemes are being gradually pushed out of
regular use. The present writer believes that such a change deserves to be set down
in formal writing for a historical reason i.e., to remind future generations that the
Nataia people have once pushed certain characteristic phonemes out of their
language inventory. Furthermore, the urgent need to put everything down in
formal writing emphasizes the fact that Nataia has been an entirely oral tradition
all along. To put it more aptly, all forms of customs in the language have so far
been transmitted simply by direct verbal interactions.
The traditional people of Nataia seem to have consistently treated language as
part of a social institution where everybody has a role to play. A bigger role,
however, is given to an eloquent speaker. The reason is that an eloquent speaker
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performs much better in public and is well-versed in the use of traditional proverbs
and sayings. Additionally, an e l o q u e n t speaker (usually a n e l d e r l y
m a n f rom a high caste referred to as mosalaki) is very familiar with the
traditions and customary laws of the ethnic group.
The special position of an eloquent speaker clearly indicates that traditional
proverbs and sayings also play a decisive role in the preservation of the language
and the culture of Nataia people. An eloquent speaker usually takes advantage of
Oko Utu, a forum in which all the members of an extended family of Nataia
get together, to remind the p a r t i c i p a n t s to remain faithful to the value
system of their community. The powerful instrument of an eloquent speaker i n
t h e f am i l y f o r um is the traditional proverbs and sayings which contain
highly appreciated values such as “trust and listen to God, respect for parents,
monogamy, cooperation, friendship, hard work, the need for a precautionary
measure, etc”. All these values are neatly hidden within the traditional proverbs
and sayings which have been handed down only orally for generations. Oral
communication needs to be given a special emphasis here because an eloquent
speaker puts all these values across by way of ‘the sounds and sound patterns’
of the local language. To put it in another way, he makes wise use of the power
of the phonetic and phonological systems of the Nataia to preserve the
language and perpetuate the value system of the small local community.
It is certainly a relief for an eloquent speaker of Nataia to realize now that the
responsibility for preserving the local language is beginning to be shared with the
global linguistic community. Indeed, the present work is expected to pave the way
towards more serious efforts by various interested parties to preserve the unique
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local language in its written form, starting now with the preliminary study of
Nataia phonology.
2.1.4 English Articulatory Phonetics
A comparison and contrast of English and Nataia phonology needs
appropriate theories that describe the speech sounds in the two languages: how
they are produced and articulated; how they fall into patterns and change in
different circumstances; and most importantly, what aspects of the sounds are
necessary for conveying the meaning. (Ladefoged, 2005: 1)
Anybody who wants to answer the above questions has no other choice but
to go to the phonetic and phonological theories. Phonetics is concerned with
descriptions of speech sounds that occur in languages, of course, including
English and Nataia. Actually, the first step one should take is to find out what
English and Nataia people are doing when they are talking and listening to speech.
Fortunately, in the case of English phonology, a large number of phoneticians -
Daniel Jones (1938), Ladefoged (1993), Giegerich (1992), Poole (1999), Aitchison
(2003) and Collins and Mees (2003) just to mention a few - have agreed to divide
the segmental sounds of the language into two types i.e., vowels and consonants.
2.1.4.1 English Vowels
According to noted phoneticians such as Aitchison (2010), English vowels
comprise pure vowels as in bit, bet, bat, but and diphthongs in which the voice
glides from one vowel to another, as in boat, buy, and bay. However, the language
scholar also explains, both a pure vowel and a diphthong share one common
feature i.e., their articulations do not involve any audible obstruction of the
air-stream. Differences between these vowels, he argues, are simply due to the
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raising of different parts of the tongue as well as the extent of the raising. As an
example, [i] and [u] are different because [u] is a back vowel, one which is
produced with the back of the tongue raised, whereas [i] is a front vowel which is
produced with the front of the tongue raised.
There is another important criterion in the classification of vowels i.e., how
wide is the mouth open. The vowels [a] and [ɑ] , for instance, have one common
feature i.e., they are produced with the mouth wide open. In other words, there is a
maximum distance between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. This is a
difference in height. Thus, [i] and [u] are high vowels and [a] and [ɑ] are low
vowels.
The four vowel sounds, Giegerich (1992) explains, represent the extreme
points of the principal dimensions of vowel articulation: height and backness.
Thus, [i] is a high front vowel, [u] a high back vowel, [a] a low front vowel and [ɑ]
a low back vowel. If the the height of [i]-[a] scale is divided into four points that
are of equal distance, Giegerich argues, there will be four vowels that can be
symbolized as [i] - [e] - [ɛ] -[a] in the vowel diagram.
For the back series, Giegerich (1992) maintains, one may fill in the
corresponding intermediate vowels as [o] and [ɔ], so that [u]-[o]-[ɔ]-[a] represent
the set of back reference vowels. This system of reference vowels is known as the
Cardinal Vowels Scale (CV Scale) devised by the English phonetician
Daniel Jones. In addition, Stuart Poole (1999) explains, vowels made with an
open mouth cavity, with the tongue far away from the roof of the mouth, such
as /æ/ in trap and /ɑ:/ in palm are termed open vowels. If the upper tongue
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surface is close to the roof of the mouth such as /i:/ in fleece, the sounds are close
vowels.
Figure 2.2 English Vowel Chart (Finegan, 2004: 95)
2.1.4.2 English Consonants
Linguists have also agreed on the general descriptions of consonants. In
order to form consonants, Collins and Mees (2003) explain, the air-stream through
the vocal tract must be obstructed in some way. In addition, the two phonologists
ascertain, consonants can be classified according to the place and manner of
articulation. Places of articulation indicate what articulators are involved in the
production of speech sounds.
2.1.4.2.1 Bilabial
According to Giegerich (1992), English bilabial sounds i.e., [b], [p], [m] are
produced by bringing the lips together as in pie, buy, and my. Though all the three
of them are bilabials, they are discrete sounds which are composed of different
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features. [p] has the features of [- voice, + stop]. [b] has the features of [+voice, +
stop] and [m] has the features of [+voice, +stop, + nasal].
2.1.4.2.2 Labiodental
Giegerich (1992) explains that English labiodental sounds i.e., [f],[v]] are
produced by raising the lower lip against the upper incisors as in fat and vat.
Though both are labiodentals, they are different sounds which are composed of
different features. [f] has the features of [+labial, -voice, +fricative] and [v] has
the features of [+labial, +voice, + fricative].
2.1.4.2.3 Interdental
According to Giegerich (1992), interdental sounds [θ], [ð] are produced by
raising the tip of the tongue against the upper incisors, or inserting it between the
upper and lower incisors as in thigh and thy. The two of them, however, are
discrete sounds which are composed of different features. [θ] has the features of [-
voice, + stop, + fricative]. Whereas [ð] has the features of [+ voice, + stop,
+fricative].
2.1.4.2.4 Alveolar
English alveolar sounds [d],[n],[s],[z],[l],[t], Giegerich explains, are
produced by raising the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge. Examples are
nigh, lie, tie, sue, and zoo. All the six are, however, discrete sounds which are
composed of different features. [d] has the features of [+voice, +stop]. [n] is
composed of features such as [+voice, +nasal]. [s] is composed of features such as
[- voice, + fricative, +sibilant]. [z] is composed of features such as [+voice,
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+fricative, + sibilant]. [l] is composed of features such as [+lateral, approximant,
+voice]. [t] is composed of features such as [+stop, - voice].
2.1.4.2.5 Palato-Alveolar
English palatal sounds [ʃ], [Ʒ,] [tʃ], [dƷ], according to Giegerich (1992), are
produced by raising the front of the tongue towards the back of the alveolar ridge
and the front of the palate as in she and leisure. However, each of them is a
discrete sound which is composed of different features. [ʃ] is composed of
features such as [+fricative, +sibilant, - voice]. [Ʒ] has the features of [+sibilant,
+fricative, +voice]. [tʃ] is composed of features such as [+sibilant, + fricative, -
voice].
2.1.4.2.6 Palatal
In the production of a palatal sound [y], Giegerich maintains, the front of the
tongue is raised towards the palate, slightly further back than in a palato-alveolar
sound. Example: you.
2.1.4.2.7 Velar
English velar sounds [k],[g],[ŋ], according to Giegerich (1992), are produced
by raising the back of the tongue towards the the soft palate or velum. Examples:
back, bag and bang. However, each of them has different features. [k] has the
features of [+stop, -voice, +back]. [g] has the features of [+voice, + dorsal, + back,
+ stop]. [ŋ] is composed of features such as [ +nasal, +voice].
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2.1.4.2.8 Glottal
Glottal sound [h], according to Collins and Mees (2003), is produced when
the glottis is open and there is no air stream in the mouth, while [ˀ ] is produced
when the air is stopped completely at the glottis by tightly closed vocal cords.
2.1.5 English Manner of Articulation
According to Mees a n d Collins (2003), manner of articulation indicates
the how of sound production. All articulations involve a stricture i.e., a narrowing
of the vocal tract which affects the air-stream. Collins and Mees explain further
that there are three possible types of stricture: complete stricture, close
approximation, and open approximation.
2.1.5.1 Voiced and Voiceless
Collins and Mees (2003) explain that the vocal folds vibrate rapidly when the
air-stream is allowed to pass between them, producing what is termed voice - that
is, a sort of ‘buzz’ which one can hear and feel in vowels and some consonant
sounds. Examples of vowels are [a],[ɪ] as in aim and ink and voiced consonants
are [b], [d] as in bind and dine. For voiceless sounds, the two phonologists assert,
the vocal cords and the arytenoid cartilage are held wide apart which allows the
air stream to escape freely. Examples of voiceless consonants are [t],[ f] as in time
and fine.
Apart from the how of sound productions, manner of articulation also
presents the distinctive features between sounds. Sounds [p] and [b] which are
both bilabials, for instance, are different in terms of their manner of articulation.
Sound [b] belongs to a voiced bilabial consonant while [p] a voiceless bilabial
consonant. In other words, they are composed of different features.
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2.1.5.2 Oro-nasals
In addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, Collins and Mees (2003)
explain, the soft palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the air
stream will be completely obstructed. Pressure in the mouth will build up and an
oral stop will be formed. Oral stops include [p],[b],[t],[k] and [g]. When
the articulators come apart, the two phonologists explain, the air-stream will be
released in a small burst of sound. This kind of sound occurs in the consonants in
the words “pie, buy” (bilabial closure), “tie, dye” (alveolar closure) and “kye,
guy” (velar closure).
If the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that it can
go out through the nose, Collins and Mees (2003) explain, the sound produced is a
nasal stop. Sounds of this kind, the two phonologists say, occur at the beginning
of the words “my” (bilabial closure) and “nigh” (alveolar closure) and at the end
of “sang” (velar closure). Though both the nasal sounds and the oral sounds can
be classified as stops, Ladefoged (2005) argues, the term stop by itself is almost
always used to indicate an oral stop and the term nasal to indicate a nasal stop.
Thus, the consonants at the ends of the words “bad” and “ban” would be called
an alveolar stop and an alveolar nasal respectively.
2.1.5.3 Fricatives
In the production of fricative sounds, Collins and Mees (2003) explain, the
articulators are close to each other but do not make a complete closure. The air
stream passes through a narrowing, producing audible hiss-like friction as in
English [f,] [v],[θ], [ð],[s], [z], [ʃ], [Ʒ],[ h].
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2.1.5.4. Affricates
Some sounds are produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a
gradual release of the closure that produces an effect characteristic of a fricative.
Therefore, Ladefoged (2005) explains, affricates such as [tʃ and [dƷ] are known as
a sequence of a stop plus a fricative.
Table 2.1. English Consonant Chart (Fromkin, 2003: 54)
2.1.6 English Phonological System
Phonology, according to Ladefoged (2005), is the description of the systems
and patterns of sounds that occur in a language. It involves studying a language
to determine its distinctive sounds and to establish rules that describe the set of
changes that take place in these sounds when they occur in different relations
with other sounds. Therefore, the first task in a phonological description,
the phonologist argues, is to determine which sounds can convey a
difference in meaning. When two sounds can be used to differentiate words, he
asserts, they belong to different phonemes.
Ladefoged explains further that a phoneme is an abstract, psychological unit,
the basic unit of phonology. Every language has a number of phonemes, the
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notation of which is between slashes, for example, /p/. Variants of a phoneme, as
are pronounced in real speech are allophones. Their notation is between brackets,
for example, [p]. There is a crucial difference between sounds that are
allophonic variants of the same phoneme and two sounds that are different
phonemes. If one substitutes a sound by an allophonic variant, Ladefoged asserts,
he or she still gets the same word. However, if one substitutes a sound by another
belonging to a different phoneme, he or she gets a different word. Thus, a
phoneme is a distinctive unit. Phonemes in a normal speech are fused
together and influence each other. There are some rules that try to predict how a
phoneme will vary in a given context. These are called allophonic rules which
facilitate articulation.
2.1.7 English Phonological Processes
A phonological process, Finegan (2004) explains, is a term used to cover the
way in which segments are influenced by adjacent segments, causing phonemes to
vary in their realization according to a phonological context. There are some types
of English phonological processes which include the following:
2.1.7.1 Assimilation
According to Ladefoged (1993), a sound is coloured or adapted to the sound
before or after it. In other words, one sound changes into another sound because
of the influence of the neighbouring sounds as in the change of underlying /n/ to
/m/ in “input” [ɪmput] or of underlying /z/ to /Ʒ/ in “does she” [dʌƷʃi]. A change is
also noticed in the compound ‘sun burnt’ of the sentence ‘my skin is sun burnt’
where the alveolar sound [n] in sun changes to bilabial [m] to adapt to the
following sound [b] which is also bilabial. Thus, the phrase becomes
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[mʌɪskɪnɪzsʌmbə:nt]. Another example, the sound [k] in speak which is voiceless
is followed by [s] which is also voiceless in a phrase such as “The man speaks
slowly” [ ðə mæn spi:ks slowlɪ], whereas the sound [g] in beg which is voiced is
followed by [z] which is also voiced in the sentence such as “He begs her to
forgive him” [hɪ begz ər tə fɔrgɪv əm].
Another case of assimilation is detected in the pronunciation of the following
pairs of words. According to Finegan (2004: 116), the vowels of the words on the
left column are shorter in duration than those on the right. If one looks past
the spelling, one will notice that each word on the left column ends in a voiceless
consonant,whereas each word on the right column ends in a voiced consonant.
Thus, English lengthens vowels which precede voiced consonants.
Examples:cap cabcat cadback bagcot cod
2.1.7.2 Aspiration
Aspiration is articulation of a sound that is accompanied by a small emission
of air, in a small explosion (Finegan, 2004: 112). A little differently, Ladefoged
(1993) formulates aspiration as “a period of voicelessness after the release of an
articulation as in “pie” [phaɪ]. Voiceless stops /t, p, k/ are aspirated when they are
in the initial syllable, in words such as (time, pot, cat), but /p, t, k/ are unaspirated
in medial position after an /s/ in words like (spew, stew, skip).
2.1.7.3 Deletion
According to Reima Al-Jarf (1989), a sound might be eliminated to facilitate
articulation. For example, friendship becomes [frenʃɪp]. This is also applicable in
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other words such as “aspects [æspeks], he must be [hɪmʌsbɪ], grandpa [græmpa],
postman [pousman], west cliff [wesklif], and handsome [hænsəm].
2.1.7.4 Insertion or Epenthesis
Insertion or epenthesis, Reima (1989) explains, is a phonological process in
which a certain sound is inserted in order to facilitate pronunciation. The
phonologist points to the sentence “I am (e) tired” as an example. In practice, the
sentence is pronounced as [ʌɪməthɑɪəd]. A sudden transition from [m] which is
bilabial to [t] which is alveolar seems rather difficult. Thus, the [ə] is inserted for
easier pronunciation.
2.1.7.5 Phonotactic Rules
Speakers of a language have an implicit knowledge of which are the
combination of sounds that are allowed or are frequent in their language. In
English, Finegan (2004) explains, having several consonant sounds together is
fairly normal. For example: r + k + t as in worked. This pattern will have a very
direct influence on an L2 student learning English.
In English, the linguist argues, consonant +consonant (CC) combinations in
initial position are very normal. To these possibilities, one has to add the fact of
having an [s] as the first consonant and a plosive as the second (only voiceless -p,
t, k-, not voiced b, d , g). For examples, St + vocal as in stress, stand. Sk + vocal as
in squint, skull.
2.1.7.6 English Stress
According to Reima (1989), English has the following stress rules:
1. The great majority of two-syllable words are stressed on the first syllable,
e.g.,‘never, ‘breakfast, ‘Monday.
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2. A number of words have two different stress patterns according to whether
they are verbs or nouns, e.g., absent, accent, conduct, convict, digest,
separate, perfect, permit, present, suspect, transport.
3. When a suffix is added to a word, the new form is stressed on the syllable as
was the basic word, e.g.,
a’bandon a’bandonment‘happy ‘happiness‘reason ‘reasonable
4. Words ending in {-tion, -sion, -ic, -ical, -ity,} almost always have primary
stress on the syllable preceding the ending, e.g.,
‘public pu’blicitybi’ology bio’logicalcon’tribute contri’butione’conomy eco’nomical
5. If a word ending in -ate or -ment has only two syllables, the stress falls on the
last syllable if the word is a verb, but on the first syllable if the word is a noun
or an adjective. When stressed, the ending is pronounced [eyt], [m] [nt]; when
unstressed, it is pronounced [t],[m][n], e.g.,:
cre’ate de’batein’flate lo’cate‘climate ‘senate‘private ‘cognate
However, Giegerich (1992: 181) notes that stress in English is phonemic
only to a limited extent. The main function of stress in English, he explains, is not
of differentiating words. Its main function is to maintain rhythm in connected
speech. For this reason, he argues, English is a stress-timed-language in which
stresses occur at roughly equal timing intervals.
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2.1.8 Contrastive Analysis
Contrastive Analysis (CA), Finegan (2004: 574) explains, is a method of
analyzing languages for instructional purposes whereby a native language and a
target language are compared with a view to establishing points of difference
likely to cause difficulties for learners. CA can be portrayed from different
aspects such as the following:
2.1.8.1. Historical Perspective
Sir William Jones is a linguist widely considered as the pioneer of a
systematic language comparison. Declaring his research finding in a formal
speech in 1786, he said:
“Sanskrit bears a resemblance to Greek and Latin which is too close to bedue to chance, shows rather, that all the three,’have sprung from somecommon source which, perhaps, no longer exists and Gothic (that is,Germanic) and Celtic probably had the same origin” (Alatis, 1968).
Following the historic speech, linguists all over Europe began to be involved in an
open competition for researches in comparative linguistics. They wanted to find
out if some languages were so similar that they could be put together under one
language family. However, they started to compare and contrast languages for
pedagogical purposes only much later. This new comparison and contrast for the
betterment of teaching and learning a foreign language would be known as
Contrastive Analysis (henceforth referred to as CA).
CA was born when descriptive-synchronic linguistics began to make a name
for itself. Advancement in descriptive-synchronic linguistics is marked by the
publication of Language (Sapir, 1921) and Sound Patterns in Language (Sapir,
1925) in which Sapir says:
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“I found that it was difficult or impossible to teach an Indian to makephonetic distinctions that did not correspond to ‘points in the pattern ofhis language’ however these differences might strike our objective ear,but that subtle, barely audible, phonetic differences, if only they hit the‘points in the pattern’ were easily and voluntarily expressed in writing.”(p. 62)
In Sound Patterns in Language (1925), Sapir explains that the habits of a
native speaker are part of a system which is orderly organized. He also underlines
the importance of phonemes (points in the pattern) which are different from
phones (phonetic entities). Sapir’s view paved the way for the introduction of
structural linguistics.
Fries brought Sapir’s views into his classroom activities, paying special
attention to his students’ mistakes, both in pronunciation and in writing. After a
series of observations, he came to a conclusion that a certain group of students had
a tendency to make similar mistakes. He noticed that the students who spoke
Spanish, for example, could not pronounce certain English words correctly. They
pronounced speak as [espik], study as [estadi] and school as [eskul]. Students
from the Philippines also made mistakes, but they showed different patterns. They
pronounced the three words above by inserting [e] between the consonant
sequence. Thus, speak became [sepik], study became [setadi] and school became
[sekul]. Then, Fries related ‘the patterns of mistakes of his students’ to the ‘points
in the pattern’ of Sapir. The result is an idea which gave birth to the so-called
contrastive analysis.
2.1.8.2 Purposes of CA
Comparative Linguistics and Contrastive Analysis have one thing in common:
both attempts to compare languages. However, there is a basic difference between
the two. Comparative Linguistics tries to group languages into language families,
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whereas Contrastive Analysis endeavors to discover similarities and differences
between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) for the
improvement of teaching and learning of a foreign language.
In 1945, Fries, who is recognized as the father of CA, in his book Teaching
and Learning English as a Foreign Language emphasized :
The most efficient materials grow out of a scientific descriptive analysisof the language to be learned carefully compared with a paralleldescriptive analysis of the native languages of the learner. Only acomparison of this kind will reveal the fundamental trouble spots thatdemand special exercises and will separate the basically importantfeatures from a bewildering mass of linguistic details (p.2).
Almost twelve years later, Robert Lado, one of Fries’ prominent followers,
proposed a similar view in his book, Linguistics Across Cultures (1957), saying:
“The most important new thing in the preparation of teaching materials isthe comparison of native and foreign language and culture in order tofind the hurdles that really have to be surmounted in the teaching ( p. 3)
Fries and Lado made CA very popular in the 1950-s and 1960-s. The
popularity tempted CA proponents to put forth several claims, some of which are
considered overambitious such as the following:
1. mistakes of a learner are primarily due to interference from L1.
2. similar points in L1 and L2 do not cause problems for a learner.
3. different points in L1 and L2 cause serious problems for a learner.
4. different points in L1 and L2 are detected from a comparison of L1 and L2.
5. results of the comparison form the basis on which difficulties are predicted.
6. materials designed on the basis of the comparison of L1 and L2 are useful.
2.1.8.3 Movement Against Contrastive Analysis
A movement against CA emerged in the closing year of the 1950-s. Some
scholars from the Great Britain began to cast their skepticism on CA.
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Linguists such as Richards, Selinker, and W. R. Lee question the usefulness,
necessity, and relevance of CA. Lee, later editor of English Language Teaching
(1970), writes:
“Now it is often said that by means of a thorough comparison of thenative language and the foreign language we can predict the learningerrors. But is it true? And if it is true, is such a prediction necessary?And can the comparison be thorough?” ( p.4)
Furthermore, Lee argues:
“Prediction is by no means wholly reliable. Although there are commonfaults, not all speakers of the same first language cope with thedifficulties of learning of a particular foreign language in the same way,making exactly the same mistakes”. (p. 5)
L. A. Hill, a British language scholar who was popular with English teachers
in South East Asia in the 1970-s, also discredits the value of CA when he said,
“Most of the students’ errors in learning English are caused by the conflict
between the patterns within the English language itself.”
On the whole, those critics agree with CA proponents that there is
interference from L1. However, they refuse the idea that L1 is the primary source.
They explain that there are some other important factors behind the difficulties of
a foreign language learner. W. R. Lee states “but it is not only the learner’s native
language which exercises this influence. There is interference both from L1
and at every stage from what has already been taught and absorbed.” (Alatis:
186)
Another distinct voice against CA comes from Catford, author of Contrastive
Analysis and Language Teaching (1968). He refuses the idea that CA is able to
predict all the hurdles in the teaching and learning process. The role of CA, he says,
is merely explanatory, not predictive.
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“...it seems to me that in relation to L2 teaching, the most important role ofcontrastive analysis - or rather, of the data obtained by contrastiveanalysis - is explanatory rather than predictive (p. 159).
Catford is certainly pleased to see CA practitioners design a lot of
theories on language teaching and learning. However, he deems it more important
for them to go into the field and collect data about students’ mistakes and arrange
them into types, exactly like what practitioners of Error Analysis (EA) do. By
combining CA and EA, he argues, a language analyst can explain more clearly
why certain students make certain mistakes.
2.1.8.4 In Defence of Contrastive Analysis
The controversy above indicates that contrastive analysts and their critics
differ mostly about two basic claims of Contrastive Analysis (CA). The first is the
claim of CA that the native language interference is the major cause of difficulty in
a second language learning. The second is that CA can predict difficulties in the
learning of a second language.
In an effort to tackle the first issue, it is well to consider what CA was really
like in the early stage of its development in the 1950-s. Back then, Fries and Lado,
the two founders of CA, directed their searching light mostly to the phonological
errors of their students. They turned out to be fairly successful and quickly made a
name for themselves. However, problems appeared as soon as their ambitious
followers began to include syntactic and semantic errors in their analysis. In other
words, every language scholar seemed to agree in the early days of CA that the
native language interference in learning the phonology (also popularly known as
pronunciation) of a foreign language was undeniable. Regarding the first language
interference in phonology, Lado comments:
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“The learner transfers the sound system of his native language and uses it instead ofthat of the foreign language without fully realizing it. This transfer occurs evenwhen the learner consciously attempts to avoid it. Force of habit influences hishearing as well as his speaking. He does not hear through the sound system of thetarget language but filters what reaches his ears through his own sound system.”(Language Teaching, 1965: 72).
Present-day language scholars also see clear signs of the first language
interference in learning the phonology of a second language. M.F Baradja, a staunch
advocate of CA, argues that “unless the learner is very young, nobody can deny that
there is interference of the mother tongue in the acquisition of the phonology of a
foreign language. The fact that an Indian speaks English with an Indian accent, a
Japanese speaks English with a Japanese accent, etc., is a definite proof of the
existence of the native language interference” (1971: 4). Jack Richards (2002)
agrees when he asser ts “ tha t ve ry few lea rners are able to speak a
second language wi thout showing evidence of the transfer of
pronuncia t ion fea tures of the ir na t ive tongue” .
In fact, even those scholars who are critical of CA generally agree that there is
interference from the mother tongue (L1). What they refuse is the claim that L1 is
the primary source of interference. W. R. Lee states… “but it is not only the
learner’s native language which exercises the influence. There is interference
both from L1 and at every stage from what has already been taught and
absorbed.” (Alatis, 1970: 186)
In response to the opposing view, strong proponents of CA such as Baradja have
to admit that it is difficult to prove whether or not the major cause of difficulty is
interference from the mother tongue of the learner. However, they maintain, it is also
hard to prove that the major cause of errors come from the target language. Only one
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thing is certain, they have finally admitted, that both L1 and L2 are important
potential sources of difficulty (1971: 5).
Now comes the issue of prediction. Proponents of CA generally complain that
critics of CA misunderstand the meaning of ‘ to predict’ in contrastive analysis.
Therefore, staunch advocates of CA such as Baradja consider it necessary to explain
that ‘to predict’ means no more than ‘to show with some explanation what, where,
and why certain areas in the target language are likely to be potential trouble spots for
a learner. To predict, Baradja ascertains, is not intended to mean ‘to show with
certainty’. Thus, in making a prediction, it is always possible that an analyst can
anytime make a mistake. Fortunately, the Indonesian linguist and English teacher
adds, a linguistic science has made so much progress that it can nowadays help a
contrastive analyst to attend to the phonological problems more effectively.
The brief discussion above may have made it clear that CA is still useful and
relevant in a foreign language teaching. This is precisely the reason why the present
writer insists on conducting a CA of English and Nataia phonology in spite of the
controversy.
2.2 Review of Related Studies
The present study marks the beginning of a completely new era for
Nataia because this is the very first time the local language has been formally
discussed and set down in writing. It is futile, therefore, for anyone to search for
previous researches, theses or dissertations that are related to the study of the
local language. However, since the present work touches on the “potential
difficulties for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology”, it seems
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worthwhile to refer to preceding studies that compare and contrast English with
some other languages.
One of the previous studies worth mentioning is the Contrastive Analysis of
Selected Patterns of the Noun Phrases and Verb Phrases of English and
Indonesian. This is the title of a dissertation written in 1971 by M . F.
Baradja, a well-seasoned Indonesian linguist and an English teacher. In the
introduction to his scientific work which deals mainly with syntax, Baradja
provides an example of a problem in the phonological contrast between English
and Bahasa Indonesia. How to pronounce correctly the final consonant [b] in
such words as sob, grab, and rib, Baradja argues, is generally a problem for an
Indonesian learning English. An Indonesian, he notices, also finds it hard to
pronounce correctly the consonant sound [d] in words such as bed, rid, and read.
Another difficulty, he notes, is for an Indonesian to pronounce correctly the sound
[g] in such words as bag, hug, and dig.
One might be tempted to make Baradja object of ridicule for the above
statement which at first glance sounds rather simplistic. Somehow, the
temptation seems well-grounded: Bahasa Indonesia also has the three
consonants in its inventory in such words as babu, lebaran, derita, sedia, gejala
and jelaga. However, upon closer observation, one finally has to acknowledge
that Baradja is completely right. The sounds [b], [d] and [g] of Bahasa Indonesia,
as the three pairs of words in the examples above show, occupy the initial
positions in the words babu, derita, and gejala. They occupy the medial positions
in the words lebaran, sedia and jelaga. However, they never occupy the final
positions of words of Bahasa Indonesia. This simple fact, the linguist asserts, is
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the reason why the final voiced stops of English are potentially troublesome
for an Indonesian learning English phonology.
Baradja’s assertion that the position of a phoneme in a word makes a
difference is certainly very relevant to the present study of English and Nataia
phonology. As Oko Utu text emphatically reveals, Nataia is a specific vocalic
language in which every one of its syllables always ends in a vowel phoneme.
Theoretically, therefore, Nataia speakers learning English phonology may find
it difficult to pronounce English consonant sounds which occupy the final position
of a word.
It is to be noted that there are contributions from two other linguists, P.
Moore (1980) and S. Djawanai (1983), that should also be highly appreciated.
Moore wrote Ngadh’a Phonology, a paper that he submitted to the Second
Eastern Conference on Austronesian Languages. Djawanai wrote A Ngadha Text
Tradition: The Collective Mind of the Ngadha People, Flores in which Ngadha
phonology receives ample discussion. The descriptions by the two
language scholars, especially by Djawanai who is a native speaker of Ngadha,
have certainly shed illuminating light on the present study. The reason is
that Nataia is a member of the Ngadha-Lio language grouping. Thus, a
good phonetic and phonological description on one select sample of the group
such as Ngadha practically amounts to a revelation of the whole group. This
statement is in no way an exaggeration. The present writer has to openly admit
that the findings of this work are in many ways s imilar to those of
Djawanai’s. Perhaps, the main difference lies only in the number of
consonant phonemes of Ngadha and that of Nataia. To the list of phonemes
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of Ngadha provided by Djawanai, the present writer adds two unique consonant
phonemes of Nataia, namely t h e alveolar fricative /ř/ and t h e v elar
implosive /ğ/. Additionally, unlike Djawanai who writes Ngadha phonology
as an end in itself, the present writer provides Nataia phonology in contrast
with that of English in an effor t to help Nataia speakers improve their English
pronunciations.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
In an effort to answer the first research question i.e., “What are the vowel
and consonant phonemes found in Nataia?”, firstly the writer went to the
theory of phonetics. Phonetics is concerned with describing speech sounds that
occur in the languages of the world, naturally including Nataia. According to
Jean Aitchinson, a noted phonetician (2003: 46), one way to identify the
phonemes of a language is to look for minimal pairs and minimal sets. A pair of
words of Nataia such as weta /wətha/ ‘sister’ and beta /bətha/ ‘buy’ which differs
by only one phoneme is a minimal pair. A set of words of Nataia such as weta
/wəth ɑ/ ‘sister’, beta /bəth ɑ/ ‘buy’ and keta /khəthɑ/ ‘cold’ is a minimal set. In
this way, the writer can identify the phonemes /w/, /b/, and /k/ of Nataia.
In order to obtain a complete list of the phonemes of Nataia, the
p r e s e n t writer looked for minimal pairs and minimal sets for each vowel and
consonant phoneme both from Oko Utu text as the primary source of data and
from his own lexicon as a native speaker of the language. Then, the writer studied
how the vowels and consonants of Nataia are organized into syllables and words.
The writer found out that the first problem for a Nataia speaker in learning English
phonology may arise from the vocalic nature of the language itself. A
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vocalic language does not allow any consonant phoneme to occupy the final
position of its words. In Nataia, even a syllable is not allowed to have a
consonant phoneme in the final position. Theoretically, therefore, a Nataia
speaker will find it difficult to study English, a language which allows a huge
number of its syllables and words to have consonants in the final position. The
second problem may appear from the fact that the syllable structures of Nataia
have only CV and V types. Thus, Nataia speakers will find it difficult to learn
English, a language which has richer combinations of vowels and consonants such
as CC and CCC in the initial and final positions of its words.
In an attempt to answer the second research ques t ion i.e., “What
segmental phonemes of English may cause difficulties for Nataia speakers in
learning English phonology?”, the writer went to the theory of CA on language
interference. According to Kersten (2002:3), there are at least two possible sets of
L2 (target language) phonemes. The sets include sounds identical to those of L1
(first language) and sounds unknown to L1. When both L1 and L2 have the same
phonemes, they are said to be identical. This type of sounds do not cause problems
or errors in pronunciation. Unknown sounds, Flege (1987: 48) explains, are “L2
phones which have no counterparts in the L1”. The English consonant sounds
that are unknown to Nataia speakers include / ʃ/, /θ/, /Ʒ/, /ð/, dƷ, and /tʃ/.
Since the Nataia system does not have these characteristic English phonemes, a
Nataia speaker tends to look for their substitutes from the inventory of the
local language, resulting in phonological errors.
Finally, in order to answer the third research question i.e., “What
suprasegmental phonemes of English may cause difficulties for Nataia
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speakers in learning English phonology?”, the writer relied on a CA theory
about language interference. In this case, the present writer directed his attention
specifically to problems stemming from the difference in ‘stress and rhythm’
between Nataia and English. A Nataia speaker may find it difficult to learn
English phonology because ‘stress’ in the local language is not phonemic i.e., it
does not differentiate words, whereas in English, it is to a limited extent
phonemic (Giegerich, 1992: 181). Besides, stress in the Nataia is not systematic.
Stress in the local language is generally assigned to the next to the last syllable of a
word (penultimate). In actual practice, however, speakers may assign stress on any
syllable, depending on the communication effect they want to create. On the
opposite side, English stress can be phonemic i.e., it can differentiate words and
systematic i.e., every English word has a single possible stress pattern.
More importantly, Giegerich asserts, the main function of stress in English is
to maintain rhythm in connected speech. Rhythm is also problematic because in the
Nataia, the length of an utterance depends on the number of its syllables. On the
opposite end, the length of an utterance in English depends entirely on the number
of its stressed syllables. This is the reason why Nataia is referred to as a
syllable-timed language and English is a stress-timed language. The logical
consequence is that a Nataia speaker cannot easily get used to the rhythmic patterns
of English and finally speaks the foreign language with a syllable-timed rhythm.
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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
This chapter elaborates the research methodology that the present writer
applied in order to achieve the objectives of the study. It comprises explanations
about ‘object of the study, type of research and procedures of data analysis’.
3.1 Object of the Study
The object of this study is to find “potential difficulties for Nataia
speakers in learning English phonology”. In order to achieve the objective, the
present writer made a comparison and contrast of Nataia and English phonology.
Fortunately, quite a few well-known phonologists have written books, papers
and journals on the English phonology. The task of the present writer, therefore,
is simply to pick and choose from the various existing sources and then presents
all the necessary segmental and suprasegmental phonemes of English to be
contrasted with those of Nataia. As to the phonology of Nataia, the writer
consulted Oko Utu, a research text that contains eye-catching linguistic features of
the language, especially its segmental and suprasegmental phonemes. Behind
an ordinary account of how an extended family of Nataia solves their common
problems, lies a phonological wealth of the small ethnic group.
3.2. Type of Research
This is a phonological study. The writer collected data based on the
pronunciations of four native speakers of Nataia to find out if there were unique
sounds of the local language. In addition, the writer also tried to find out if there
were similarities and differences in the pronunciations of the participants or
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informants owing, for example, to age difference. The specific sounds of the
language along with the similarities and differences of pronunciations were then
described phonologically. John W Creswell (2012: 16) explains that the literature
may yield very little information about the phenomenon of the study, so the writer
needed to learn more from the participants or informants through observation.
According to Erickson in Schunk (1986: 12), observation is a method of viewing
and recording the participants. In this work, the present writer observed and
recorded four Nataia native speakers as they were reading Oko Utu text. In
addition, the writer also observed and recorded two Nataia girls as they were
pronouncing 18 English words that contain six characteristic English phonemes
i.e., . /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ , /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ .
3.3. Procedures of Data Collection
The present writer picked and chose data about English phonology from
various sources, especially from the works of noted phonologists such as Daniel
Jones (1938), Ladefoged (1993), Collins and Mees (2003), Stewart C Pool (1999),
Aitchison (2003) and Giegerich (1992) just to mention a few. As for the
phonology of Nataia, the writer designed a narrative text of Oko Utu which
contains a long monologue in the meeting of an extended family of Nataia. The
text ensures that all the phonemes of Nataia, both segmental and suprasegmental,
are represented there. Then, the writer sent the text to four villages (Watuwawi,
Boanio, Kotakisa and Boaroja) in the north central Flores where four native
speakers of the local language were asked to read it.
The pronunciations of the four native speakers were recorded separately and
then sent back to Yogyakarta by voice mail. Finally, the present writer made a
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phonetic transcription of the text and identified words containing vowels and
consonants of Nataia which occupy different positions (initial, medial and final) in
a word. To identify a vowel sound such as [ɑ], for example, the writer used a
minimal set. [ɑ] in ‘ani ‘honey’ was contrasted with [ɑ] in katu ‘wrap’ and [ɑ]
in tena ‘let’. In the word ‘ani ‘honey’, [ɑ] occupies the initial position, in the
word katu ‘wrap’ [ɑ] occupies the medial position, while in tena ‘let’, [ɑ] occupies
the final position. Any other vowel sounds of Nataia such as [ɪ], [e], [u], [ɔ]
along with their long counterparts such as [ɪ:], [e:], [u:], and [ᴐ:] can
occupy all the three positions. Only the schwa [ə] cannot occupy the coda
position.
In order to identify consonant sounds such as [s] and [t], the writer a l s o
relied on a minimal pair. The sound [s] as in sogo ‘borrow’ was contrasted
with [t] as in togo [ t hɔgɔ ] ’ fo rge ’ . A consonant sound of Nataia cannot
occupy the final position of a word, because the local language is vocalic. In order
to identify other consonant sounds, the writer also relied on a minimal pair and a
minimal set. A consonant sound such as [b] in bo’a ‘village’ was contrasted with
[t] as in to’a ‘generous’ and [k] as in ko’a ‘perch on’ (of birds). The writer
used a minimal pair as well as a minimal set to identify all the other consonant
sounds of the local language.
Additionally, the present writer also tried to find out what English consonant
sounds may be difficult for Nataia speakers learning English phonology by
observing and recording two Nataia girls as they were pronouncing 18 English
words. These 18 words contain six specific English sounds i.e., / ʃ/, /θ/, /Ʒ/, /ð/,
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/dƷ/, and /tʃ/ which occupy the initial, medial, and final positions of English
words.
3.4. Procedures of Data Analysis
Robert Lado (1981: 12) proposes a three-stage procedure in handling
contrastive phonological data. The procedure involves:
1. Analysis of sound systems
A contrastive analyst, Lado proposes, should first of all prepare a linguistic
analysis of the sound system of the language to be learned and a similar
description of the language of the learner. He also recommends that the
descriptions include both segmental and non-segmental phonemes along with
relevant data on the phonetic features of the phonemes, their variants and
distributions.
All that Lado recommends for a good description of the sound system of
English (the language to be learned) was already supplied in Chapter 2. On the
opposite side, all that he demands for a good description of the sound system of
Nataia ( language of the learner) is supplied in Chapter 4. At the moment, the
present writer would just like to briefly attend to each of the issues mentioned
above. The issue of phonemes along with their variants (allophones), for instance,
is exemplified in the following illustrative example. Both in English and Nataia,
the voiceless oral stops [p], [t], and [k] are aspirated such as in the first [p] of
paper in English and the first [p] of pare ‘rice’ in Nataia. However, unlike
English which has variants such as unaspirated [p] in split and unreleased [p] in
flap , Nataia does not have any variants (allophones) of the phoneme /p/. This is
because the main syllable structure of Nataia is of the CV type. Accordingly,
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every /p/ in the Nataia is always the onset of a syllable and thus always aspirated.
The same rule applies to the phonemes /t/, and /k/ of Nataia.
Next, comes the issue of distribution. English and Nataia are very different in
the distribution of their phonemes. The difference is detected most clearly in the
formation of their syllables. A syllable of Nataia is composed simply of one
consonant and one vowel (CV type) or just one vowel (V type). Take the word
mona ‘negation’ as an example. The first syllable of mona is mo- (CV) and the
second syllable is -na which is also of CV type. On the opposite side, English
allows various types of combinations of consonants and vowels. Edward Finegan
(2004: 127), provides examples of the rich combinations in such words as past
(CVCC), turned (CVCCC), queen (CCVC), and squirts (CCCVCCC).
As to the suprasegmental phonemes, the two languages are also very
different. Stress in English, for instance, is to a limited extent phonemic. Stannard
Allen (1954: 182)) provides a long list of English words in which stress can be on
the first or on the second syllable. Examples: This article is for export only (noun).
We try to export as much as possible (verb). In the Nataia, stress which is not
phonemic can practically be assigned on just any syllable, although the general
rule is that the stress is assigned on the syllable before the last (penultimate stress).
2. Comparison of units
Lado advises a contrastive analyst to take up each similar phoneme of
the two languages and put them side by side.Byway of juxtaposition, an analyst can
detect how many phonemes of the two languages are phonetically similar. The present
writer found out that theconsonant phonemesof English and Nataia are generally similar.
What is specific of Nataia is that the local language has three implosive sounds, i.e.,
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bilabial implosive /β/, alveolar implosive /ɗ/, and velar implosive /ğ/, plus one alveolar
fricative/ř/ and one velar fricative/ɣ/.On the oppositeside, English has six characteristic
sounds: two interdentals i.e., [ð] and [θ], two fricatives i.e., [ʃ] and [ʒ], and two
affricates i.e., [ʤ] and [ʧ] in its inventory.
3. Location of segmental and suprasegmental problems
The six characteristic English sounds: interdentals [ð] and [θ], fricatives [ʃ]
and [ʒ], and affricates [ʤ] and [ʧ] prove to pose great pronunciation problems for
a Nataia speaker learning English phonology. The problem gets even worse
because stress and rhythm turn out to be another potential hurdle. The reason is that
stress in Nataia is not phonemic, while in English it is to a limited extent phonemic,
i.e it can differentiate words. Rhythm poses a bigger problem because Nataia is a
syllabe-timed language and English is a stress-timed language. The length of an
utterance in Nataia depends on the number of syllables, whereas the length of an
utterance in English depends entirely on the number of its stressed-syllables. The
logical consequence is that a Nataia speaker finds it difficult to adapt to the
rhythmic patterns of English and tend to speak the foreign language with a
syllable-timed rhythm.
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CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Results and Analysis are divided into three sections. Section One is
concerned mainly with N a t a i a segmental phonemes: how each vowel and
consonant phoneme of the language is identified, how the vowel and consonant
phonemes are distributed, how the vowel and consonant phonemes are organized,
and what phonemes of the language are considered unique. A careful and
detailed identification the Nataia segmental phonemes is expected to lead to the
answer to the first research question of this thesis: What are the vowel and
consonant phonemes found in Nataia?
4.1 Nataia Segmental Phonemes
Segmental phonemes comprise vowels and consonants, which for the sake of
convenience, are here treated separately as follows:
4.1.1 Nataia Vowel Phonemes
The core business of a phonetician is to describe global speech sounds,
including, of course, those of a small local language such as Nataia. An
inquisitive phonetician may want to know what the speech sounds of Nataia are,
how they form patterns and how they adapt to changing circumstances.
Additionally, a phonetician is eager to reveal which aspects of the sounds express
the meaning of what is being said. In order to get to those purposes, a phonetician
should first observe what the Nataia people are doing as they are talking and
listening to speech.
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As a matter of fact, the task of a curious phonetician in this case has already
been made easier. This is partly due to the presence of Oko Utu, a research text
that contains interesting pieces of linguistic information about Nataia. In terms of
phonology, the text clearly echoes the pronunciations of four native speakers of
Nataia from which the vowels and consonants of the local language are brought
out into the open.
Out of the recording, the present writer succeeded in tracking down all the
vowel and consonant phonemes of Nataia. The tracking down was done by way of
a commutation test ( a minimal pair test) and a minimal set test.
Table 4.1 Commutation Test of Nataia Vowels
Position Phoneme Words Meaning
High FrontVowels
i bire no (negation)e bere floodi mia massagee mea ashamedi kia dirty (of head)e kea declarei nia facee nea no(prohibition)
High BackVowels
u mua greaseᴐ moa thirstyu ku’a break to piecesᴐ ko’a perch on (of birds)u sua open upᴐ soa lightenu pua poak at (of fruit)ᴐ poa morning
CentralVowels
ɑ ana son/daughterə `ena thereɑ aka pretendə `eka thinkɑ asu dark (of skin)ə `esu removeɑ ata strangerə `eta fishy
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The commutation tests above show very clearly that the two words in each
pair are different by only one sound. If the sound /i/ in the word bire ‘negation’
is replaced by the sound /e/, for instance, one will get bere ‘flood’ which is a
new word with a totally different meaning. This indicates that /i/ and /e/ are
different vowel phonemes. One can follow exactly the same procedure with other
pairs which contain contrastive sounds such as /ɑ/ and /ə/, /u/ and /ᴐ/ to prove that
they are different vowel phonemes. At the end of a l o n g range of
commutation tests, one will realize that Nataia has in its inventory five vowels
[ɑ], [ɪ], [u] ,[e], [ᴐ], each having its long counterpart, plus a schwa [ə]. It is also
interesting to reveal that the contrast of vowel length in the Nataia proves to be
phonemic. The following commutation tests may explain the case.
Table 4.2 Contrast of Vowel Length
The long and short contrasts turn out to be unevenly distributed. The
phonemes /u/, /i/, and /e/ can have a long and short contrast, both in the initial and
the final position. Thus, in the initial position, one can find a contrast of /u/ as in
‘ula ‘repeat’ and /u:/ as in ula ‘push’. In the final position, one can find a contrast
of /u/ as in pa’u ‘grass’ (for animal feed) and /u:/ as in pau ‘mango’; In the initial
Vowel Word Meaningi: ika drive awayɪ ‘ika fishi: imu mumbleɪ ‘imu he/shee: esa pulle ‘esa oneu: ula pushu ‘ula repeatᴐ: kao sprinkle (with water)ᴐ ka’o rock (a child)ɑ: mea ashamedɑ me’a alone
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position, there is a contrast of /i/ as in ika ‘drive away’ and /ɪ/ as in ‘ika ‘fish’. In
the final position, there is a contrast of /ɪ/ as in ‘pa’i ‘stay up’ and pai ‘ask for’. In
the initial position, there is a contrast of /e/ as in ‘esa ‘one’ and /e:/ as in esa ‘pull’.
In the final position, there is a contrast of /e/ as in pa’e ‘hit’ (with a sword) and
pae ‘beckon’. However, in the cases of /ɑ/ and /ᴐ/, the contrast of a long and a
short phoneme is found only in the final position. E xamples: /ɑ/ as in bu’a
‘broken’ is in contrast with bua ‘pubic hair’, and ku’a ‘break’ is in contrast with
kua ‘a small tree’ (with joints like a bamboo). The phoneme /ᴐ/ as in ka’o ‘rock’ (a
child) is in contrast with kao ‘sprinkle water on’.
Additionally, one may be interested in the distribution of each vowel in the
Nataia words. Since it is a vocalic language, every one of its vowels may occupy
the initial, medial, and final position of a word. Only schwa [ə] is not allowed to
be in the final position. The following distribution table can explain the case.
Table 4.3 Distribution of Nataia vowels
Vowel Distribution Example Meaning
/ɑ/
initial ‘azi/’ɑzɪ/ younger brother/sistermedial mae/mae/ soul/spiritfinal me’a/me’a/ alone
/i/initial ‘imu /’ɪmu/ he/shemedial sia /siya/ capablefinal sai /sayɪ/ who
/u/initial uza /uza/ rainmedial wua/wua/ loadfinal wau /wau/ smelly
/e/initial ‘enga /’eŋa/ callmedial pea /phea/ arrivefinal mue /mue/ burnt
/ə/initialmedial--
ebu/əbu/ grandpa/mabeta/bəta/ buy
-- --
/ᴐ/initial ‘one /ɔne/ insidemedial poke /ph ɔke/ throwfinal pako /phakhɔ/ big spoon
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What all the above vowels have in common is that their articulations do not
involve any audible obstruction of the air-stream. According to Giegerich (1992:
13), differences between the vowels are brought about by the raising of different
parts of the tongue as well as by the differences in the extent of the raising. The
difference between [i] and [u], for instance, is one of backness: [i] is a front vowel,
[u] is a back vowel. Front vowels are produced with the front of the tongue raised,
back vowels with the back of the tongue raised.
What the vowels [ɑ] and [ɑ:] have in common is that they are produced with
a maximally open mouth, therefore with a maximal distance between the
tongue and the roof of the mouth. This is a difference in height. Thus, [i] and [u]
are high vowels and [ɑ] and [ɑ:] are low vowels. The four vowel sounds represent
the extreme points of the principal dimensions of vowel articulation: height and
backness. Thus, [i] is a high front vowel, [u] is a high back vowel, [ɑ] is a low
front vowel and [ɑ:] is a low back vowel (Giegerich, 1992: 14). Within the [i]-[ɑ]
scale, there is [e] along with its counterpart. In the back series, there is [ɔ] along
with its counterpart within the [u]-[ɑ] scale. In the middle of the vowel chart,
within the [e]-[ɔ] scale, there is the schwa [ə]. In addition, vowels made with an
open mouth cavity, with the tongue far away from the roof of the mouth as in the
word ka /khɑ/ ‘eat’ are termed open vowels. If the upper tongue surface is close to
the roof of the mouth such as [i] in mi [mi:] ‘sweet’, the sounds are close vowels.
To show differences among vowels, apart from ‘tongue height and tongue
backness’, Nataia also depends on other possibilities such as ‘lip-rounding,
lengthening, and lax/tense’. Lip rounding in the Nataia, for instance, is clearly
detected in the pronunciation of a vowel sequence. The sound [w] can be inserted
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between the sequence when the first vowel is rounded [ᴐ,u] and the second vowel
is [ɑ,i,u,e,o]. In the pronunciations of the words koa ‘howl’ (of a dog) and the
word bhua ‘show up’, for instance, [w] is inserted . Thus, each of the words is
pronounced as /khᴐwa/ and /ßuwa/ respectively. On the other hand, [y] is inserted
when the first vowel is unrounded [a,i,e]. In the pronunciation of the words bhia
‘disagree’ and bao ‘shadow’ (of a tree), for instance, [y] is inserted. Thus, each
word is pronounced as /ßiya/ and /bayo/ respectively. Additionally, the Nataia
seems to make a distinction between vowels that are characterized as tense/lax. As
a general rule, lax vowels tend to be shorter. Thus, the contrast between [i:] as in
pai ‘ask for’ and [ɪ] as in pa’i ‘stay up’ seems to be that of tense/ lax. From the
descriptions above, one may rightly infer that altogether the Nataia has 11 vowels
in its inventory. Five of them are short vowels, each having its long counterpart,
plus schwa [ə]. The whole configuration of the Nataia vowels is tentatively
displayed in the following chart.
Figure 4.1 Nataia Vowel Chart(Adapted from Djawanai, 1983)
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4.1.2 Nataia Consonant Phonemes
Cooperation between the Oko Utu text and the present writer’s lexicon as a
native speaker of Nataia has resulted in a complete identification of the consonant
phonemes of the local language. The complete inventory of Nataia consonant
phonemes includes: /z/, /s/, /t/, /d/, /b/, /p/, f/, /v/, /k/, /g/, /ğ/ ,/m/,/n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /ř/,
/ß/, /ɗ/, /ɣ/, /h/, and /j/. The present writer succeeded in tracking down every
one of the consonant phonemes by way of a commutation test ( a minimal pair test)
and a minimal set test. However, several phonemes such as /h/, /ğ/, /ɣ/, /ɗ/, /ß/
which do not have pairs for a commutation test are treated individually.
Table 4.4 Commutation Tests of Consonant Phonemes
Consonants Word Meaning/z/ zio bathe/s/ sio urinate/z/ zua two/s/ sua open to cool down/t/ toa cut down branches/d/ doa twin/friend/t/ tua a kind of palm tree/d/ dua go down/go back home/b/ bua pubic hair/p/ pua prod at (of fruit)/b/ bia a kind of air root/p/ pia massage/f/ fua wasp/v/ vua load/f/ fai wife/v/ vai made of/k/ kuza shrimp/g/ guza light brown/k/ koe dig/g/ goe caress/m/ meka old man/n/ neka fine/ŋ/ ngeka lane/m/ moka young female animal/n/ noka ‘unwillingly give away’/ŋ/ ngoka catch fish/shrimp by hands/l/ leza sun/r/ reza creep/l/ loza live in the wild world
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I t is i m p o r t a n t to note that t h e phonetic symbols used to
represent the consonant sounds of Nataia are taken from two reliable sources,
namely the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and Djawanai’s ‘Ngadha Text
Tradition: The Collective Mind of the Ngadha People, Flores, which may have
also taken from IPA. The symbols from IPA include: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g], [f],
[v], [m], [n], [ŋ], [h], [j], [r], [l] and from Djawanai’s include: [ß],[ɗ], [ɣ], [ř], [ğ].
Though once in a while they differ in the use of phonetic symbols,
phoneticians have generally agreed on how to make a description of consonants.
In order to form consonants, Collins and Mees ( 2003: 40) explain, the air-stream
through the vocal tract must be obstructed in some way. Consonants can,
therefore, be classified according to their place and manner of articulation. Places
of articulation indicate what articulators are involved in the productions of speech
sounds .
4.1.2.1 Places of Articulation
According to Giegerich (2003: 9), places of articulation refer to what
articulators are involved in the production of speech sounds i.e., lips, tongue,
palate, velum, glottis, nose, etc.
/r/ roza extravagant/ß/ bhoi remove by force/ɗ/ dhoi Shoulder/ß/ bheo deny/ɗ/ dheo bring/ɣ/ ghewa quick/h/ heo hoarse/ř/ rhui meat/j/ joa
’alet up (of rain)
/ğ/ ‘geo shine
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4.1.2.1.1 Bilabial
Bilabial sounds of Nataia which include /b/,/p/,/m/,/ß/ are produced by putting
the upper and lower lips together. These sounds are heard in words such as:
Table 4.5 Bilabial Sounds
4.1.2.1.2 Labiodental
Labiodental sounds of Nataia i.e., /f/, /v/ are produced by touching the lower
lip to the upper teeth or incisors. In the Nataia, these two sounds are heard in
words such as:
Table 4.6 Labiodental Sounds
4.1.2.1.3 Dental
Dental sound of Nataia i.e., /d/ is produced by the tip or blade of the tongue
touching the front teeth. The sound is heard in words such as:
Table 4.7 Dental Sounds
Bilabial Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/b/ initial bana/bana/ walk
medial kuba/khuba/ mouth/p/ initial pu’u/phu’u/ since/from
medial zapa/zapha/ try/m/ initial mesu/məsu/ mercy
medial demu/demu/ they/ß/ initial bhada/ßada/ buffalo
medial tebha /təßa/ spank
LabiodentalSounds
Distribution Examples Meaning
/f/ initial fai/fayi/ wifemedial tefa /thəfa/ spit
/v/ initial vua/vua/ loadmedial keva/kh eva/ a kind of tuber
Dental Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning
/d/
initial demu/demu/ theymedial tadu/thadu/ horninitial date /dathe/ heavymedial node /nɔde/ play
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4.1.2.1.4 Alveolar
Alveolar sounds /n/, /t/, /z/, /s/, /ř/, /l/ are produced by the tip of the tongue or
the blade touching the alveolar ridge. Such sounds are heard in words such as:
Table 4.8 Alveolar Sounds
4.1.2.1.5 Alveo-palatal
The sound [ǰ] is produced by the tongue blade touching the back of the
alveolar ridge. In the Nataia, the sound [ǰ] is heard in words such as:
Table 4.9 Alveo-palatal Sounds
4.1.2.1.6 Retroflex
The retroflex sound /ɗ/ is produced by the tip of the tongue touching the back
of the alveolar ridge (Djawanai, 1983: 113). The sound /ɗ/ in the Nataia is heard in
words such as:
Alveolar Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/n/ initial negha /neɣa/ already
medial tena /thena/ let/t/ initial tei /theyi/ see
medial ate /athe/ liver/z/ initial zili /zili/ down there
medial azi /azi/ younger brother /sister
/s/ initial sama /sama/ similarmedial esa /əsa/ one
/ř/ initial only rhoba /řoba/ sarongmedial -- --
/l/ initial leza /leza/ sun / noonmedial zale /zale/ down/ below
Alveo-palatalconsonant
Distribution Examples Meaning
/j/ initial jo’a /ǰo’a/ let up (of rain)medial kajo /khaǰo/ ancestorinitial jodho /jɔɗɔ/ praisemedial eja /eǰa/ brother- in- law
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Table 4.10 Retroflex Sounds
4.1.2.1.7 Velar
Velar sounds [ŋ], [g], [ğ], [k], [ɣ] are produced by raising the back of the
tongue to touch the velum or the soft palate (Djawanai, 1983: 114). In the Nataia,
such sounds are heard in words such as:
Table 4.11 Velar Sounds
4.1.2.1.8 Glottal Stop
Glottal sound (‘) is produced when the vocal cords and the arytenoids are
close together so that the airstream coming from the lungs is momentarily stopped.
On the release of the glottal closure, the blocked air rushes out with an effect
rather like a cough, or the noise one makes when lifting a heavy weight (Collins
and Mees, 2003: 29) In the Nataia, such sounds are heard in words such as:
Retroflex Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/ɗ/ initial dheo /ɗeyo/ bring
medial modhe /moɗe/ fat
initial dhoko /ɗɔkho/ take awaymedial gedho /gəɗɔ/ go out
Velar Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/ŋ/ initial ngao /ŋao/ I
medial enga/eŋa/ call/g/ initial goa /goa/ just
medial rege /rəge/ many / much/k/ initial kai /khayi/ leave
medial uku /ukhu/ like/ɣ/ initial ghewo /ɣevo/ forget
medial negha /neɣa/ already/ğ/ only initial ‘geo /ğeo/ shine
‘goe/ğoe/ negation‘goa ‘gele/ğoa ğəle/ sing
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Table 4.12 Glottal Sound
4.1.2.2 Manner of Articulation
Consonants of Nataia can be classified according to their manner of
articulation. At most places of articulation, Ladefoged (1993: 8) explains,
there are several basic ways in which articulation can be accomplished. The
articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long period;
they may narrow the space considerably; or they may simply modify the shape of
the tract by approaching each other.
4.1.2.2.1 Voiced and Voiceless
According to Collins a n d M ees (2003: 27), when the air stream is
passing between them, vocal folds vibrate rapidly, producing what is termed voice
- that is, a sort of ‘buzz’ one can hear and feel in vowels and some consonant
sounds. Examples of vowels in the Nataia include [ɑ, i] as in a’i ‘leg’ and ine [ɪne]
‘mother’. Examples of voiced consonants in the Nataia include [b, d] as in be’o
‘know’ and demu ‘they’. For voiceless sounds, the two phonologists explain, the
vocal cords and the arytenoid cartilage are held wide apart which allows the air
stream to escape freely. Examples of voiceless consonants in the Nataia include [t,
f] as in telo ‘egg’ and funu ‘coconut fiber’etc.
Apart from the how of sound productions, manner of articulation also
presents the distinctive features between sounds. Sounds [p] and [b], for instance,
Glottal SoundsDistribution Examples Meaning
Ɂ initial ‘ala /Ɂala/ takesyllable initial bha’a /ßaɁa/ lie downinitial ‘eka /ɂekha/ thinksyllable initial ka’e /khaɁe elder brother
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are both bilabials, but [b] has the features of [+voice, + stop] and [p] has the
features of [-voice, +stop]. [d] has the features of [+ voice, + stop] while [t] has
[-voice, + stop]. [s] and [z] are both alveolar sounds but [z] is composed of [+
voice, +fricative] while [s] is composed of [- voice, +fricative]. It is to be noted,
however, that classes of sounds can also be described in terms of the features of
which they are composed. [m], [n], [ŋ], where there is no opposition between
voiced and voiceless, are simply referred to as [+nasals]. The class of stops /p, t ,
k, b, d, g/ can be specified simply as [+stop]. However, the voiceless stops / p, t ,
k/ as a class may have features such as [- voiced, + stop]. On the opposite end, /b,
d, g/ have the features of [+voiced, + stop], etc (Ladefoged, 1993: 89).
4.1.2.2.2 Nasals
Nasal sounds /ŋ/,/m/,/n/ are produced when the air is stopped in the oral
cavity but the soft palate is down so that air can go out through the nose
(Ladefoged, 1993: 89). Such sounds are heard in the Nataia words such as:
Table 4.13 Nasal Sounds
Nasal Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/m/ initial muzi /muzi/ life, alive
medial kumu /kh umu/ already/n/ initial negha /neɣa/ say, admonish
medial mona /mona/ no (negation)/ŋ/ initial ngasi /ŋasi)/ say
medial nenga /nəŋa/ remember / care
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4.1.2.2.3 Stops
According to Ladefoged (1993:8), stops sounds /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /ß/,
/ɗ,/ /Ɂ/ are produced if in addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, the soft
palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the air stream will be
completely obstructed. Pressure in the mouth will build up and an oral stop will be
formed. In the Nataia, the stops sounds are heard in words such as:
Table 4.14 Stops Sounds
4.1.2.2.4 Fricatives
The way fricative sounds /z/, /ɣ/, /f/, /s/,/h/ are produced involves close
approximation of two articulators so that the airs-tream is partially obstructed and
turbulent airflow is produced (Ladefoged, 2003: 10). In the Nataia, fricative
sounds are heard in words such as:
Stops Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/b/ initial bana /bana/ walk
medial sabu /sabu/ meet/d/ initial duki /dukhi/ push down
medial teda /thəda/ chasm/g/ initial geta /gətha/ mention
medial mege / mege/ put (on the waist)/p/ initial pema /phema/ fat
medial sepa /səpha/ eat (vegetables)/t/ initial tepa /th əpha/ shoulders
medial kate /khathe/ itching/k/ initial ka’u /kha’u/ sew
medial aku /’akhu/ hold in one’s grasp/ß/ initial bhada /ßɑdɑ/ buffalo
medial tebha /təßɑ/ spank/ɗ/ initial dhedhu /ɗeɗu/ boil
medial sedho /səɗɔ/ pound (of maize)
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Table 4.15 Fricative Sounds
4.1.2.2.5 Tap/Trill
A tap or a trill /r/ occurs when touching the alveolar ridge the tongue trills or
makes a single tap. Such a sound in Nataia is heard in words such as:
Table 4.16 Tap / Trill
4.1.2.2.6 Laterals
Obstruction of the air-stream at a point along the center of the oral tract, with
incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the
mouth, produces a lateral sound /l/ (Ladefoged, 1993: 10). In the Nataia, the
sound is heard in words such as:
Table 4.17 Lateral Sound
Fricative Sounds Distribution Examples Meaning/z/ initial zapa /zapha/ try
medial leza /ləza/ sun / noon/ɣ/ initial ghabho /ɣaßo/ sick
medial bhagho /ßaɣo/ bag/f/ initial fai /fayi/ wife
medial tefa /thəfa/ spit/s/ initial sore /sore/ talk
medial kesa /khəsa/ add/h/ initial hoa /hoa/ snap/ř/ initial rhasa /řasa/ fence
Tap / Trill Distribution Examples Meaning/r/ initial rimo /rimo/ all
medial tara /thara/ branch (of tree)
Lateral Distribution Examples Meaning/l/ Initial lau /lau/ there
Medial molo /molo/ fine
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4.1.2.2.7 Implosive
An implosive sound is a stop made with an ingressive glottalic airstream.
Such a sound is produced by way of a coarticulation of glottal and oral closure
involving implosion (Djawanai, 1983: 117). In the Nataia, the implosive sounds
are heard in words such as:
Table 4.18 Implosive Sounds
One may rightly infer from the descriptions above that Nataia has in its
inventory exactly 22 consonant phonemes. The consonant phonemes of Nataia
include: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ /g/, /f/, /v/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /h/, /j/, /r/, /l/, /ß/,/ɗ/, /ɣ/, /ř/,
and /ğ/. The Nataia shares three characteristic phonemes i.e., /ß/, /ɗ/ and /ɣ/ with
the other members of the Ngadha-Lio language grouping. In other words, /ß/, /ɗ/,
and /ɣ/ are found both in the inventory of the Nataia and in that of the other
members of the Ngada-Lio language grouping. In the Nataia, /ß/ is found in
words such as /ßɑdɑ/ ‘buffalo’, /ßuɑ/ ‘show up’, /ßᴐɪ/ ‘pry up’, /ßeᴐ/ ‘deny’ etc.
/ɗ/ is found in words such as /ɗᴐɪ/ ‘shoulder’, /ɗᴐrɑ/ ‘throw away, /ɗeᴐ/ ‘bring’
etc. /ɣ/ is found in /ɣɑmɑ/ ‘grope’, /ɣᴐma/ ‘difficult’, /ɣemᴐ/ ‘tired’ etc. In
addition, the Nataia possesses two unique phonemes of its own, namely the
velar implosive /ğ/ as in /ğᴐe/ ‘negation’, /ğeᴐ/ ‘shine’, /ğᴐa ğele/ ‘sing’ and the
alveolar fricative /ř/ as in rhui /řui/ ‘meat’, rho’i ‘taro’, rhora ‘diarrhea’, rhea ‘a
Implosive Distribution Example Meaning/ß/ initial bhada /ßada/ buffalo
medial rabha /raßa/ container (from palmleaves)
/ɗ/ initial dhora /ɗora/ discardmedial radha /raɗa/ release
/ğ/ initial only ‘geo /ğeo/ shine‘goe /ğoe/ no (negation)
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kind of gourd’, rha ‘blackbird’, etc. The three characteristic phonemes of the
Ngada-Lio language grouping plus two unique phonemes of the Nataia are
certainly absent from the list of English phonemes.
Based on the descriptions above, all the consonant phonemes of Nataia can
be put together in the following chart, showing both their place and manner of
articulations.
Figure 4.2 Nataia Consonant Chart & Orthography (Adapted fromDjawanai, 1983: 114)
4.1.3 Nataia Phonological Processes
A phonological process is a term used to cover the way in which segments
are influenced by adjacent segments, causing phonemes to vary in their
Consonant Sounds of Nataia : Consonant Orthography
bilabial
labio-dental
dental
alveolar
alveo-palatal
retroflex
velar
glottal
Nasals m n ŋ m n ngvoicedstops b d g b d g
voicelessstops p t k p t k
voicedimplosive ß ɗ ğ bh dh ‘g
glottalstop ˀ
voicedfricatives z j ɣ z j gh
Voicelessfricatives f s
ř h f srh h
tap/trill r r
Lateral l l
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realizations according to their phonological context. In the Nataia, there are at
least two types of phonological processes such as the following:
4.1.3.1 Aspiration
Voiceless oral stops are aspirated both in the initial position and in the medial
position. The aspiration is clearly noticed with velar consonant sound [k],
alveolar consonant sound[t] and bilabial consonant sound [p]. Examp les : [t]
as in tepa /thəph a/ ‘shoulder’, [p] as in pea /phea/ ‘arrive’, and [k] as in ku’a
/khu’ɑ/ ‘break down’ are aspirated. Also aspirated are the [t] as in ‘ate [athe]
‘liver’, [k] as in eka [əkh a] ‘think’ and [p] as in sepa [səpha] ‘eat’ (vegetables).
Aspiration occurs both in the initial position and in the medial position
because each of the three voiceless stops always becomes the onzet of the
following nucleus.
4.1.3.2 Vowel Reduction
The vowel of a structural word which usually consists of one syllable tends
to be reduced to schwa [ə] (Djawanai, 1983: 119). In the Nataia, ne ‘already’, for
example, is reduced to nə and da ‘ th a t ’ is reduced to də in phrases such as
/demu nə mai/ (they already come), and /ata də mai/ (people who come). The
schwa [ə] which is usually very short never occurs in the last syllable of a
morpheme.
After talking at great length about the individual vowel and consonant
phonemes of Nataia, it is time to discuss how these sounds are organized to form
patterns. It is a matter of common knowledge, though, that sounds are organized
into syllables and syllables are organized into words.
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The possible sequences of sounds in a syllable, Finegan asserts (2004: 126),
differ from language to language and are limited within each language. As
illustrative examples, Finegan points to some Polynesian languages such as
Samoan, Tahitian, and Hawaiian which have only CV and V syllables. Japanese,
the linguist ascertains, also allows syllables basically of the forms CV and V.
What a pleasant surprise for the present writer to know that such simple
syllable structures are similar to those of Nataia, which also has only CV and V
syllables. It is also worth noting that all the five languages have another unique
linguistic feature in common i.e., all their words always end in a vowel phoneme.
This feature clearly indicates that they are vocalic languages, which do not tolerate
any consonant phonemes in the final position of their words.
Learning a foreign language whose syllable structure differs from one’s native
tongue, Finegan asserts, speakers tend to impose the sequence constrains of their
native syllables onto the foreign words. English words such as baseball and strike,
Finegan explains, have been borrowed by Japanese speakers as beesubooru and
sutoraiku, forms that obey the sequence contraints of Japanese (2004: 128). In the
present writer’s observation, an English word such as royal ‘belonging to a king or
queen’ (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, 1974: 741)
has been borrowed by Nataia speakers as roza ‘extravagant’, the form of which
obeys the sequence constraints of Nataia. This simple illustrative example clearly
indicates that the vocalic nature of Nataia may become the first potential difficulty
for a Nataia speaker in learning English phonology. Furthermore, the syllable
structure of Nataia which is mostly of CV type may become the second potential
difficulty for a Nataia speaker in learning English phonology. The reason is that
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English has a wide variety of syllable types such as CCV, CCCV, etc (Finegan,
2004: 127).
4.2 English Segmental Phonemes with Potential Difficulties
This is Section Two in which the list of consonant phonemes of Nataia is
juxtaposed with that of English. In this way, the writer can pinpoint which
segmental consonant phonemes of English are potentially difficult for a Nataia
speaker in learning English phonology. The result of the juxtaposition will lead to
the answer to the second research question of this thesis: What segmental
phonemes of English may cause difficulties for Nataia speakers in learning
English phonology?.
A careful and detailed phonological analysis of English and Nataia in the
preceding pages has opened the way for the present writer to make a comparison
and contrast of the consonant phonemes of the two languages. The comparison
and contrast below is done class by class.
Table 4.19 Comparison of English and Nataia Consonant Phonemes
consonant English NataiaStops p √ √
t √ √k √ √b √ √d √ √g √ √
ß - √
ɗ - √ğ - √
Nasals m √ √n √ √ŋ √ √
Fricatives f √ √
v √ √θ √ -ð √ -s √ √
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The comparison and contrast above clearly indicates that English has six
characteristic consonant sounds which are absent from the inventory of Nataia.
The characteristic sounds of English include /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/,/ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, each of
which occupying three different positions in a word. In the initial position, for
example, the sound /θ/ is found in words such as thin /θɪn/. In the medial
position, it is found in words such as author /ᴐ:θər/. In the final position, it is
found in words such as breath /bre:θ/. In the initial position, the sound /ð/ is found
in words such as then /ðen/, in the medial position in words such as leather /leðər/,
in the final position in words such as breathe /bri:ð/. In the initial position, the
sound /ʃ/ is found in words such as shin /ʃɪn/, in the medial position in words
such as rashes /rʌʃɪz/, in the final in words such as rush /rɑ:ʃ/. In the initial
position, the sound /ʒ/ is found in words such as genre /ʒʌŋre/, in the medial
position in words such as measure /mɛʒɛ/ and in the final in words such as rouge
/ru:ʒ/. In the initial position, the sound /tʃ/ is found in words such as church /tʃə:c/,
in the medial in words such as kitchen /kh itʃən/, in the final in words such as pitch
/pɪtʃ/. In the initial, the sound /dʒ/ is found in words such as jelly /dʒɛli/, in the
medial in words such as bludgeon /blʌdʒən/, and in the final in words such as
fudge /fʌdʒ/.
z √ √ʃ √ -ʒ √ -h √ √
ɣ - √ř - √
Affricates tʃ √ -ʤ √ -
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The six characteristic sounds of English (L2) above prove to be ‘unknown’ to
the speakers of Nataia (L1)). Unknown sounds, Flege (1987) argues, are new
phones in L2 which have no counterparts in L1. The presence of these
‘unknown’ sounds, Flege asserts, is a big challenge for native speakers of L1
who are learning English phonology. Firstly, native speakers of L1 (speakers of
Nataia) will find it difficult to pronounce these sounds correctly. Secondly, in an
effort to surmount the difficulty, native speakers of Nataia tend to apply their
native phonetic system to compensate for the ‘unknown’ sounds, resulting in
‘pronunciation errors’. CA proponents refer to these pronunciation errors as clear
indications of the first language (L1) interference.
In order to get a clearer pic ture of L1 (Nata ia ) phonologica l
interference, recently the writer asked Junita Ia (20) and Maria Lali (19) to
pronounce 18 English words containing the six L2 (English)‘unknown sounds’.
The pronunciations of the two Nataia girls who are now taking up non-English
programs in two different universities in Yogyakarta, were recorded and
subsequently analyzed. The data indicator words used for the recording are thin,
author, breath, then, leather, breathe, shin, rashes, rush, genre, measure, rouge,
church, kitchen, pitch, jelly, bludgeon, and fudge. These words contain [θ], [ð],
[ʃ],[ʒ], [tʃ] and [dʒ] in three different positions. Following is the table of
distribution of the six English sounds that are ‘unknown’ to Nataia speakers.
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Table 4.20 Sounds Unknown To Nataia Speakers (Finegan, 2004 : 85).
It turned out that the two young Nataia informants failed to pronounce
correctly all the six ‘unknown’ sounds in three different positions. They
substituted /θ/ in the initial, medial and final positions with [t], thus, /θɪn/ > /tɪn/,
/ᴐ:θər/ > /ᴐ:tər/ and /brɛθ/ > /brɛt/. They pronounced /ð/ in the initial and medial
position as [d], thus /ðɛn/ > /dɛn/, /lɛðɛr/ > /lɛdɛr/. In the final position, [ð]
turned into [s], thus /bri:ð/ > /bri:s/. They pronounced [ʃ] in all the three
positions as [s], thus /ʃɪn/ > /sɪn/, /ræʃɪs/ > /ræsis/ and /rʌʃ/ > /rʌs/. In all the
three positions, [ʒ] was pronounced as [z], thus /ʒʌŋrə/>/zʌŋrə/, /mɛʒə/ > /mɛzɛ/
and /ru:ʒ/ > /ru:z/. In all the three positions, [tʃ] was pronounced as [c], thus
/tʃə:tʃ/ > /cə:c/, /kɪtʃən/ > /kɪcən/, and /pɪtʃ/ > /pɪc/. Finally, [dʒ] was pronounced
as [j], thus /dʒɛlɪ/ > /jɛlɪ/, /blɑdʒən/ > /blajən/, and /fʌdʒ/ > /fʌj/.
The present writer considers it necessary to make an analysis of the phonetic
representations of each incorrect pronunciation. The phonetic representations
refer to the results of transferring abstract sounds in the speakers’ minds into
real sounds in the pronunciations.
1. Voiceless Dental Fricative Consonant /θ/
The two informants did not produce the sound /θ/ correctly. The description
of the change of consonant /θ/ is as follows:
Sounds Initial Position Medial Position Final Position/θ//ð//ʃ//ʒ//tʃ//dʒ/
thin (θɪn)then (ðen)shin /ʃɪn/genre /ʒʌŋre/church/tʃə:tʃ/jelly (dʒelɪ)
author (ᴐ:θər)leather(leðer)rashes (ræʃɪz)measure(meʒə)kitchen(kitʃən)bludgeon (blɑdʒən)
breath (breθ)breathe (bri:ð)rush (rʌʃ)rouge(ru:ʒ)pitch (pɪtʃ)fudge(fʌdʒ)
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a. /θ/ >[t] / V , as is seen in the word thin /θɪn/ which is pronounced as /tɪn/.
Consonant /θ/ becomes [t] in the environment before a vowel in the word thin.
In other words, /θ/ changes into /t/ in the initial position before a vowel.
b. /θ/ >[t] /V V, as is seen in the word author/ᴐ:θər/ which is pronounced as
/ᴐ:tər/. Consonant /θ/ becomes [t] in the environment between vowels in the
word author. In other words, /θ/ becomes [t] between vowels in the medial
position.
c. /θ/ > [t]/ V as is seen in the word breath /breθ/ which is pronounced as /bret/.
Consonant /θ/ becomes [t] in the environment after a vowel in the word breath.
In other words, /θ/ becomes [t] after a vowel in the final position.
2. Voiced Dental Fricative Consonant /ð/
The two informants failed to produce the sound /ð/ correctly. The description
of how the consonant /ð/ changes is as follows:
a. /ð/> [d] / V, as is seen in the word then /ðɛn/ which is pronounced as /den/.
/ð/ becomes /d/ in the environment before a vowel in the word then. In other
words, /ð/ becomes /d/ when /ð/ occupies the initial position, preceding a
vowel.
b. /ð/ >[d] /V V , as is seen in the word leather /lɛðɛr/ which is pronounced
as /leder/. /ð/ becomes [d] in the environment between vowels such as in
the word ‘leather’. In this case, /ð/ also changes into [d] when it occupies
the medial position.
c. /ð/>/s/ V __ as is seen in the word breethe /bri:ð/ which is pronounced as
/bri:s/. /ð/ becomes /s/ in the environment after a vowel in the final position as in
the word breethe.
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3. Voiceless Palato Alveolar Fricative Consonant /ʃ/
The two informants did not pronounce the sound /ʃ/ correctly.
a. /ʃ/ > [s]/ V, as is seen in the word shin /ʃɪn/ which is pronounced as /sɪn/. /ʃ/
becomes [s] in the environment before a vowel in the word shin. In other
words, /ʃ/ changes into [s] before a vowel in the initial position.
b. /ʃ/ >[s] / V V , as is seen in the word rashes /ræʃɪz/ which is pronounced as
/ræsis/. /ʃ/ becomes [s] in the environment between vowels in the word
rashes. In other words, /ʃ/ becomes [s] between vowels in the medial
position.
c. /ʃ/ >[s]/V , as is seen in the word rush/ rʌʃ/ which is pronounced as /rʌs/. /ʃ/
becomes [s] in the environment after a vowel in the word rush. In other words,
/ʃ/ becomes [s] before a vowel in the final position of a word.
4. Voiced Palato-alveolar Fricative Consonant /ʒ/
The two informants did not pronounce the sound /ʒ/ correctly.
a. /ʒ/ > [z]/ V, as is seen in the word genre /ʒʌŋre/ which is pronounced as
/zʌŋre/. /ʒ/ becomes [z] in the environment before a vowel in the word genre. In
other words, /ʒ/ becomes [z] in the environment before a vowel in the initial
position.
b. /ʒ/ >[z]/ V V, as is seen in the word measure /mɛʒɛ/ which is pronounced as
/mɛzɛ/. Consonant /ʒ/ becomes [z] in the environment between vowels in the
word measure. In other words, /ʒ/ becomes [z] in the environment between
vowels in the medial position.
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c. /ʒ/ >[z]/ V __ as is seen in the word rouge /ru:ʒ/ which is pronounced as
/ru:z/. /ʒ/ becomes [z] in the environment after a vowel in the word rouge. In
other words, /ʒ/ becomes [z] after a vowel in the final position.
5. Voiceless Palato-alveolar Affricate Consonant /tʃ/
The two informants did not pronounce the sound /tʃ/ correctly.
a. /tʃ/ >[c] V, as is seen in the word church /tʃə:tʃ/ which is pronounced as
/cə:c/. /tʃ/ becomes [c] in the environment before a vowel in the word church.
In other words, /tʃ/ becomes [c] in the environment before a vowel in the
initial position.
b. /tʃ/ > [c]/V V , as is seen in the word kitchen /khɪtʃən/ which is pronounced
as /khitcən/. /tʃ/ >[c] in the environment between vowels in the word kitchen.
In other words, /tʃ/ becomes [c] between vowels in the medial position of a
word.
c. /tʃ/ >[c]/V as is seen in the word pitch /ph itʃ/ which is pronounced as
/ph ic/. /tʃ/ >[c] in the environment after a vowel in the word pitch. In other
words, /tʃ/ becomes [c] after a vowel in the final position.
6. Voiced Palato-alveolarAffricate Consonant /dʒ/.
The two girls did not pronounce the sound /dʒ/ correctly.
a. /dʒ/ >[j]/ V, as is seen in the word jelly /dʒelɪ/ which is pronounced as /jeli/.
/dʒ/ becomes [j] in the environment before a vowel in the word jelly. In other
words, /dʒ/ becomes [j] in the initial position of a word.
b. /dʒ/> [j]/V V as is seen in the word bludgeon /blʌdʒən/ which is pronounced
as /blʌjən/. /dʒ/ becomes [j] in the environment between vowels in the word
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bludgeon. In other words, /dʒ/ becomes [j] between vowels in the medial
position.
c. /dʒ/ >[j]/V as is seen in the word fudge /fʌdʒ/ which is pronounced simply
as /fʌj/. /dʒ/ becomes [j] in the environment after a vowel in the word fudge
in the final position.
It is interesting to notice that the substitution of an English sound with a Nataia
sound by the two young female speakers of Nataia above occurs systematically.
Both girls, for instance, substituted the English voiceless dental fricative /θ/ with
the Nataia voiceless alveolar stop /t/ in the initial, medial, and final position of
a word. They also substituted the English voiced d e n t a l fricative /ð/ with
the Nataia voiced dental stop /d/ in the initial and medial positions, and they
substituted English voiced dental fricative /ð/ in the final position with Nataia /s/
which is a voiceless alveolar fricative.
The two girls substituted the English voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/
with the Nataia voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and English voiced palato-alveolar
fricative /ʒ/ with the Nataia voiced alveolar fricative /z/ in all the three positions.
They substituted the English voiceless palato-alveolar affricate /tʃ/ with the Nataia
voiceless alveolar fricative /c/. Finally, they substituted the English voiced
palato-alveolar fricative /dʒ/ with the Nataia voiced palato-aveolar /j/.
Alip (2016: 159) notices at least two reasons behind such systematic
phonological alterations. Firstly, the well-versed English teacher asserts,
phonological deviations are detected not only in the individual speakers but
also in the speech of speakers of a certain language. This so happens, he explains,
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because the local people share similar features of language competence and
performance which influence their English competence and performance.
In addition, the deviant forms of phonological phenomena, Alip argues, can
occur both in the segmental and suprasegmental aspects of the language. The
segmental deviations cover different realizations of speech sounds. A sound can
substitute another, only if they share certain phonetic features. Phonologically
speaking, Alip explains, they must belong to a certain natural class where they
share at least one common feature. Therefore, the most potential candidates are
those which share the most features. It is understandable, he ascertains, that the
more potential substitute for /ʃ/, for instance, is /s/, not /z/ because the former
shares not only the manner feature (+ fricative) but also the voicing feature
(-voiced). Similarly, the English phoneme /ð/ which is a voiced dental fricative is
substituted in Nataia by /d/ which is a voiced dental stop.
It is important to note, however, that deviant phonological forms or
phonological errors normally occur in a communicative setting. In fact, they are
spoken errors that an L1 speaker makes in an effort to produce L2 ‘unknown’
sounds. In language acquisition, language teachers usually categorize errors into
two types: global and local. Global phonological errors are deviant spoken forms
which lead to a breakdown of intelligibility i.e., a listener fails to understand what a
speaker puts forward in a face-to-face communication. Local errors do not cause a
breakdown of intelligibility but only disturb communications. Regarding local
errors, Collins and Mees (2003:186) assert that some “give rise to irritation and
amusements’ while some others ‘may even pass unnoticed”.
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Special notes need to be taken about the pronunciations of the two Nataia
female speakers who became informants in the research above. It is true that the
two girls mispronounced all the 18 data indicator words, but they did not produce
the errors within a communicative context. In fact, the errors appeared when the
two girls were asked merely to repeat the pronunciations of the present writer. No
wonder, therefore, their pronunciation errors did not result in any communication
effects. Their errors merely pointed to one thing: the six specific English sounds
are really difficult for the two Nataia speakers to pronounce.
From the perspective of a contrastive analysist, the two girls’ failure to
produce the six specific sounds of English is a clear proof that ‘unknown’ sounds
of L2 may cause difficulties. In the light of foreign language acquisition, however,
the errors may also be attributed to a different cause i.e., Nataia learners are not yet
adequately exposed to spoken English. Without sufficient exposure to spoken
English, Nataia native speakers can never properly produce and recognize the
specific English sounds in their right communicative contexts.
However, it is very difficult for Nataia speakers to meet the need for sufficient
exposure . The reason is that English is a foreign language for them, just like for
other Indonesians in general. In such a position, English is almost never used in
personal domains, such as family life or friendship. To regularly use English in
personal domains, people need an English speech community, which is rarely
found in Indonesia. Of course, there are some but they are confined within the four
walls of foreign institutions, English educational institutions, and bilingual schools.
Outside the dividing walls, Alip argues (2016: 13), English remains a subject of
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intellectual study which never assumes its practical functions as a language of
social interactions.
In the face of such a situation, Alip advises English teachers to be realistic in
their expectations of their students’ mastery of spoken English. A perfect
command of English phonology for Indonesians in general, the English teacher
explains, is just beyond reach. However, English teachers in this country should
not be discouraged if they still find some foreign accent in their students’
pronunciation. It is enough if the students can produce “intelligible English sounds
without distracting or irritating effects for the listeners’ (Collins and Mees, 2003:
186).
It is generally believed that extensive exposure to good pronunciation is the
key to solving segmental phonological problems such as above. Based on such a
belief, intending English teachers should first equip themselves with good
pronunciation because they are to become models for their students to emulate.
This is an important requirement because only competent teachers can help their
students to improve their active pronunciation. In the exercises that use minimal
pair drills, for instance, only teachers with good pronunciation can be in charge.
Fortunately, in the present-day world, digital dictionaries can take over the role of
a teacher as model. Indeed, present-day learners can hear the native pronunciation
of words in their citation forms in the digital dictionaries. However, as words are
never spoken in isolation, Alip (2016: 16) recommends that English teachers also
assign their students to read particular passages such as news items to improve
active pronunciations in connected speech.
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4.3 English Suprasegmental Phonemes with Potential Difficulties
This is Section Three in which the present writer explains why Nataia native
speakers may find it difficult to deal with English ‘stress and rhythm’. This
explanation is expected to lead to the answer to the third research question of
this thesis: What suprasegmental phonemes of English may cause difficulties
for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology?
Fromkin, Blair and Collins (1996:2) state that part of knowing a language is
‘knowing what sounds…are in that language and what sounds are not’. This
statement proves to be true whenever the present writer listens to the way
Tadeus Leu (72), one of the four respondents of this work, pronouncing the word
Stanis (32 of the appendix). Leu fa i l e d to pronounce the word Stanis correctly
because as a Nataia native speaker, he is not familiar with a sequence of
consonant sounds. A Nataia native speaker has to turn a complex syllable onset
such as [st] into a separate syllable in order to suit the phonotactic rule of the
local language. Therefore, the Christian name Stanis i s r e analyzed into a
trisyllabic word and finally pronounced as [sətɑni]. Additional phonological
problems appear when Leu inserted [ə] between the consonant sequence [st] and
dropped the sound [s] from the coda position.
Based on the illustrative example above, a contrastive analyst can easily predict
that a Nataia speaker learning English phonology will often be confronted with a
problem of consonant cluster. Of course, a consonant cluster may pose a big
problem for Nataia speakers because Nataia is a vocalic language which has only CV
and V syllables. On the opposite end, English allows a huge number of its words to
have consonant clusters in the initial as well as in the final positions of its words. In
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other words, a Nataia speaker will often be made busy reanalyzing English
consonant clusters into separate syllables in order to suit the phonotactic rules of the
local language. Speak, which is a mono-syllabic word, for instance, will have to be
reanalyzed into a bisyllabic word, the result of which is a deviant form [sǝpi:k].
It is important to note, however, that pronunciation is not merely a mastery of
individual sounds and sound sequences. Language as a system requires various
combinations of linguistic units, where not only sounds matter (Alip, 2016: 16).
The units which operate above individual sounds and sound clusters are generally
referred to as suprasegmentals. In English, the most relevant suprasegmental
features are stress and rhythm (Collins & Mees, 2003: 109).
Stress is basically the relative prominence of syllables because what receives
stress (either primary or secondary) are syllables, not individual sounds (Alip,
2016: 17). For a Nataia native speaker, English stress is certainly
challenging because in the local language, stress is not phonemic and
unsystematic. Stress in Nataia is generally assigned on the syllable before
the last (penultimate stress). In actual practice, however, Nataia native
speakers sometimes assign stress on any syllable, depending on the
communication effect they wish to create. On the opposite end, English stress is to
a limited extent phonemic (Giegerich, 1992: 180). There are some pairs of English
words which are segmentally identical but distinct in meaning, owing to a
difference in stress placement such as ‘differ vs de’fer. In addition, Giegerich
ascertains, there are a number of noun-verb pairs such as ‘pervert and per’vert
where stress placement signals a different syntactic category.
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When speaking English, Nataia speakers may not realize that different
positions of stress may lead to different meanings. So they may assign the wrong
stress in words such as differ and defer etc, resulting in global errors which cause
a problem of intelligibility. Assignment of wrong stress on words such as import
and export, however, only results in a minor problem of ‘irritation or amusement’,
which accentuates a foreign accent of a non-native speaker.
Fortunately, on the whole, Giegerich explains (1992: 180), the phonemic
function of stress in English is not very significant. In a vast majority of English
words, the noted phonetician asserts, stress does not give rise to phonemic
distinctions. Still, Giegerich further ascertains, speakers cannot assign stress on
whichever syllable they like because each English word has a single possible stress
pattern. Thus, word stress i.e., the stress position in an English word can become a
huge problem for Nataia speakers. A three syllable word such as diligent should
have an antepenultimate stress i.e., the stress is on the third syllable from behind.
However, in Nataia where most words consist only of two syllables, word stress is
generally on the penultimate syllable (the syllable before the last one). As a
result, the E n g l i s h word is m o r e l ikely to be pronounced as [dɪ’lɪdʒənt],
rather than [‘dɪlɪdʒənt], the standard British English (BE) pronunciation as shown
in Hornby’s Oxtord Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (1974). It
is also likely that every one of the three syllables receives equal stress and the word
is then pronounced as [‘dɪ’lɪ’dʒənt] because Nataia speakers sometimes assign
stress on any syllable,.
Given a limited number of minimal pairs in which stress is phonemic,
Giegerich concludes, the main function of stress in English cannot be to
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differentiate words, but to maintain rhythm in connected speech (1992: 181).
Rhythm is “the patterns of the timing of syllables in speech” (Collins and Mees,
2003: 248). Syllables in English are pronounced in different timing or length of
utterance based on their significance in the utterance (Alip, 2016: 20). Certain
words or syllables, are more significant than others, so they receive more
prominence and accordingly, they require more time. Syllables which are not so
significant, the well-versed English teacher asserts, are made less prominent by
assigning less time in their pronunciation. As a result, time reduction in syllables
might end up with a weak form, a contracted form or even a syllable omission.
As a general rule, the English words that are most likely to receive stress are
those termed content words, namely nouns, adjectives, adverbs and main verbs.
These are words that normally carry a high information load (Collins and Mees,
2003”: 16). On the opposite side are function words that carry relatively little
information load; their role is holding the sentence together. Unlike content
words, the two phonologists argue, function words for the most part carry little
or no stress. Only two types of functions words, they further explain, are
regularly stressed: the demonstratives (e.g this, that, those) and
wh-interrogatives (e.g. where, which, who, how). When wh-words are used as
relatives, however, they are unstressed. Now, look at the following example:
‘Eli has de’cided to ‘fetch him from the ‘station / ‘eli ǝz dǝ’saɪdɪd tǝ ‘fɛʧ ǝm
frǝm ðǝ ‘steiʃǝn/. Here the words ‘has, to, him, from, the’ are all unstressed and
reduced to / ǝz tǝ ǝr frǝm ðǝ/. Out of the nine words in the utterance, only
four‘Eli, decided, fetch, station’ are stressed.
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As in English stress isochrony (equality in time) is preferred, stressed
syllables must occur at roughly equal time intervals (Alip, 2016: 20). Thus, the
pronunciations of ‘Eli has de should be roughly equivalent to ‘cided to, ‘fetch
him from the and ‘station’, respectively although syllable-wise they are different
in number.
Phonologists have introduced the term foot to indicate the timing units in an
utterance. Foot is “ a stretch of phonetic material that begins at the onset of a
stressed syllable and ends at the onset of the next syllable (Giegerich, 1992: 181).
Thus, a foot starts with a stressed syllable and continues up to, but not including,
the next stressed syllable (McMahon, 2002: 124). In the above example, there
are four feet : ‘Eli has de, ‘cided to, ‘fetch him from the, and ‘station. The first
foot consists of four syllables, the second three, the third four and the last two.
This simple example clearly reflects the concept of rhythm and foot, where the
timing of an utterance depends on the number of feet rather than on the number
of syllables. This simple example also represents the concept of English as a
stress-timed language, in which the length of an utterance depends particularly
on the number of stressed syllables. Above all, this simple example clearly
shows how spoken English relies very much on the marked contrast between its
stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables to exhibit its characteristic
rhythmic patterns.
A lot of languages make very little difference between syllables in the
matter of stress. As a consequence, native speakers of such languages usually
find it difficult to achieve a natural speech-flow in English (Stannard Allen,
1960:1). This is also true for native speakers of Nataia, a syllable-timed
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language, in which the length of an utterance depends on the number of
syllables. The sentences in Nataia such as ngao pai miu ne mai takes less time
than ngao enga zuna miu ne pea because there are fewer syllables in the former.
In their equivalent English sentences, I’ve asked you’ve come and I’ve called
now you’ve come, such timing difference does not seem significant.
In conclusion, stress in Nataia is not phonemic i.e., it does not differentiate
words. On the opposite end, stress in English is to a limited extent phonemic
i.e., it can differentiate words. Additionally, stress in Nataia is not systematic
i.e., it is mainly determined by the speaker’s choice and preference. On the
opposite side, stress in English is systematic and unpredictable i.e., every
English word has a single possible stress pattern. It is understandable if Nataia
learners of English find it difficult to deal with stress assignment in English
utterances.
It is also important to note that Nataia is a syllable-timed language in which
the length of an utterance depends entirely on the number of syllables in an
utterance. On the opposite side, English is a stress-timed language in which the
length of an utterance depends specifically on the number feet in an utterance.
The fluent flow of its stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables creates
rhythmic patterns which are characteristic of English. It is understandable,
therefore, that Nataia native speakers learning English phonology may find it
especially difficult to deal with rhythm of English. The logical consequence is
that Nataia speakers might end up speaking English with a syllable timing.
Fortunately, Collins and Mess (2003: 187) do not categorize a different
rhythm of pronunciation as belonging to the factor which leads to a
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breakdown of intelligibility. They simply categorize it as an error which
gives rise to irritation or amusement. Still, native speakers of Nataia are
encouraged to keep improving their pronunciation so that their English will
facilitate good communication beyond local communities.
Now that English is a world language, various local varieties have
emerged which often deviate from the English spoken in its traditional
countries. In the past, local varieties were considered as“deficient models of
language acquisition “(Kachru, 1992: 59). Nowadays, such a view is not
widely accepted any longer. Now a large number of people do not mind
accepting deviant forms as long as they do not interfere with communication.
Deviant forms are even appreciated as part of local characteristics and
culture. Therefore, English teachers in any part of Indonesia, including in
the Nataia speaking area, do not need be down-hearted if their own English
and the English of their students show local phonological characteristics.
They may keep on aiming for a native-like pronunciation, and at the same
time they should not be down-hearted if syllable-timing often shows up in
their performance.
Now comes the question of how to deal with suprasegmental difficulties.
When the target is the mastery of word stress, an English teacher can start
with pronunciation drills on selected words from a word list. Later, a learner
is advised to listen and repeat the pronunciation of the same selected words
in a digital dictionary. This practice is to ensure that a learner gets
increasingly used to the correct native pronunciations as well as assigning
the correct word stress . However, when the target is the mastery of stress
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timing, an English teacher needs to introduce drills which contain higher
units of utterances such as phrases and sentences. Of course, a teacher may
use ordinary reading passages for this purpose. However, Alip (2016: 22)
recommends using a text such as Living English Speech by Stannard Allen
that contains systematically graded exposure of rhythmic patterns of English
phrases and sentences. Finally, learners are advised to regularly listen to
English news programs on the radio. Certain radio stations such as
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) offer language programs
designed particularly for English learners. Finally, learners may regularly
watch television programs where they are exposed to extensive visual
contexts of utterances.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions
The conclusions of this study are specified into three parts as follows:
5.1.1 Difficulties Behind Nataia Segmental Phonemes
Commutation tests along with minimal set tests that the writer conducted to
find the complete inventory of the vowel and consonant phonemes of the Nataia
have ended successfully. The tests, the data of which were taken both from
Oko Utu resea rch text and the lexicon of the presen t writer as a native
speaker of the language, have finally pointed out that Nataia possesses 11 vowel
and 22 consonant phonemes.
Though it is already clear that the Nataia has 11 vowels, the present writer
considers it necessary to provide a fresh description of the vowel phonemes of
the local language. The Nataia turns out to possess five short vowels, namely /ɑ/
as in ame ‘father’, /ɪ/ as in imu ‘he/she’, /u/ as in uku ‘like’, /e/ as in esa ‘one’, /ᴐ/ as
in one ‘inside’ and the schwa /ə/ as in ne ‘already’. In addition, the local
language also has five long vowels which include /a:/ as in rea ‘a kind of gourd’,
in contrast with its short counterpart /ɑ/ as in re’a ‘coconut shell’, /u:/ as in wau
‘smell’, in contrast with wa’u ‘get down’, /i/ as in sai ‘who’, in contrast with sa’i
‘catch’, /e:/ as in rae ‘a kind of tree’, as in contrast with ra’e ‘harvest’ (of corn).
In brief, Nataia has 11 vowels, consisting of five short vowels /ɑ/, /ɪ/, /u/, /e/, /ᴐ/
and their long counterparts /ɑ:/, /i:/, /u:/, /e:/, /ᴐ:/, plus the schwa /ə/.
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Side by side the 11 vowels are 22 consonant phonemes of Nataia. The
complete list of the consonant phonemes includes /b/ as in bo’a ‘village’, /p/ as in
pea ‘come’, /d/ as in dia ‘here’, /t/ as in ti’i ‘give’, /m/ as in mosa ‘male’, /n/ as in
nuji ‘tell’, /ŋ/ as in ngala ‘able’, /f/ as in fonga ‘likel’, /v/ as in vali ‘again’, /s/ as in
sara ‘way’, /z/ as in zili ‘down there’, /k/ as in kai ‘go away’, /g/ as in gila ‘look’,
/ɗ/ as in dheo ‘bring’, /ß/ as in bholo ‘but’, /ɣ/ as in ghewo ‘forget’, /ğ/ as in
‘geo‘ shine’, /r/ as in rimo ‘all’, /l/ as in latu ‘exist’, /j/ as in jo’a ‘let up’ (of rain),
/h/ as in hoa ‘shout at’, /ř/ as in rhui ‘meat’. In brief, the consonant phonemes of
the Nataia include: /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /f/, /v/, /s/,/z/, /m/, /n/,/ŋ/, /k/,/g/, /l/, /r/, /ř/, /ɗ/,
/ß/, /ɣ/, /ğ/, /h/, and /j/.
It is easy to see from the list that Nataia has five characteristic consonant
phonemes i.e., alveolar implosive /ɗ/, bilabial implosive /ß/, velar implosive /ğ/,
velar fricative /ɣ/, and alveolar fricative /ř/. These five characteristic consonant
phonemes of Nataia are expected to increase the number of unique global
speech sounds.
After talking at great length about the individual speech sounds of Nataia, it is
now time to discuss how these sounds are organized. It is common knowledge,
though, that sounds are organized into syllables and syllables are organized into
words. The possible sequences of sounds in a syllable differ from language to
language and are limited within each language (Finegan, 2004, 126). Nataia allows
every one of its syllables to consist only of one consonant and one vowel CV) or just
one vowel (V). In other words, every syllable and word of Nataia should end in a
vowel. Indeed, Nataia as a vocalic language does not permit its syllables and words to
end in a consonant phoneme. Unfortunately, this very vocalic nature turns out to be
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the first potential stumbling block for a Nataia native speaker in learning English
phonology. The reason is that English allows a huge number of its words to end a
in consonant phoneme. Thus, the English word royal, for example, has been
borrowed by Nataia native speakers as roza ‘extravagant’, a form that obeys the
phonological rule of Nataia as a vocalic language.
Additionally, the syllable structure of Nataia which has only CV and V turns
out to be the second potential trouble spot for Nataia native speakers in learning
English phonology. The reason is that Nataia does not permit any consonant cluster
in the onset position of its words, whereas English allows various patterns of
consonants (C) and vowels (V) such as CCVC (speak) and CCCVCCC (squirts) in
the initial position of its words (Finegan, 2004: 127). Consequently, Nataia native
speakers tend to reanalyze the onset consonant clusters such as [sp] in speak into
two separate syllables and pronounce the word as [sǝpi:k] instead of [spi:k], the
standard British English (BE) pronunciation as shown in Hornby’s Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (1974).
5.1.2 English Segmental Phonemes with Potential Difficulties
Robert Lado (1981: 11) states “that there is an unbelievably strong force
binding the phonemes of any language. Therefore, an adult speaker of one language
cannot easily pronounce language sounds of another, even though he or she has no
speech defect. What is even more startling, he or she cannot easily hear language
sounds other than those of his or her native language even though he suffers no
hearing defect”.
The convincing statement of Lado, a co-founder of CA, above may help one to
understand why adult native speakers of Nataia find it difficult to pronounce and
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hear specific English sounds. Nataia native speakers tend to transfer the entire
system of their language to the system of English. To put it more specifically,
Nataia native speakers tend to transfer to English their phonemes and their variants,
their stress and rhythm patterns, etc. Even Nataia speakers who listen to English
do not actually hear the English phonemes but they hear the phonemes of their own
language.
Fortunately, however, Nataia and English have a good number of similar
segmental phonemes. Such similar phonemes do not really pose pronunciation
problems. However, a few English sounds that are not part of the sound system of
Nataia prove to cause difficulties for Nataia native speakers learning English
phonology. After conducting a comparison and contrast of English and Nataia
consonant segmental phonemes, the present writer found out that there are six
characteristic sounds of English which are absent from the inventory of Nataia.
The six sounds i n c l u d e two interdentals i.e.,/θ/, ð/, two fricatives i.e., /ʃ/, / ʒ/
and two affricates i.e., /tʃ/, and /dʒ/. These ‘unknown’ L2 sounds prove to be very
difficult for L1 speakers to pronounce.
A small research on the pronunciations of two Nataia girls recently confirmed
that the six specific sounds of English are really difficult for them to pronounce.
In an effort to get over the difficulty, they substituted the six sounds with the
nearest sounds from their na t i v e language inventory. The result is that they
pronounced /θ/ in the initial, medial, and final positions of a word as [t]. They
pronounced /ð/ in the initial and medial position of a word as /d/, and /ð/ in the
final position as /s/. They pronounced /ʃ/ in the initial, medial, and final
positions of a word as /s/and /ʒ/ in all the three positions as /z/. In all the three
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positions, /tʃ/ is pronounced as /c/ and /dʒ/ as /j/. Th e Nataia (L1) sounds
which appear instead of the English sounds (L2) are clear signs of the first
language interference.
In conclusion, all the six specific segmental sounds of English as a group turn
out to be the third potential difficulties for Nataia speakers in learning English
phonology.
5.1.3 Suprasegmental Phonemes with Potential Difficulties
Finally, big challenges for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology
come from ‘stress and rhythm’ which are vi t a l aspec t s of the
suprasegmental phonemes. St ress poses a big problem because in Nataia it is not
phonemic i.e, it does not differentiate words. This is just to say that the meaning
of a word is not affected in any way by a stress assignment. On the opposite end,
stress in English is to a limited extent phonemic i.e, it can differentiate words
(Giegerich, 1992: 180). There are some pairs of English words such as differ and
deferwhich are segmentally identical but distinct in meaning, owing to a difference
in stress placement. There are also a number of other words such as pervert and
import where stress placement signals a different syntactic category.
When speaking English, Nataia speakers may not realize that different
positions of stress may lead to different meanings. So they may assign the wrong
stress in words such as differ and defer, resulting in global errors which cause a
problem of intelligibility. They may also assign the wrong stress on words such
as import which may cause a minor problem of ‘irritation or amusement’ and at
the same time emphasize the foreign accent of non-native speakers.
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Fortunately, Giegerich maintains 1992: 180), the phonemic function of stress in
English is not very significant. In a vast majority of English words, stress does
not give rise to phonemic distinctions. However, the phonetician argues, speakers
cannot assign stress on whichever syllable they like because each English word has
a single possible stress pattern. This is just to say that stress in English is systematic.
On the opposite side, stress in Nataia is unsystematic i.e the stress assignment can
depend on the personal preference of a speaker, although as a general rule, stress is
assigned on the second syllable before the last (penultimate stress). The logical
consequence is that a three syllable English word such as diligent which should
have an antepenultimate stress is more likely to be pronounced as [dɪ’lɪdʒənt],
rather than [‘dɪlɪdʒənt], the standard British English (BE) pronunciation as shown
in Hornby’s Oxtord Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (1974).
Furthermore, given a limited number of minimal pairs in which stress is
phonemic, Giegerich concludes, the main function of stress in English cannot be to
differentiate words, but to maintain rhythm in connected speech (1992: 181).
Rhythm is the “patterns of the timing of syllables in speech” (Collins and Mees,
2003: 248). Syllables in English are pronounced in different timing or length of
utterance based on their significance in the utterance (Alip, 2016: 20). Certain
words or syllables are more significant than others, so they receive more
prominence and accordingly, they require more time. Syllables which are not so
significant, are made less prominent by assigning less time in their
pronunciation. As a result, spoken English exhibits a marked contrast between
its stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables, a fact which largely
accounts for its characteristic rhythmic patterns. Perhaps, this is the reason why
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English is referred to as a stress-timed language in which the length of an
utterance depends entirely on the number of stresses.
A lot of languages make very little difference between syllables in the
matter of stress. Native speakers of such languages usually find it difficult to
achieve a natural speech-flow in English (Stannard Allen, 1960:1). This seems
to be also true for native speakers of Nataia, a syllable-timed language, in which
the length of an utterance depends on the number of syllables. The logical
consequence is that Nataia speakers might end up speaking English with
syllable timing.
In conclusion, stress and rhythm turn out to be the fourth potential
difficulty for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology.
5.2 Suggestions
Suggestions are specified into three different parts as follows:
5.2.1 Further Research
This is the very first time a phonological study of Nataia has been conducted.
Therefore, it is perfectly understandable if the skeptical eyes of linguistic
scholars may readily detect serious mistakes somewhere in this work. In
addition to providing corrections, those linguistic scholar are expected to conduct
further research so as to obtain a more accurate description of Nataia phonology.
The results of the present study along with those of later researches are expected
to ensure that all the Nataia vowel and consonant phonemes are preserved both in
the oral and written forms. Additionally, anyone responsible for the teaching
and learning of English in Central Flores, where Nataia is just a small member of
the Ngada-Lio grouping, should keep in mind that all the members of the group
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are vocalic languages. The vocalic nature of the local languages proves to contain
potential difficulties for their speakers in learning English phonology. Therefore,
English teachers should devise ways out of those difficulties.
5.2.2 More Exposure
After comparing and contrasting English and Nataia consonant phonemes, the
writer found out that the six characteristic English consonant phonemes i.e. /θ/,
/ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, and /dʒ/ are absent from the inventory of the Nataia. According to
CA, these six English sounds that are ‘unknown’ in the inventory of the Nataia
wil l become great problems for Nataia speakers in learning English phonology.
Following a small survey on two Nataia female native speakers, the present writer
found out that the six sounds are indeed difficult for the two Nataia speakers to
pronounce. It is suggested, therefore, that anyone responsible for the teaching and
learning of English in Central Flores, where Nataia is just a small member of the
so-called Ngada-Lio grouping, should pay close attention to these problematic
sounds. English teachers shou l d , for instance, provide systematic drills in
which the individual problematic sounds are taken care of. In addition, English
teachers are advised to expose their students to extensive native pronunciations, for
instance, by utilizing modern learning facilities such as digital dictionaries.
Above all, English teachers themselves should show off good pronunciation for
their students to emulate.
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5.2.3 Textbook Writers
The nature of Nataia as a vocalic language which does not allow any consonant
phoneme in the coda position turns out to be one potential problem for a Nataia
speaker in learning English phonology. In addition, the Nataia syllable structure,
which is mainly of CV type, proves to provide another potential difficulty for a
Nataia speaker in learning English phonology. Then, six specific English consonant
phonemes prove to be a serious stumbling block for Nataia speakers in learning
English phonology. Finally, stress and rhythm prove to be great challenges for
Nataia speakers in learning English phonology. Accordingly, English textbook
writers are advised to design special exercises in which all the above
phonological problems are adequately attended to. Such exercises are believed to
be the antidotes of all the phonological problems above. Such exercises are
certainly needed by Nataia speakers as well speakers of the other vocalic
languages in Central Flores in their efforts to improve their pronunciation.
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Appendix 1. Oko Utu as a Research Instrument
1. ana weta, ebu ta’u, ka’e azi, mosa laki ulu eko, keka bo’a.
ana wətha əbu thau kha’e azi mosa lakhi ulu ekho khekha bo’a
sisters, uncles, brothers, and honorable people of the village
2. da mai, ne nabu rege.
də mai nə nabu rəge
there are quite a few of us present now
3. kobe ne mo’o lema.
khobe nə mo’o ləma
it is getting late in the evening
4. laka kita ne ngala nuji nama ,go?
lakha khitha nə ŋala nuǰɪ nama go?
So, we can start our talks, can’t we?
5. molo molo
fine
6. kita mema da muzi one wawo ada
khɪtha mema də muzi one wawo ada
we live within the confines of our traditional laws and customs
7. ada da ine ame ebu kajo na’a
ada də ine ‘ame əbu khaǰo na’athe laws and customs which our ancestors have handed down
8. bholo, nea ghewo, kita latu da ana serani
ßolo nea ɣewo khɪtha lathu də ana səranɪ
but, don’t forget, we are also christians
9. jadi, ugeba, ngaza kita buka nuji nama da dia nee buju ngaji, sobaza“Ema Kami” da kita ala pu’u Sua Buju Ngaji.
ǰadi, ugəba ŋaza kitha bukha nuǰi nama də dia ne’e buǰu ŋaǰi
sobaza əma khami də kh itha ‘ala pu’u sua buǰu ŋaǰi
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so, how if we open up our talks by saying “Our Father”, the prayers
that we take from sua buju ngaji
10. ema kami da latu one suruga
ə ma khami də lathu one suruga
our father who is in heaven
11. pai-pai rimo sa riwu tau milo ngaza Kau
phaɪ -phaɪ rimo sə riwu thau milo ŋaza khau
hallowed be thy name
12. wali pareta Kau dhu dia kami.
wali pharetha khau ɗu dia khami
thy kingdom come.
13. ne’e ola fonga Kau bale dia wawo tana bhila ena suruga
ne’e ola foŋa khau bale dia wawo thana ßila əna suruga
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
14. ka inu kami leza-leza, ti’i kami de leza nge’e.
kha ‘inu khami ləza ləza, thi’i khami de ləza ŋe’e
give us today our daily bread
15. ne’e ti’i ampo sala kami
ne’e thi’i ampho sala khami
and forgive us our trespasses
16. bhila kami ti’i ampo one ata da tau sala one kami.
ßila khami thi’i ampo one atha də thau sala one khami
as we forgive those who trespass against us
17. ne’e ma’e tu kami one da tau zapa ate kami.
ne’e ma’e thu khami one də thau zapha athe khamiand lead us not into temptation.
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18. bholo tau zeu sa’i kami pu’u da re’e
ßolo thau zeu sa’i khami phu’u da re’e
but deliver us from evil
19. molo, zapa nga’o sa mega miu wali sa deka
molo zapha ŋa’o sa məga miu wali sə dəkha
fine, let me address you once again
20. kobe, ana weta, ebu ta’u, ine ame, ka’e azi. mosalaki ulueko, keka
bo’a
khobe ana wətha əbu tha’u ine ‘ame kha’e ‘azi mosalakhi ‘uluekho
khekha boa
good evening sisters, uncles, brothers, gentlemen of the village.
21. nga’o enga miu ne pea
ŋa’o eŋa miu nə pheaI have called and you have come
22. Nga’o pai, miu ne mai.
ŋa’o phai miu nə maiI have asked and you have complied
23. zuna kobe, kita a’i ne papa padhi wali
zuna khobe khitha ‘a’i nə phapha phaɗi wali
tonight, our legs are forming a straight line again.
24. pa’a ne papa ladha sama
pha’a nə phapha laɗa samaour thighs are very close together
25. mona ghesi, pata da ame na’a.
mona ɣesi phatha də ‘ame na’ajust like the words that our ancestors have imparted
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26. mona ghesi pata pele da ine pese
mona ɣesi phatha phele də ‘ine pəsejust like the words that our mothers have whispered
27. uku da riwu tau negha nebu zua dia
‘ukhu də riwu thau neɣa nəbu zua diajust like what other people did yesterday and the day before
28. kita mo’o tau wali go kita zuna ma dia.
khitha mo’o wali go khitha zuna mə diawe want to do what we are supposed to do for ourselves right now
29. nga’o rasa, miu ne be’o negha
ŋa’o rasa miu nə be’o neɣaI feel you already know
30. bholo mo kita ngala kolo satoko, tali satebu
ßolo mᴐ khitha ŋala kholo sə thokho thali sə təbubut in order that we can form one line, cling to one rope
31. nga’o zapa bhuga pata wali sadeka
ŋa’o zapha ßuga phatha wali sə dəkha
I wish to speak out the words once again
32. gila, one aze kita dia ne’e Stanis Paso
gila on’e ‘aze khitha dia ne’e Sthanis Phasolook, right in front of us now there is Stanis Paso
33. imu ana miu, nara miu. ebu miu, ta’u miu. ka’e miu, azi miu
‘imu ‘ana miu nara miu ebu miu kha’e miu ‘azi miu
he is your son, your brother, your grandson, your nephew, your elderbrother, your younger brother
34. imu mo’o bana zeu
‘imu mo’o bana zeuhe will be going to a far away land
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35. bana, mona tolo bana
bana mona tholo banahe will not be going for nothing
36. kai mona tolo kai
khai mona tholo khaihe will not be leaving for nothing
37. ne’e ola gae kedhi imu
ne’e ‘ola gae khəɗi imuhe will be departing to look for something, small it may be though
38. uku da riwu ne tau negha
‘uku də riwu thau neɣajust like what other people have done
39. sai be’o, imu ngala raka da imu fonga one sa’o sakola zili goa one
sai be’o ‘imu ŋala rakha də ‘imu fonga one sa’o sakhola zili
goa one
who knows he can find what he wants at school in a far away land
40. sara pata so imu dia bhila jara mosa da mo’o tama one loke papauji
sara phatha so ‘imu dia ßila ǰara mosa də mo’o thama one lokhaphapha uǰiwords of the ancestors say, he is like a stallion ready for a horse race
41. Sai be’o, imu ngala tedhe so’o wu
sayi be’o ‘imu ŋala theɗe so’o wu
who knows he can run faster
42. ata siba beo ngaza imu
‘ata siba be’o ŋaza ‘imu
then people will know his name.
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43. negha ata siba ngale, dia ana ebu go sai
neɣa ‘atha siba ŋale dia ‘ana əbu gᴐ sayi
then people will ask whose son he is
44. imu dia pu’u boa ma’u da eba.
‘imu dia phu’u bo’a ma’u də əbawhere is the village of this young man
45. jadi, poa zua mai, sai beo, imu tau mega ngaza go ine ame ebu kajo
ǰadi phoa zua mai sai be’o imu thau məga ŋaza go ‘ine ‘ame əbukhaǰoso, later on who knows his prestige will help to make the name of our
ancestors famous again
46. sara pata so, imu tau ria pau, tau ngada naka
sara phatha so ‘imu thau ria phau thau ŋada nakha
the words of the ancestors say, he will be keeping an eye on our
mangoes, and taking care of our jackfruits
47. bholo kena re, imu we’e ngala bana, ngaza lili ne’e bhagho
ßolo khena re ‘imu we’e ŋala bana ŋaza lili ne’e ßaɣo
but, don‟t forget, he can only leave if he brings a bag along
48. mege ne’e fadhi ngopo
mege ne’e faɗi ŋopho
he brings along a sword, broken it may be
49. kita ti’i ne’e ana bhebhu, tau pusi bhagho imu
khitha thi’i ne’e ana ßəßu thau pusi ßaɣo ‘imuwe give him a small change which he can fill his bag with
50. tii ne’e watu zaba, tau zaba fadhi ngopo imu
thi’i ne’e watu zaba thau zaba faɗi ŋopho ‘imu
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give a stone for him to sharpen his sword
51. mo’o imu ngala tau bati zala
mo’o imu ŋala thau bathi zalaso that he can clear his way forward
52. zuna, nga’o zapa be one ana weta
zuna ŋa’o zapha be one ana wəthanow I‟d like to ask the group of sisters for consideration
53. be one ebu ta’u ka’e azi, be one mosa laki keka bo’a
be ‘one əbu tha’u kha’e ‘azi, be ‘one mosalakhɪ khekha bo’a
I‟d also like to ask the group of uncles, the group of brothers, gentlemenof the village
54. nea ngasi, zuna kobe kita oko utu, modo ramo
nea ŋasi zuna khobe khitha ‘okho ‘uthu modo ramoforgive me, but tonight we are gathering for contributions
55. bi bai rege, liki miu foko fene
bi bai rege likhi miu fokho fənenot too much, for you may feel burdened
56. bholo ma’e bai sa kedhi latu, re ana da mo’o bana zeu
ßolo nea bai sə kəɗi lathu re ‘ana də mo’o bana zeubut not too little, for this young man will be going to a far away land
57. ma uku kena ada ae kita pu’u mema nebu.
mə ‘ukhu khena ‘ada ‘ae kitha phu’u nəbu
exactly like our customs from long ago
58. ugeba, miu da ana weta, tu’a eja, sa ga’e bhada sa eko ,go?
ugəba miu də ana wətha thu’a ‘eǰa sə ga’e ßada sə ‘ekho, go?
how about you, the group of sisters and brother- in-laws, can each ofyou contribute one water-buffalo?
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59. tadu nabu tama rheko
thadu nabu thama řəkhothe length of its horn should be at least from the finger tips to the elbow
60. miu da ebu ta’u, sa ga’e, wawi sa eko.
miu də əbu tha’u sə ga’e wawi sə ‘ekhoyou, the group of sisters, each should contribute one pig
61. tau uku kata wutu go apa.
thau ukhu khatha wuthu go ‘aphathe pig should be so heavy that it can only be carried by four men
62. migu piza mai da ma dia, ne’e baba mai zeta mai Ede
migu piza mai də mə dia ne’e baba mai zetha mai Edenext week, a baba (Chinese tradesman) will be coming from Ende
63. dheo ne’e oto kaju meze
ɗeo ne’e ‘otho khaǰu mezehe will drive a very big truck
64. ngaza da weli segu ne’e da kita oa, imu peli wua
ŋaza də wəli səgu ne’e da khita ‘oa ‘imu pheli wuaif the price is sensible, he may take all the pigs and buffaloes in histruck
65. zapa kita ngia, ana weta ga’e piza, ga’e..... lima zua
zapa khitha ŋia ‘ana wətha ga’e piza, ga’e ….lima zua
now, let‟s count the number of sisters. There are ........five
66. ebu tau gae tara esa
əbu tha’u ga’e tara əsathe uncles, there are .nine.
67. bhada da tadu nabu tama rheko, da weli ma nabu zi’a latu
ßada də tadu nabu thama řəkho də weli mə nabu zia lathu
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a buffalo, the horn of which is as long as the finger tips to the elbow,
has a fairly good price.
68. wawi kata wutu, sama kena latu re
wawi khatha wuthu sama khena lathu rea pig which can only be shouldered by four big men has a good pricetoo
69. ngaza u kena ana ngala bana wula piza mai da ma dia
ŋaza u khena ana ŋala bana wula phiza mai də mə diaif everything goes well like that, this young man can go this month
70. ga’e zua telu ee.., nea ghewo
ga’e zua thelu ee… nea ɣewowell, everybody, please don‟t forget
71. da mona, la’e tolo sogo
də mona la’e tholo sogoin case you don‟t have a buffalo or a pig, don‟t hesitate to borrow
72. nea taku sepu
nea thakhu sephudon‟t you ever be afraid of debts
73. le sai da muzi dia wawo tana, sepu bire
le sai də muzi dia wawo thana sephu bireis there anybody in the wide world who has no debts at all
74. bholo da mo ghawo re
ßolo də mo ɣawo rebut you should work really hard
75. ngaza poa leza, poto kaga lenga, we’e suki sepu ne’e apa
ŋaza poa ləza photho khaga leŋa we’e sukhi sephu ne’e aphaif you always sleep all day long, how will you ever pay your debts
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76. mae nade meze, sara da Kawa Labo so geka ke
ma’e nade meze sara də labo so gəkha khedon‟t sleep too much, so the people of Kawa&Labo say. You shouldbe alert
77. gila uku Seke Liu zeta Wudu.
gila ukhu Sekhe Liu zetha Wudujust take a look at Seke Liu over there in Wudu
78. da ana dhele da sakola, dhele da jadi kita ata
də ana ɗele də ǰadi khitha athaeveryone of his sons, daughters goes to school and becomes a someone
79. da ana rhaki sa ga’e jadi bupati Ngada
də ana řakhi sə ga’e ǰadi bupathi ŋada
one son becomes the regent of Ngada
80. ngaza mona boka roga, da sa ga’e wali jadi bupati Nagekeo
ŋaza mona bokha roga də sə ga’e wali jadi bupathi Nagekeoif he had not died young, one younger son would have become theregent of Nagekeo.
81. da sa ga’e jadi da meze ngau one faberi oba
da sa ga’e ǰadi da meze ŋau ᴐne fabǝri ᴐbaanother younger son occupies an important position in a pharmacy
82. da ine weta sa ga’e jadi anggota depe’e.
də ine wətha sə ga’e ǰadi anggota depe’ehis only daughter becomes a member of the people‟s representative
83. mema dhele da jadi kita ata
mema ɗele də ǰadi kitha athathey all really have become human beings
84. e..e, ana kita ngaza mona sakola, jadi ngongo-nganga
e...e ana khitha ŋaza mona sakhola ǰadi ŋoŋo ŋaŋa
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ee, our son -- if we don‟t send him to school-- will be dumb
85. bi jadi apa
bi ǰadi aphahe won‟t become a someone
86. guna mona
guna monahe will be worthless
87. goa ngada nugu, ngada nugu ngaza we’e ne’e da paka di, we’e ne’e
da meze ngau.
goa ŋada nugu ŋada nugu ŋaza we’e ne’e da phakha di we’e ne’e də
meze ŋau
he will feel inferior by the side of a government official or anyoneimportant
88. bholo tau mea mata
ßolo thau mea mathahe will only bring shame to us
89. ana e....e. Ine ame kau, ebu tau kau, tu’a eja kau ne ngazo negha
ana e .. əbu tha’u khau khae azi khau thu’a eǰa khau ne ŋazo neɣa
son, please. Your parents, your uncles and grandparents, your brother-
in laws- have all nodded in agreement
90. rimo demu mo’o gae da kau tau dheo
rimo demu mo’o gae də khau thau ɗeo
they are all willing to look for something that you will bring along
91. tau pusi one bhagho kau
thau phusi one ßaɣo khau
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something which you fill in your bag
92. rege go mona, bholo kena ola ngala demu
rəge gᴐ mona ßolo kena ola ŋala demuno matter how much, what they will give is all that they possess
93. tau baku kau
thau bakhu khauthat is for your provisions
94. doi poa, zua mai, ghaza demu raka wali, demu we’e ti’i to wali
do’i phoa zua mai ŋaza demu raka wali demu we’e thi’i tho wali
tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, if they find something else, they
will certainly give it to you again.
95. zuna peli kau
zuna pheli khaunow, it‟s all up to you
96. bana zeu, ana, kau pa’i ke
bana zeu ana khau phai khegoing to a far away land, son, you should always be alert
97. nea poto kaga lenga
nea photho khaga leŋadon‟t just sleep all day long
98. ata da bana one tana penga, a’i teki ke
atha da bana one thana pheŋa a’i thekhi khe
walking in a no man‟s land, mind you steps
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99. be’o liki pugu
be’o likhi phuguif you don‟t, you may stumble
100. ma’e liki tolo ala go ata
ma’e likhi tholo ala go ‘athadon‟t take what belongs to other people
101. go ata so go ata.
go atha so go athaif something belongs to someone else, just say so
102. sa’e tolo ghewi fai ana ata
ma’e tholo ɣewi fai ana athadon‟t you ever tease other people‟s wives
103. nea liki tei ana ine weta ata da pa’a bholo lina, da wea doka tolo geo
gele, miu siba kasa mere.
nea likhi thei ana ine wətha atha da wea dokha tholo ğeo ğele miu siba
khasa meze
if you see girls whose thighs are smooth, whose gold shines, don‟t be
tempted to have them
104. ma’e o..o ana
ma’e o.. anason, please don‟t
105. gila, leza miu ma we’e zale nai
gila leza miu mə we’e nai zale mailook, your sun is just beginning to go up
106. muzi miu, ma dheku.
mizi miu mə ɗekhu
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your life is still a long way to go
107. jaga ngaza miu
ǰaga ŋaza miutake care of your good name
108. jaga ngaza kita
ǰaga ŋaza khithatake care of our reputation
109. molo, laka dheo tuga u kena
molo lakha ɗeo thuga u khenaall right, that is all I can say
110. kita da ana serani
khitha də ana ərani
we are christians
111. kita tutu pata pele kita zuna kobe ne’e buju ngaji
khitha thuthu phatha phele khitha zuna khobe ne’e buǰu ŋaǰiwe close our meeting tonight by saying prayers
112. ave maria da kita ‘ala pu’u sua budju ngadji
ave maria də kitha ‘ala pu’u sua buju ŋaji
Hail Mary that we take from sua budju ngaji
113. ave maria kau benu ngawu suruga
ave maria khau bənu ŋawu suruga
hail Mary full of grace
114. ga’e dewa latu ne’e kau
ga’e dewa lathu ne’e khau
the lord is with thee
115. de rimo sa fai ga’e
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də rimo sə fai ga’e
blessed art thou amongst women
116. wali so’o zi’a, so’o zi’a tebhe ana tuka kau, Yesu
wali so’o zia so’o zia təße ana thukha khau Yesu
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus
117. santa Maria ine dewa
santha Maria ine dewa
virgin Mary, mother of god
118. pai salama kami ata da ne’e sala
phai səlama khami atha də ne’e sala
pray for us sinners
119. nge’e ne’e de ta kami mata
ŋe’e ne’e de ta khami matha
now and at the time of our death
120. geze mo’o nalo, zapa kita zenge go weke bhea sa go ebu kajo
gəze mo’o nalo zapha khitha zəŋe go wekhe ßea sa go əbu khaǰo
before we have dinner, let’s listen to the wise words of our ancestors
121. tau pera wero roga da mo’o kai dia
thau phera wero roga də mo’o khai dia
to inspire this young man
122. mo’o waka ingu nga
mo’o wakha imu ŋa
to make him look great
123. mo’o ate imu fea
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mo’o athe imu fe’a
to make his heart lighter
124. mo ote imu beka bedhi
mo’o othe imu bekha beɗi
to brighten his brains
125. nga’o nebi ana go Sena, nga’o nage da nilu malo
ŋao nebi ana go sena ŋa’o nage da nilu malo
I am Nebi, son of Sena I am a tamarind, sweet and sour
126. ata keku nga’o bholo meghu
atha khekhu ŋa’o ßolo məɣu
if squeezed, I can only bend
127. ata ku’a nga’o mona bu’a
atha khu’a ŋa’o mona bu’a
no one can ever break me down
128. ngao so’o molo wai ne’e moko
ŋa’o so’o molo wai ne’e moko
I am better off with friends around
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Appendix 2. Nataia Proverbs and Sayings Often Quoted
In any extended family gathering (Oko Utu), the main speaker of the forum
usually quotes traditional proverbs and saying which contain moral values of
Nataia people. Following are some which are most often quoted. (The orthography
of all the following proverbs and sayings is done by the writer based on the
spelling of Bahasa Indonesia).
(1) Mona ghesi pata da ame na’a, mona ghesi pata pele da ine pese(Just like the words that father imparts, just like the words thatmother whispers).
Moral: Remember always to listen to your parents.
(2) Kita kolo satoko, tali sa tebu(We are tied together as one trunk, with one rope).
Moral: Cooperation is working together.
(3) Bhila jara mosa da mo’o tama one loka.(Like a stallion ready to take part in a horse race).
Moral: Be ever ready to participate and show your worth.
(4) Imu tau mega ngaza go ine ame ebu kajo.(He will uphold the reputation of our ancestors).
Moral: Always maintain your family’s good character.
(5) Imu tau ria pau, tau ngada naka(He will be taking care of our mango and jackfruit)
Moral: No matter how simple, care must be taken of anything youhave.
(6) Ti’i ne’e fadhi ngogo, mo imu tau bati zala.(Give him a sword, blunt though, to help him pave his way forward).
Moral: Parents should provide the means for a better future.
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(7) Ma’e nade bai meze, geka ke.(Don’t ever keep your eyes closed too long, always be alert).
Moral: Look to do something meaningful, instead of doing nothing
(8) Bana one tana penga, a’i teki ke, be’o liki pugu.(Walking in a no man’s land, lift your feet up high to avoidstumbling).
Moral: Cautiously proceed where there is no easy path.
(9) Leza miu we’e nai zale mai, muzi miu ma lewa.(Your sun is just rising from down below, your life is still longahead).
Moral: Life is all uphill until you are over the hill
(10) Ine kau ko solo mema ta ne molo.(Mother, what you say is certainly right)
Moral: She alone who gave you birth, knows your worth.
(11) Ngao nage da nilu malo, ata keku imu bholo meghu. Ata ku’a imu monabu’a. Ngao nage da nilu malo, ngao so’o molo wai ne’e moko.
(I am a tamarind, sweet and sour. So elastic that I can only bend.Nobody can break me down. I am a tamarind, sweet and sour. I ammuch better off with friends around).
Moral: Strength and identity is found in community and friendship.
(12) Ana dhengi da polu kisa keli, lele pau da sezu bholo weki mona tei.(A little bird sings high up the mountain, the voice is heard, the body isunseen).
Moral: God is only visible to those who listen.
(13) Zele wolo muke ne’e kolo, demu zua moko lami ‘olo.(Turtledove and oriole over the plateau, they two have been friends forso long).
` Moral: Birds of a feather, flock together.
(14) Laki ‘ulu regho zele lulu, laki repo tau rasi legho.(Lucky is the first wife who can sit and relax. Unfortunate is the next wifewho does all the washing and cleaning).
Moral: Monogamy is hard work.
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