Phonetic analysis of consonantal groups in the boundaries of words and in word final position produced by ESL students in the English language and literature programme at Universidad de Chile

Abstract

Studies regarding the pronunciation of consonant groups have been carried out by many authors such as Roach (2000); Cruttenden (2008); O’Connor (1980). In Chile, researches done by Pilleux (1972); Montero (1979) and lately Bastías (2012) have summarized categories of difficulties when pronouncing consonant groups in word initial and final position; common errors produced by English learners when pronouncing consonant groups in word medial and final position and the conclusion that the more years of training in English language would not mean a better pronunciation of these English consonant groups in certain individuals, respectively. This study aims at discovering and analysing the deviations produced by a group of English learners as a second language when pronouncing RP consonantal groups in word final position and in the boundaries of words. The corpus will include 20 sentences recorded by 28 students of the English language and literature undergraduate programme at Universidad de Chile. These 28 students include 14 individuals who belong to 2nd year and 14 individuals who belong to 4th year. The information in this descriptive study is very useful for those teachers who work in the English Phonology area, since it may help them to know what are the deviances, the type of errors and the strategies they employ when pronouncing a consonant group of sounds in word final position or in the boundaries of words. Teachers might be able to organize and grade their class material and teaching strategies in order to reach the subject learning objectives effectively.