| The differences between the first language and the target language usually result in problems and errors in the learning of the target language, for during the process of establishing a new language system, the old, rooted language habits from the first language will get in the way of forming the new habits. The interference of the first language in phonetic learning is the most noticeable one. Sound is the medium of language. To have a sufficient understanding of the differences between languages, one has to make contrastive studies on the phonetic characteristics of the languages. Contrastive Study is closely related to foreign language teaching. It helps to discover and explain problems, analyze errors and overcome interference of the mother tongue transfer. Therefore, Wang Li (1985) points out that in foreign language teaching "the most effective way is the comparative teaching of the Chinese language and the foreign language". Contrastive Phonology is always recognized by linguists as one of the most basic and effective sub-branch of contrastive linguistics. It explores the essential differences between languages through contrastive analysis on the formation and characteristics of the phonemic systems (namely, segmental phoneme), stress, intonation and other non-segmental elements (namely, suprasegmental features), and the syllable structures of the different languages.The Zhuang nationality possesses the largest population among all the minority nationalities in China, and the majority of the Zhuang people live in Guangxi Autonomous Region, which covers nearly 40% of the total population of the Region. Due to the influence of the social economy, language environment, cultural background and other elements, the Zhuang students' English learning demonstrates certain regional characteristics, such as, more difficulties and errors in English phonetic learning and strong accents of the Zhuang language in their pronunciation etc. But for many years, English pronunciation teaching has been neglected and the teaching quality is very poor. It's, on one hand, due to the teacher's lack of any training in phonetics or to uncertainty over the acceptability of his own pronunciation as a model for imitation. On the other hand, the more important reason is that the lack of contrastive study on the sound systems of the English and the Zhuang language makes the teacher fail in recognizing what is important and needs to be taught, and fail in making scientific analysis on the errors conducted constantly by Zhuang learners and in finding the efficient way to correct them. Up till now, few efforts have been made, either at home or abroad, to carry out thorough and systematic studies on Zhuang speech sounds or on Zhuang students' English learning, let alone with contrastive study of phonology between the two languages so as to facilitate the phonetic teaching of Zhuang students. That's why the author makes the study.The author employs the approach of contrastive study and chooses the segmental and suprasegmental features which are the most important and can mostly reveal the differences between English and Zhuang to explore the forms and causes of the native language interference in Zhuang learners' English phonetic learning, explain and predict problems and errors and provides some counter-measures to overcome or reduce the interference.The dissertation comprises six chapters.Chapter One serves as an introduction, which includes the importance and necessity of the study and the organization of the dissertation.Chapter Two is a brief survey of Contrastive Study and Phonology. The chapterintroduces the definition, objectives and theoretical development of Contrastive Study, and also the definitions of phoneme, segmental phonology and suprasegmental phonology and their respective significance and contents of contrastive analysis.Chapter Three offers a sketchy description of the Zhuang people and the Zhuang language; that is, the distribution of the Zhuang people, the establishment of the Zhuang written...
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