Hakka Dialect Effects In The Production Of Tense/Lax Vowel Contrasts In RP

The correct pronunciation is one of the scales in China’s Standard of English to measure student’s English language ability.Syllable nucleus is usually a vowel,which serves as the main carriers of speech sounds(Ladeforged,2006),so correct pronunciation of vowels guarantees successful communication(Prator & Robinett,1985).Additionally,Dialect is the mother tongue for most Chinese students,its influence on second language acquisition is paramount to investigate in dialectal regions(Lado,1957).Therefore,there is a growing need to incorporate the dialect transference effect into vowels acquisition.This thesis is an acoustic study of the production of English tense/lax vowels by high school students in Meixian,the representative region of the Hakka dialect.The subjects are 30 high school students who were born and grew up in Meixian(15 males and 15 females)and 4 native Received Pronunciation speakers(2 males and 2 females).Their production of 4 pairs of tense/lax English vowels and Meixian Hakka vowels are analyzed by Praat,and some acoustic features(F1,F2 and duration)are measured.The differences and similarities in vowel pronunciation between the two groups are compared with the help of SPSS.This thesis discusses the following questions in particular:1.What are the acoustic features of Meixian Hakka vowels /ɑ:/ / i:/ /?:/ / u:/compared with those of English?2.By comparing with native speakers,what are the acoustic features of the production of English tense/lax vowel contrasts by Meixian Hakka students?3.What are the effects of Meixian Hakka Dialect having on the production of English tense/lax vowel contrasts?The results indicate that Meixian Hakka vowels are distinct from RP vowels,the tongue position of articulation of Meixian Hakka vowels /ɑ:/ /?:/ /u:/ is more fronted and lower,but higher and less fronted when pronounce /i:/.Due to negative transference of Hakka Dialect,Hakka students’ RP vowels pronunciation /ɑ:/ /?:/ /u:/ is also more fronted and lower,while higher and less fronted in pronunciation /i:/.Without tense/lax vowel contrast in Meixian Hakka dialect,both male and female Meixian Hakka students have difficulties in distinguishing vowel contrast /?/ and /ɑ:/,/?:/ and /?/.Male also have problems to distinguish /u:/-/u/.Besides,both female and male Meixian Hakka students produce lax vowels longer than RP vowels.They have better performance when they pronounce tense vowels due to the positive transference.But without sensitivity to the tense/lax vowel contrast,both male and female’s production of tense vowels are not long enough to contrast with lax vowels.Overall,female Meixian Hakka students perform better than males.The results of this study have positive significance for English pronunciation teaching in Meixian.First of all,it raises English teachers and English learners’ awareness of the negative transfer of Meixian Hakka dialect to their English pronunciation acquisition so that they can pay more attention to the difference between the Hakka dialect sound system and English sound system.Second,English teachers not only should be trained with phonetic knowledge,but also should have the capability of making good use of various theories,and strive to combine theory and practice to help learners understand the essence of sounds.Third,teachers can promote the use of speech visualization software,such as Praat,Speech Analyzer,Better Accent Tutor,etc.It can be used to assist speech teaching.With the help of speech visualization technology,teachers can reduce the difficulty of speech teaching by describing the teaching process visually.