Dr. Musa ALamin Hamouda1
Assistant professor of English Language at Faculty of Education, ElDaein University, Sudan
Email: musaalamin81@gmail.com
HNSJ, 2022, 3(12); https://doi.org/10.53796/hnsj31212
Published at 01/12/2022 Accepted at 05/11/2022
Abstract
This study investigates the similarities and differences between Baggara Arabs dialect and English language phonological systems. It aims at preparing a scale for the difficulties of English pronunciation that face Baggara Arabs students, as well as enabling Baggara Arabs learners of English Language to pronounce English sounds or phonemes and words accurately. It uses the semi-experimental approach . In addition pre and post-tests are used as tools for gathering data. 30 secondary school students were chosen as a reasonable sample to represent the secondary school students at Elddein locality in East Dar Fur State.
The study comes out with many results: The phonological rules of English facilitates Baggara students to speak and pronounce English fluently. The phonological system of English is different from Baggra’s dialect and that they undergo some difficulties. The recommendations of the study are listed as: The researchers should get benefit from this study in contrastive analysis in other dialects to establish inter-lingual identifications between the L1 and the L2. They should also get benefit from the prediction of learning problems that they face while learning English language (Phonology an Phonetics). This study can also be used as a reference study to accomplish more and deep studies on other tribal dialects in Sudan.
Key Words: Baggra , Arabs, Sudanese , dialect, ElDaein, locality.
The Baggāra (Arabic: البَقَّارَة “cattle herder”) Arabs are a nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arab and Arabized indigenous African ancestry, inhabiting a portion of the Sahel mainly between Lake Chad (Drafur) and the Nile river near south Kordofan, numbering over six million person (Owens 1993).
The term baggāra used in Sudan is to denote a large group of closely related cattle-owning Arabic speaking tribes that reside traditionally in the Southern parts of Darfur and Kordofan . Like other Arabic speaking tribes in the Sudan and the Sahel, Baggara tribes claim to have origin ancestry from the Juhaynah Arab tribe(Al-Rahim, Muddathir ‘Abd (1970).
Baggara Arabs tribes in Sudan include: the Rizeigat, Ta’isha, Beni Halba, Habbaniya, Salamat, Messiria, Tarjam, and Beni Hussein in Darfur, and the Messiria Zurug, Messiria Humr, Hawazma, Habbaniya and Awlad Himayd in Kordofan, and the Beni Selam on the White Nile. They have their own linguistic repertoire, the dialect spoken by the speech-community in which they live. It is their language that is used in everyday communication at home and anywhere. They speak Classical Arabic (CA) as their mother tongue but they have their own dialect, which is predominant throughout their speech. It is a mixture of classical Arabic and some other borrowed words (dialects of the indigenous African languages living in the area).
It is noted that, due to the process of communication and contact between Baggra Arabs and other tribes, Baggara (Rizeigat) borrowed some words which do not exist in the Classical Arabic The sounds /Č/ , /ŋ/ exist in Baggara / Rizeigat dialect but they do not exist in Classical Arabic and mostly no Arab tribe share such sounds except Masseryia tribe in West Kordufan.
Baggra Arabs students like all other Arab students who start learning Arabic at the age of 5 or 6, have already mastered the sound systems of Arabic and the basic structures of its spoken form. By that time they also demonstrate Arabic vocabulary items relevant to their range of experience and almost sufficient to be base for further ramified development in various aspects of Arabic language. But when they start learning English language at the age of 10 or 12, they knew nothing about its sound system. This situation poses a challenge to both the process of teaching English in general and its pronunciation in particular. They tend to write English words on the basis of its sounds which they tend to interpret through Arabic system. This reflects the straight forward affiliation of English language sound system to that of Arabic language and the annihilation of the existence of nay distinctive characteristics of English. Sometimes they resort to transcribe or translate English words into Arabic script without any consideration to the peculiarity of the English graphic and sound system. For example , they translate the English words ‘ table‘ , into Arabic by writing it تيبول /teibul/ and people as بيبول(bi:bl).
The researchers’ linguistic background as well as their keen interest in studying contrastive phonology have all merged together to make this work achieved.
Statement of the Problem:-
The difficulties that face Baggara Arabs students in learning English phonetics and phonology on one hand and the influence of the mother tongue in learning English phonetics and phonology on the other hand as a foreign language, as well as the disability to pronounce fluently and accurately. When Baggara students learn English as a foreign language they face difficulties in learning English language. This is because the phonological system of English differs from Baggara dialect. This study tries to shed some lights on the pronunciation difficulties aroused by learning in the terms of oral and written language. Such pronunciation difficulties can be expected only by the non-native learners.
Objectives of the Study :-
This study aims to:
- investigate the aspects of difficulties in phonological factors between Baggara dialect and English language.
- prepare a scale for difficulties of English pronunciation that face Baggara students.
- prepare a phonemic inventory for Baggara students to find how their dialect recognizes itself from Sudanese Modern Standard Arabic
- enable Baggara learners of English Language to pronounce English sounds(phonemes), words and phrases correctly and accurately.
Significance of the Study :-
This study is significant for helping in learning and understanding of English phonetics and phonology as compared to Baggara dialect. It also enables the learners of L1 to be encouraged to develop and enhance learning FL systems. Moreover, it helps at Finding ways of treatment for some phonological aspects between Baggara dialect and English Language.
Research Questions:-
- How does the study of the rules of English phonetics and Phonology help Baggara students (learners) to master English language?
- To what extent is English language phonological system similar to Baggara dialect’s phonological system?
- What are the best ways of treating Phonological Aspects between Baggara dialect and English Language?
Hypotheses of the Study:-
- The study of the Rules of English phonetics and phonology helps Baggara students (learners) to master English language.
- The English phonological system is similar to Baggara dialect’s phonological system.
- Teaching Baggara phonological system will help in understanding English Language phonetics.
Limits of the Research:-
This study is limited to the following:
a. Time Limits: 2019 – 2020
b. Place Limits : East Darfur State (Elddein Locality),Sudan.
Research Methodology:-
The researcher adopts the semi-experimental approach, which investigates and finds out how Baggara dialect (which is a variety of Arabic Language) and English language are different in their phonological and phonetic systems.
Population of the Study:-
The population of the study is Baggara Arabs students in university and secondary levels in East Darfur State, who study English as a foreign language.
The Study Sample:-
The sample of this study is the Baggara students of third year in secondary school, 30 males and females students were selected randomly from Elddein locality secondary schools. This sample has been taken randomly just to draw a representative sampling of Baggara students. It is expected that those targeted group (samples) should experience difficulties in the pronunciation of English words that constitute the area of the study.
Preparation of Materials and Data Collections:-
The materials presented by the researchers are list of words/sounds chosen from English language which are going to be the centre of the investigation between English Language and Baggara dialect. The materials should be shown in clear presentations with adequate examples and denotations, so that they will be able to answer the test questions. Furthermore, the participants should learn the relationship between English phonology and phonetics, and the rules of Arabic language. It is advisable that the participants should be trained in phonetics systems (the transcription), as well as phonemic distinction of both Arabic and English languages.
Research Instruments:-
The Test: (One Group Test Design):
The sample should do the pre-test, which is an oral test before they study the rules of English phonetics and phonology. They should be given a test of thirty words of English without the independent variable the Baggara dialect. The scores should be recorded in a table. After that , the sample should be tested again the same pre-test should be adopted as a post-test after they study the procedures of the test which will include the following items :
- Teaching English consonants, vowels and Diphthongs.
- Contrasting similarities and difficulties between the two languages (English and Arabic).
- Teaching English phonetics and phonology in contrast between English and Arabic or Baggara dialect.
- Teaching English stress and intonation and make a contrast between English and Baggara dialect.
- Comparing the scores of the pre and post-test.
- Coming up to the results of both tests and recording the correlation marks in a third column.
- The results of the two tests should prove the validity of the experiment and prove the hypothesis and objectives of the study.
Literature Review:-
Phonological Contrast between English and Baggara Dialect:
Baggara dialect is a variety of the Modern Standard Arabic which is shared by Baggara Arabs (tribes) dwelling in East Darfur. It is derived from Arabic and it keeps varying from Arabic language, but still can be studied within or through Arabic language with slight difference. It is difficult for one who is concerned with language and Sub dialect to know that certain dialect which is a variety of a language would not be understood, though they remain a version of a particular language. For example when Baggra speaks this phrase of speech. It will be difficult to be understood or traced by Arabic Standard language speakers:
دعنا نذهب اينما تريد kin kea’ koh wa kin kea’ koh ” let’s go wherever you wish
(a) Consonants:-
Consonants are usually described in terms of the manner of articulation, place of articulation and voicing , through out the description of English and Arabic. Consonants emphasis will be placed on those phonetic and phonological features that are specific to each of the two languages.
(b) Emphatic vs. Non-Emphatic Consonants:
Arabic has four pairs of consonants that are distinguished by, “emphasis”. They: / t, ṭ /d, ḍ/, / s, ṣ/تفخيم iṭbag” hiding or taxfkhiimاطباق .
” he repented” تاب as in taaba /t/ طاب/ ṭ / as in ṭaaba ” he directed ” دل / d/ as in dalla ضل /ḍ / as in ḍalla
*(Emphasis is marked by a dot underneath the consonant) . The production of emphatic consonant is characterized by contraction of the muscles of the pharynx, raising of the back part of the tongue towards the palate and protrusion of the lips. Besides these four pairs, emphatic /l/ occur in a very restricted context. “Emphatic l/ the following pair of words لله occurs only in the Devine name “Allah”(Khalil 1996)”.
(c) Germination:–
Consonants occur single or doubled (geminated) a sequence of two “strengthening” تشديد identical consonants is described as germination tašhdiid. The geminate consonants are long. This consonantal length is phonemic in Arabic as shown in the following minimal pairs:
كتب* kataba: “he wrote”
كتبً* kattaba: “he ordered some to write”
الهمزة * the Glottal stop ‘al-hamza
This Arabic phonemic glottal stop occurs in initial, medial and final positions in a word, for example:
“father”, أب * ‘abb “he asked”, سأل * sa‘ala
“sky سماء * samaa‘ “Question” سؤال * su’aal
“a hundred” مئة a’*mi * It also occurs as a geminate, as in:
‘he headed’, ترأس Tara”asa
(c) Back Consonants:
Arabic has six back consonants, four fricatives and two stops, they are:
* Velar: / kh , gh / * pharyngeals: / h / * Glottals : / á , ‘/
Since the glottal has been described earlier, we will only describe here the other five guttural consonants.
(i) Velar fricatives / kh / and / gh /
Velar consonants are articulated with the back of the tongue almost touching the soft palate (velum). The following minimal pairs represent the voiceless and voiced velar fricatives.
خالى * khaali : ‘ my uncle’
غالى * ghaali : ‘expensive’
(ii) Pharyngeal fricatives / ×/ and / ‘ /
Pharyngeal fricatives articulation occurs in the pharynx . In the production of these pharyngeal sounds , the muscles in the pharynx are tensed up . For the voiceless / ʹ/ this produces a very strong fricatives that is quiet distinct from both /h/and/ X/ voiced / ‘/ is not accompanied by much friction . The following minimal pairs represent the voiceless and voiced pharyngeal.
‘ he specified’,حدد * ʹeddada ‘ he enumerated ‘, عدد * ‘addada
‘ he revealed’, باح* baaʹa ‘ he sold ‘ باع * baa‘a
( iii ) Glottal Fricatives.
Glottal articulation occurs in the larynx . The voiceless glottal fricative / h / is always pronounced , whether it occurs in initial , medial or final position:
here هنا , huunnaa ‘he ‘هوhuwa * word-initial:
gahr ‘oppression’قهر ‘ coffee’,قهوة* word-medial: qahwa
‘ silly ‘. سفيه ‘ waters ‘, safiihمياه *word-final: miyaah
(iv ) /r/
Arabic / r/ sound is pronounced by tapping the tip of the tongue against the alveoli. It is always pronounced , i.e initially , medially and finally.
‘ he threw’ رمى ‘ head ‘ , raamaرأس: ra’s * Word-
‘ earth ‘ارض , ‘arḍ ‘ cold’ برد* word-medial : bard
‘ dowry’,مهر , maahr نارnaar ‘ fire ‘ Word-final:
* ġarrara ‘he decided’ قررThis consonant is thrilled when it is geminated,
Contrast of Baggara dialect vs. Classical Arabic in term of Consonants:
Baggara dialect is a variety of classical Arabic which is spoken throughout the Baggara tribes living in Eastern Darfur. It is the most predominant dialect that’s shared mostly by the Baggara Arabs(e.g. Rezzigat group). The contrast between Baggara dialect and Classical Arabic will be on the following points.
* /b/ devoiced to /p/
1- The Bilabial stop consonant / b/ is naturally devoiced or changed to /p/ when occurs in medial and final position, but not in initial position as in the following examples: حلبا halapaa becomes حلبها * halabaha
It is realized that Baggara omit the glottal-fricative / h/ when occurs word- finally when following a glottal stop as in: حلبا halapaa becomes حلبها* halabaha. خربا kharapaa becomes خربها*kharabha * /th / changed to / t/ .
2- It is to be noted that the Baggara dialect mostly replaces the classical Arabic interdental -fricative /ð/ with the dental-stop /ḍ/ as in: ‘ midday’ ضهر/ḍahr/ becomes ظهر* / ðahr/. /
3- (*/ θ / changed to / t )Third : Baggara dialect doesn’t stumble on interdental-fricative consonant /θ/ as it exists in Classical Arabic , but / θ / is replaced by the dental / t/ as in:
‘ bull ‘ becomes / tawr/. ثور */ θawr /
‘ tobe ‘ becomes /tawb/. ثوب * / θawb/
Aziz (ibid) states that ‘ the emphatic / l/ only occurs in the divine name of God (Allah), but in Baggara dialect the phoneme / Ļ / is used through freely in their speech as in:
“he wrestled “, لابط* / Ļabaţ / “suitable “,لايق* /Ļaayiġ/
* /’a/ Al-hamza( The Glottal stop) is changed to / ‘ /
Contrast Of Baggara dialect vs. Classical Arabic in term of vowels and Diphthong:
First, unlike Arabic Language, Baggara dialect contains the vowels below while some short vowels don’t exist in Arabic:
*Arabic and English vowels: /a/ , /a:/ , / i/, /i:/.
/a/ , /aa/, / u /, /uu/, / i / ii/ .
* Baggara dialect vowels: /a/ ,/ aa/, /uu/ , /i/ , / ii /.
(The vowels in Arabic / Baggara are doubled to show length).
Second, the Arabic diphthongs /’aw / , /ay/ , /ya / and /’aw/.
These diphthongs have their English counterparts: / əu/ , /ai/ , /iə/, /eə/.
* Baggara dialect replaces the diphthong / ‘aw/ similar to English
/ əu/ with / o / as in :
“bull” becomes / tor/.ثور/ θawr/
(a) Arabic Consonants Clusters:
Aziz (ibid) states that, “Arabic allows no initial clusters at all, but allows medial and final clusters of no more than two consonants
“cradle”.مهد ” river” and mahd نهر/nahr/
A cluster may consist of two identical consonants, i.e a geminate, as ” his right”, حقه and /ḥaġuuhu جد”in jadd” grand father
Contrast between English Consonants Clusters Baggara dialect:
English has longer sequences of clusters than Arabic/Baggara. Moreover, Arabic allows no initial clusters at all. On the basis of the above differences, we can predict that Baggara Arabs (Rezzigat) learners of English will have some difficulties with the pronunciation of English clusters. For example, Baggara Arabs (Rezziagt) learners can’t realize the difference in pronunciation of verbs ending in “ed” as it has three sounds /t/, /d/ and /id/. They just pronounce every word ending in “ed” as /id/asked / t /, moved / mu:vid/ and wanted / wontid/.
* Baggara dialect doesn’t allow initial clusters like English , but allows medial and final clusters of up to three consonants unlike Arabic which allows only a cluster of up to two consonants, as in:
“remained, ‘left ‘, ضل ‘faḍl/ ” they (women) ate اكلن /’akaln/
Contrast between English Syllabic Structures and Bara dialect:
Arabic syllable patterns are more limited than English ones, because of the constraints imposed on consonantal clusters, where as English allows syllable-initial clusters of up to three consonants and syllable –final clusters of up to four consonants. Arabic by contrast allows no initial clusters but only allows syllable-medial and final clusters of up to two consonants.
Moreover, in English a vowel by it self can form a syllable as in the indefinite article “a” or the initial vowel in the word “ago”.
Baggara Arabs dialect also keeps the same formula of Classical Arabic (CA) that it allows syllable-medial clusters of up to two consonants as in:
‘They grew “. رملوا Medial position : /ramlaw/
* Unlike, Classical Arabic, Baggara Arabs dialect allows final cluster of up to three consonants as in:
* “you train him /it”, ولفه Final position: / walfh/
* Yule (1996) stated earlier in this chapter that “in English language a vowel by it self can make a syllable as in the indefinite article “a“.
* Prof. Aziz (ibid) lamented also that ” in Arabic a vowel can’t form a syllable by it self “,
In Baggara dialect in contrast to English, a vowel can form a syllable consisting of a single vowel or a diphthong as in:
“Oh, yes “, وي /wei/
Teaching English Pronunciation to Baggara Arabs Speaking Students:
Baggara students learning English usually face enormous problems in studying or learning English. There are many mistakes or erroneous speech emerges out during their learning. It is a chronic course of difficulties and then the door is wide open to English language teachers. They should not turn a blind eye to the mistakes and wrong pronunciation of Baggara when trying to transfer rules or sounds from English to Arabic and vice – versa.
Aziz Khalil (ibid) comes out with the following findings as he stated:
-
- The following English vowels have no counterparts in Arabic: /e, o, a, ә, /. Baggara learners are expected to make erroneous substitutions to English.
- Arabic long vowels may occur in unstressed syllables a phonological phenomenon that is non- existent in English. However, in English words with long vowels, primary stress always falls on the long vowel, e.g. father, sooner, freedom and teacher. Therefore, it is predictable that English learners of Arabic will have difficulties in producing long كاتبنا vowels in unstressed syllables, as in Kaatabnaa,
- English has longer sequences of clusters than Arabic. Moreover, Arabic allows no initial clusters at all on the basis of the above differences, we can predict that Baggara learners of English will have some difficulties with the pronunciation of English clusters , especially initial clusters as in play /plei/ and straw/ strǝu/ and final ones consisting of three or four consonants , as in tips /tips/, sinks /siŋks/ and glimpsed /glımpst/. Baggara learners are expected to break up initial clusters by inserting an anaptyctic vowel. They might produce a word like spring /spriŋ/ as /*sәpring/ or /sipring/. As regards to the pronunciation of final clusters, Baggara students will also tend to break up the clusters by inserting a vowel for example they will pronounced word like asked as /aaskәd/ or /aaskid/ .
- Baggara’s lexical stress is more predictable than English stress . Baggara dialect has stress placement rules that operate at the word level where as English has a stress placement rule that operates on limited number of noun-verb pairs such as export /‘ekspo:t/ as ‘ verb’ and / eks‘po:t/ as ‘noun’ . The placement of stress in Baggara dialect is determined by the number and length of the syllables in the word.
Baggara learners of English will tend to misplace stress on lexical items. They will tend to confuse stress on noun – verb pairs that are distinguished by stress. They will also stress all words in a sentence including function words which are usually unstressed in English. Besides, they will tend to place primary stress on the adjective-noun phrases such as yellow ribbon.
Generally speaking, English rhythm is stressed-timed while Arabic rhythm is syllable-timed. These differences create a problem for Baggara learners of English in pronouncing and stressing every syllable equally and distinctly.
A phonological contrast Between English Language and Baggara dialect:
Since students have been exposed to English phonology and phonetics through studying and understanding assimilation , intonation, stressed-syllables ,fusion etc. Student are supposed to find some difficulty in pronouncing some English words and they would normally neglect the rules that govern English sounds systems in terms of the items disused above.
Data Analysis and Discussion:-
The Test:
The only way to prove the experiment of this study is the test which is the most suitable instrument for collection of data. There are two types of test (pretest and post-test).
The experiment obviously requires the following procedure to achieve the goals :
(1) Source of data and sample under investigation following a (quantified data, and descriptive statistical analysis of the data and results obtained).
(2) Suitability: Cross section method is suitable to study and investigate how performance is improved from one level to another. It is also suitable for tracing language acquisition development. It is suitable for interlanguage study for knowing how languages work and their linguistic systems.
3) Validity: the pre-test/post-test should adopted to help in following up performance progress to find the interpersonal relationships within a group of individuals. The pre-test would test the sample on the following phonological items:
– The assimilation – Stressed syllables. – Continuous Assimilation
– intonation sounds restricted to both English and Arabic).
The Post Test:
After being tested first without being expose to the phonological and phonetics in English , students do the same pretest as a post test after they study the rules that govern English language in terms of Phonetics and phonology. The main objectives of the two tests is to see to what extent is the independent variable is effecting the dependent variable.
Table (4-1) English and Baggara diaelct
The following table shows the contrast between the English phonetics rules and Baggara language rules. This is in term of Consonant /n/ and nunation. (alnoon asakina and the Tanween).
This table has been adopted from Abulgaasim (2005 – 67) as a key reference
Examples in Arabic | Arabic Rules | Examples in English | English Rules | No. |
/janhaun/ | Izhar | An evil | Stressed syllable | 1 |
/min?ahl/ | Inhabitant | |||
The man -who | ||||
/m mma/ | Al idgham | One more | Assimilation | 2. |
/man-jӘ mӘl/ | Unless | |||
/ ?an lau/ | In law | |||
/ ?allau/ | ||||
/ jumbit / | Ali?iqlab / | In bed
On purpose |
contiguous Assimilation | 3. |
/ ?ambӘ?kӘ/ | In particular | |||
/?amburikӘ/ | In bad | |||
/humba:rizu:n/
/aleihhim bihӘdiyӘtin/. |
Ikhfa | Sunday
On Friday |
unstressed syllable | 4. |
Abulgasim (ibid) noticed that, in case of the unstressed syllable which matches the ixfa, it occurs when the consonant /n/ neighbors the /b/ it extincts partly as in /humba: rizu:n/ and the equivalent example in English is ( storm blow ).
Scores of Both Pre/Post Test ( One group Test Design):
Looking into the results of the post-Test that Rezzigat students after understanding and learning of the phonological rules of English have developed good understanding of these rules and hence their performance have changed and their errors reduced compared to the marks they obtained in the Pre-Test.
This supports the study hypotheses that the study of English phonetics and phonology help the Baggara students to master English langauge and can utter better. Also this findings of the study will pave the way for good pedagogical purpose and this supports the hypotheses that : the finding of the study will have good pedagogical purpose. Scores of Both Pre/Post Written Test.
Group Statistics
Std. Error
Mean |
Std
Deviation |
Mean | N |
Group |
.77868
1.15388 |
3.01583
4.46894 |
19.3333
30.4000 |
30
30 |
Degree pre-test
Post -test |
Independent Sample Test
Levine’s test for Equality of variances
F sig. |
||
.221 | 1.564 | Degree Equal variances
Assumed Equal variances not assumed |
Independent Samples Test
t-test for equality of means | ||||
Mean
Difference |
s.g(2-tailed) | Df | T | |
-11.06667
-11.06667 |
.000
.000 |
28
24.651 |
-7.950
-7.950 |
Degree Equal variances
Assumed Equal variances not assumed |
Independent Samples Test
t-test for Equality of Means | |||
95% Confidence interval of the Difference | Std. Error
Difference |
||
Upper | Lower | ||
-8.21520
-8.19711 |
-13.91813
-13.93623 |
1.39204
1.39204 |
Degree Equal variances
Assumed Equal variances not assumed |
According to the results appeared in the table above ( 4-1), the following comments can be realized :
- That results as shown in the table came out with the following proportions:
- Most of the subjects performance improved obviously in the post test process and three are great differences as shown on the tables above.
- B- The scores of the post written test indicated the positive effect of the importance of learning English Phonetics and phonology of Baggara students. that’s the independent variable .
- The performance of the subject has improved from pretest remarks which is 19.3333 to 30.4000 in the post test.
And for the hypotheses of the research it is clear that the study and learning of the rules of phonetics and phonology facilitates and improve Baggara students to master the English phonological rules .
Conclusion:
In concluding this research which has been continuing for a long time many comments can be considered. First is the importance of carrying out more and related studies on the importance of contrastive analysis in particular and phonological comparative between English and Baggara dialect and other languages for the benefit of developing better research in the future and through which many English departments in Sudanese universities can have some source of search and knowledge to be available for students who study applied linguistics and contrastive analysis.
The phonological contrast between English Language and Baggara dialect is a step towards opening the way for more specific studies on Baggara dialect in particular or any other dialects. This study has resulted into good findings and results by comparing the phonological systems between the English Language and Baggara dialect.
Through this course of comparison, it is clear that the phonetic system of the two languages (English Language and Baggara dialect) is different and that pronunciation difficulties that face Baggara students in learning English phonetics and phonology have been accounted and treated.
Results Of The Study:-
After carrying out the two tests . it has been discovered that the sample did well in the post test better than in the pretest. This of course supports the effect the idea that studying the phonological system of English has clear evidence that Baggara students will benefit in dealing with English language. This proves the earlier hypotheses that:
-
- The study of the phonological rules of English facilitates Baggara students to speak and pronounce English fluently.
- The phonological system of English is different from Baggara dialect and that they undergo some difficulties.
The above results can be applied to these hypotheses.
- The result of the pre-test tested the sample on their ability of pronunciation through writing (testing phonetics through writing) that’s why their score vary from between the average and below the average and only eleven of them passed the test which is marked out of forty (40).
- All the tested sample have passed the test and gain considerable results. This is due to the influence of the independent variable.
- There is a clear improvement in their accuracy and fluency in producing the answers of the test questions.
- Most of the sample did the test just after the half of the given time.
During the test the following steps have been adopted to test the hypotheses concerning the correct pronunciation of English language phonetics . The test has been done orally :
- The sample have been tested individually and separately by reading a group of words ( 20 words ) form English language with emphasis on assimilation . ; intonation , voicing , stress and syllable location.
They of course face difficulty in pronouncing words having /p/ as in people / stopped , put etc… . They say /b/ instated of /p/.
Also /r/ is pronounced whenever they come to read words having /r/ as in ; car , door , part , first .
- The sample should try to point out how Rezzigat students find difficulty in learning English language .
- Are there any similarities between English phonological system and Arabic (Baggara dialect)?.
- four students from Baggara out of the sample have problems with the bilabial /p/ and /b/ .. That they pronounce /b/ fro both /p/ and /b/.
- Three students among the group have proper pronunciation.
- Almost 90% of the sample managed to pronounce proper phonetics.
Recommendations:-
The researcher recommends the following notes and highlights that are be considered:
- The researchers can benefit from this study in the field of contrast in their conscious attempt to establish interlingual identifications between the L1 and the 2.
- They can also benefit from the prediction of learning problems that they face while learning English langauge (Phonology an Phonetics).
- This study can also be used as a reference study or previous study to accomplish more and deep studies on Baggara dialects or any related kind of research.
- This study is necessary for English learners who are at high levels of education and who are destined to be teachers of English , to be aware of the inconsistency between the sound system of English and its orthography.
- The study can help learners too to deal with pronunciation problems , teachers themselves must study phonetics and acquire correct pronunciation.
References:
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