On Influcnce Of The Mother Tongue And English To The Acquisition Of French Pronunciation

At present, it is common to study a second or third foreign language for university students in China besides the first foreign language. In nowadays, studies of transfer in different languages have been more and more important in the language studies. Since the second foreign language acquisition is a new area and a complex process of study, we must take transfer from both the first foreign language and the mother tongue into consideration in the acquisition of the second foreign language.This thesis mainly discusses the language transfer in the acquisition of the second foreign language French process on phonetics. We make comparison of the three language systems in the thesis. It studies the transfer in the second foreign language French acquisition on both vowels and consonants by applying the methods of comparative analysis, tape recording and data analysis to the students involved in the thesis, hoping to explore the different roles of the mother tongue and the first foreign language playing on both vowels and consonants.The main findings of the study are the followings:both the mother tongue and English pronunciation influence the acquisition of the second foreign language on phonetics. In the process of the second foreign language French acquisition, the influences of the mother tongue are more than those of English. The investigation of vowels indicates that French Vowels [a],[i] and [u] are influenced by both the mother tongue and English; vowels [y],[a], [(?)] and [5] are mainly influenced by Chinese pronunciations; while vowels[(?)]and [e] are strongly influenced by the pronunciation of English. The investigation of consonants indicates that things are a little different. Most of the French consonants are influenced by both Chinese and English consonants, but some of the French consonants are influenced by Chinese consonants a lot; some other French consonants are influenced by English consonants a lot; some other consonants are influenced by both Chinese and English consonants a lot. Voiceless consonants [p], [t], [k],fricatives [f], [(?)] and lateral [1] are mainly influenced by Chinese pronunciation; fricatives [s],[z] and trill [r] are mostly influenced by the first foreign language; nasals [m] and [n] are mainly influenced by both the mother tongue and English obviously.