Influence Of Hangzhou Dialect On The Acquisition Of English Initial Consonant Clusters

Initial consonant clusters are one of the most difficult aspects in the acquisition procedure of Chinese EFL learners. Hangzhou dialect is one kind of dialects in South China and the people there have their own ways of speaking. Under these occasions, students in Hangzhou tend to speak Hangzhou-style English, and have difficulties in their English acquisition. Under the theoretical framework of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), more specifically the theory of Similarity Differential Rate (SDR) and Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH), based on the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Asian English Speech cOrpus Project (CASSAESOP), this paper analyzes the differences and similarities on the phonological systems between Hangzhou dialect and English through empirical and experimental methods. All the two-element initial consonant clusters ending with/r\phone are discussed and analyzed so that the concerning pedagogical implications in English phonological teaching are displayed.There are twenty Hangzhou students (8male,12female) taking part in this experiment. Words and sentences pronounced by participants containing two-element initial consonant clusters ending with/r/phone are recorded through some instruments. Two native speakers (male and female each) are chosen to listen to them and mark the unclear or un-perceived words and sentences of each initial consonant cluster.The data obtained from the experiment is analyzed and discussed from both quantity and quality, with the help of the detailed explanation of two native speakers on non-perceptions. Through analysis on the results of the experiment, it is concluded that:(1) Hangzhou EFL learners have some difficulties in acquiring English initial consonant clusters;(2) Of the seven main two-element initial consonant clusters ending with/r/phone,/fr/and/dr/have relatively low percentages of correct acquisition and/pr/and/br/, on the contrary, have relatively high percentages of correct acquisition;(3) The causes for this phenomenon lie in the fact that in the phonological system of Hangzhou dialect, there is no clear dividing line between voiced consonants and corresponding voiceless consonants; in the phonological system of Hangzhou dialect, there is no corresponding phone similar to English/r/so that when Hangzhou EFL learners try to pronounce this phone, they tend to use/I/-like sound instead, which causes non-perceptions; the phones tightly behind the initial consonant clusters also prevent Hangzhou EFL learners from articulating these clusters correctly under the influence of the combination of/I/and the phones tightly behind it in Hangzhou dialect, which also accounts for one of the conditions of non-perceptions.