An Acoustic Study On The English Vowel Production By Changchun English Learners

Speech sound system is the most important part of the language.It is also an important medium of oral communication.Therefore,mastering the correct English pronunciation is an important prerequisite for improving the English proficiency of English learners.However,because each language and dialect has its unique sound system and pronunciation rules,the mother tongue and the local dialects will interfere with the EFL(English as Foreign Language)learners' phonetic learning.Because China has a vast territory and a large number of dialects,and Chinese sound system and English sound system are very different,Chinese EFL learners tend to transfer the Chinese pronunciation habit to English pronunciation,which leads to difficulties and mistakes in English speech sound learning.Vowels are the main components of English speech sound.Every English word has a vowel,and vowel is not only the core of a syllable but also the direct carrier of the suprasegmental features(such as stress and tone).So the acquisition of vowels will directly affect the accuracy of English pronunciation and the effect of communication.This thesis is an acoustic study of the production of English vowels by Chinese college English learners in Changchun.The subjects are 50 college students who were born and grew up in Changchun(25 males and 25 females)and 16 native English speakers(Americans,8 males and 8 females).Their production of 12 English 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 two questions in particular:1.What are the similarities and differences in English vowel production between English native speakers and Changchun English Learners(Cc ELs)? This question will be discussed mainly from the aspect of F1,F2,and duration.2.Are the English vowels produced by Changchun English Learners affected by Chinese sounds and local dialect pronunciation?The results indicate that the acquisition of English monophthongs by Cc ELs is not optimistic.They tend to produce English monophthongs lower and more front than American Native Speakers(ANSs).Among the 12 monophthongs,/?: / and /u: /are the best acquired ones.This finding partly supports Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis(CAH)and partly supports Speech Learning Model(SLM)as /?: / has a similar sound in Chinese but /u: / has no counterpart in Chinese.Cc ELs' production of /i: / and /i/,/(?)/ and /?: /,/u/ and /u: /do not have significant differences in F1 and F2 values.Cc ELs mainly distinguish long-short vowels by vowel duration.So they cannot produce these three pairs of long-short vowels well.This finding supports the CAH,as there is no long-short distinction in Chinese sounds.Local dialects have a negative influence on Cc ELs' English vowel acquisition.The comparison of the Chinese vowel production between Changchun Chinese Speakers(Cc CSs)and Standard Chinese Speakers(SCSs)indicates that Changchun speakers tend to produce Chinese vowels lower than SCSs.This is in line with their performance of English vowel production.Compared with native English speakers,Cc ELs put their tongues in a lower position when they produce the 12 vowels.The results of this study have positive significance for English pronunciation teaching in Changchun.First of all,English teachers and English learners should pay attention to the difference between Changchun dialect sound system and English sound system.So as to prevent the negative transfer of the mother tongue to their English pronunciation.Second,English teachers should teach some English phonetics knowledge,which can help learners understand the essence of sounds.Third,teachers can promote the use of voice analysis software,such as PRAAT.With the help of voice analysis software,learners can be aware of their pronunciation problems.Then they can correct their pronunciation in time and produce the target sounds correctly.