A Study Of Nasals In English From The Perspective Of Language Transfer

Pronunciation is very important when learning a new language since languages are used for communication.Although nasals account for a small percent in English,mispronunciation of nasals would cause unnecessary misunderstanding in communication.There are many different dialect communities in China.Each dialect community has its own distinctive accent.Researches in second language learning have proved that not only native languages have effect on the pronunciation of English but also dialects.Based on Language Transfer Theory and Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis,the present study adopts two research methods: contrastive analysis and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.This research aims to study the feature of nasals in northern Shaanxi dialect and its influence on local learners' English pronunciation.This study addresses the following three specific research questions:1.What are the features of nasals and nasalization in northern Shaanxi dialect?2.What is the influence of nasals and nasalization in northern Shaanxi dialect on local learners' English pronunciation?3.Which factors do cause the influence of northern Shaanxi dialect on English?After analysis,this study shows the mixture of nasal final coda in northern Shaanxi dialect is not a free variation but follows one phonological rule that is [n]?[?] /{i,?}.Vowel nasalization happens when the syllables are [-an] or [-un].The two vowels [a] and [u] are nasalized respectively in the syllable.The collected data and the contrastive study between northern Shaanxi dialect and English prove that nasals and nasalization in northern Shaanxi dialect have negative transfer to nasals in English.Perception Assimilation Model,Speech Learning Model and Critical Period Hypothesis are used to explain why nasals in northern Shaanxi dialect would influence local learners' English pronunciation.Based on the former analyses,three implications are offered.