An Acoustic Comparison between Vowels of Paiwan, Bunun, Mandarin, and English for Junior High School Students

• Main Authors: Chen Yu Hsuan, 陳昱璇
• Other Authors: Chung Raung Fu
• Language: en_US
• Published: 104
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/70965967443629866443

碩士 === 南臺科技大學 === 應用英語系 === 103 === The main goal of this study is to investigate the role of Paiwan/ Bunun (L1) and Mandarin (L2) plays in English (L3) acquisition on the basis of acoustic properties. Three aspects are presented in the study. It explores the similarities and differences of English vowel qualities produced by Paiwan and Bunun learners, exhibits how L3 vowel acquisition is influenced by L1 and L2, and examines the empirical vowel productions upon theory of CAH (Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis) and SLM (speech learning model). The participants were 80 students recruited from schools of aboriginal areas: Paiwan tribe in Pingtung and Bunun tribe in Nantou. They were grouped into two: one of Paiwan natives (40) and the other of Bunun natives (40). They were asked to read word lists included of English vowels and Mandarin vowels. In addition, Paiwan and Bunun vowels read according to their mother language. All the collected voices were analyzed by Praat software. The findings are as follows. The similarities and differences of English vowel qualities produced by Paiwan and Bunun learners are, first, their vowel spaces are mostly narrower and smaller than those of Americans. Second, they place their tongues higher and more backward than English natives. Third, Paiwan students have higher resemblance with the norm in tongue advancement, and Bunun students in tongue height. As to the language transfer, the participants’ L2 interferes L3 acquisition more and negatively. Generally, their L1 affects tongue height more than L2, and L2 affects tongue advancement more than L1. The theoretical reflections are, first, the students’ learning difficulty of /a/ and the problems of /i/ more than /ɪ/ supports SLM hypothesis. Paiwan males’ and Bunun females’ /e, W, D/ match SLM, too. Second, the greater challenge of // than //, and /ɔ/ than /o/ are in agreement with CAH prediction. To sum up, the English instructors may be inspired to guide the students with proper articulation pedagogically. Pronounce naturally and accurately as could as possible and remind the distinguishability of each English vowel on the basis of phonetic knowledge will be helpful as instructing. Be aware of differences and similarities of sounds, and make a good use of positive transfer of languages would benefit English learners. Theoretically, SLM or CAH do not predict or explain all of the phenomena while the ESL learners acquiring English. More efforts needed to devote in the acoustic field to uncover the patterns and rules in vowel acquisition.