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1、【标题】地域方言对学生英语语音的影响 【作者】汪同玲 【关键词】 【指导老师】鲁晓权 【专业】英语 【正文】. IntroductionA. Definition of Regional DialectDai Weidong holds a view:“A regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region. Regional dialect boundaries often coincide with geographical barriers such
2、as mountains, rivers, or swamps.”1B. The Importance of Pronunciation StudyThere are three areas we need to know about the study of a language, which are phonetics, lexicology and grammar, but phonetics is essential. Phonetics, the study and science of speech sounds, is a branch of linguistics. It is
3、 closely connected with the study of grammar, lexicology and so on.“Without phonetics there can be no morphology of a spoken language, without intonation no syntax,”2 as Professor Firth declared. H.A. Gleason also noted“A speaking knowledge of a language, therefore, requires very close to one hundre
4、d percent control of the phonology and control of from fifty to ninety percent of the grammar, while one can frequently do a great deal with one percent or even less of the vocabulary.”3 So we must make great efforts into phonetics first and foremost in order to study English well.C. The Relationshi
5、p of Regional Dialect and Pronunciation StudyAs we know, to develop the ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating, English pronunciation study is the prerequisite. During our study and communication, people sometimes can not understand others words because of their false pronu
6、nciation, even misunderstanding their meanings. Besides personal defects(such as defects of pronunciation organs) the main reason is that they are affected by Chinese and regional dialects. In a sense, speakers have formed a kind of habit while saying local dialect. If they study another language, t
7、heyll form a new habit. Moreover, these two habits are often contradictory. The longer the wrong pronunciation has been in speakers minds, the harder for them to correct.In this thesis, it will discuss the comparison on pronunciation systems between Chinese and English, and analyze the pronunciation
8、 characters of two typical areas. The last part is to list some strategies for solving problems in pronunciation teaching. Phonemic and Phonological Distinction between English and ChineseWan Zhihong argues that“Chinese belongs to the Oriental phylum, whereas English is the Occidental one,”4 and tha
9、t the two languages share many similarities as well as exist large divergences phonemically and phonologically; their phonetic systems are distinct from each other mainly by the following three aspects:(1) Phoneme. The phonemes in the two languages do not correspond with each other absolutely. The v
10、owels and consonants in English differentiate from the tones(shengmu) and the finals(yunmu) in Chinese to a certain extent even if they seem to be similar counterparts in pronunciation.(2) The ways of distinguishing meanings. Chinese distinguishes the meaning by tones, thus labeled as“tonal language
11、”; while English distinguishes the meaning by the intonations of a sentence rather than by the tone of a word. So it is named“language with intonation”.(3) Phonemic structure. English also differs from Chinese greatly in phonemic structures. The phonemes, which are restricted to some degree in the l
12、atter, are able to be combined freely in the former. Take spelling rules of consonants for example. In English,f andh can be spelled together withi:, which is not allowed in Chinese. Besides, all the consonants in English can come at the end of a syllable, while in Chinese onlyn and are permitted so
13、. These differences cause the great difficulties for the Chinese students acquisition of English pronunciations and intonations. Another difficulty for them is that the two languages differ in rhythms as well. Each possesses its own characteristics on applying tone or place of stress to distinguish
14、words meaning, and on the conveying a speakers tone or attitude by means of various intonations.Intonation refers to the regulation and cadence of tones when speaking. Intonation functions mainly in English as different intonations may communicate different attitudes or emotions of a speaker, and im
15、pacts the sentence itself semantically to various extents. For example, yes expresses certainty, doubt and so on, depending upon the intonation endorsed. Native English speakers are quite sensitive to intonations, since“Whats important is not what you have said, but how you said it.” A great many Ch
16、inese students, however, are confused with intonations, and dont know when to use the rising tone and the falling tone. Therefore, some read a whole text with a falling tone, whereas others lift their pitches on the original ones when reading with the rising tone and thus their recitals sound rather
17、 uncomfortable to hear.There is no such idea as is stressed in sentence in Chinese. In the flow of utterances, the connection between syllables and between words is different. There are obvious intervals between syllables in Chinese; while in English, the syllables and words within an utterance are
18、interlinked end to end, with no obvious boundaries. A native English speaker only stresses the relevant words when stressing, or conveying some central information. The remaining words will thus be read in passing, manifested as such phenomena of infection as the vowel weakening, phoneme losing, ass
19、imilation, liaison and rhythm etc. Nonetheless, the intonation in Chinese is unable to fluctuate as in English because it is restricted by the tone of a word, which would not be altered no matter how the intonation changes in a sentence. Students who are accustomed to Chinese dialects usually have a
20、 poor master in the stresses in English, because they fail to master the rules of liaison in this language. Consequently, their recitals are hard to understand, unable to control the stresses of many words. Although some students can pronounce a single phoneme precisely, they have a poor sense of rh
21、ythm, having no idea how to divide chunks(or thought groups), or having no concept of stresses in sentence, believing that it sufficient to read every word clearly. Therefore, they do not know when to pause, and their recitals are bland and intermittent, lack of the original rhythm in English. The T
22、ransfer of Mother TongueChen Ling holds that“the influence of mother tongue on foreign language learning is mainly illustrated on the course oftransfer between external and internal languages.”5 External language refers to the language which a person utters in his daily talks, which can be accepted
23、by the hearing of his listeners; while internal language means the language which a person utilizes when thinking with his brain instead of speaking it out. Both languages serve as materials, basis, as well as tools for thinking activities. A person is used to applying his mother tongue or native di
24、alect as his internal language at the beginning of learning a foreign language. Nevertheless, he may be forced to use the external language that is understandable for both interlocutors in real communications. As a result, problems arise in that external language is different from internal language,
25、 which can only be resolved by the mutual“transfer” between the twos. The similarities between his mother tongue and the target language will advance his learning the latter, producing“positive transfer”; whereas the differences will block it, producing“negative transfer”. The greater the difference
26、s are, the greater the difficulty is, and correspondingly the easier the producing of“negative transfer”.A. Concept of TransferThe term“transfer” originally derived from the Latin word“transferre”, and is used as a technological term which means“to bear”,“to print, to impress”, or“to copy(as a drawi
27、ng or engraved design) from one surface to another”.6 While its meaning developed,“transfer” could also be used to mean“to carry-over or generalization of learned responses from one type of situation to another”, especially“the application in one field of study or effort of knowledge, skill, power,
28、or ability acquired in another”. 7 It was later on applied in linguistics, for example,“language transfer”,“linguistic transfer”. In language,“transfer” is defined by behaviorist psychologists to refer to the process of antithetic, uncontrolled, and subconscious use of past-learned behavior in the a
29、ttempt to produce new responses. Of course past-learned knowledge can play two definitely different roles in the learning of new ones, and accordingly, transfer falls into two types, named positive transfer and negative transfer. As the name suggests, positive transfer occurs when the learners previ
30、ous knowledge, skill or ability facilitates his learning of new ones, while negative transfer refers to the impediment of the acquired knowledge, skill, or ability exerts upon the new learning. Despite the fact that it is misunderstood by many that the term“transfer” equals“negative transfer” exclus
31、ively, the overall meaning of it shows that“transfer” is a neutral word in origin. As we have seen, the term“interference” and“transfer” are closely associated with behaviorist theories of second language learning. However, it is now widely accepted that the influence of the learners native language
32、 can not be adequately accounted for in terms of habit formation.B. Types of Transfer“Reports revealed that in terms of the communicative effect, transfer included categories, positive and negative.” 8 Those transfers agreement from the learners native language that do not lead to misunderstanding i
33、n the target language are positive. The discussion in this paper is based on this division. Transfer can also be viewed as falling into two other types: pragmatic linguistic transfer and sociolinguistic transfer. By the former we mean the language learners habitually apply the language patterns and
34、grammatical rules of their native tongue. For instance, many Japanese learners of English will use questions to show their disagreement in the target language because this is the way they use it in their native tongue, but literally it is not allowed in English. And by the latter we mean that the le
35、arners acquisition and application of the target language repeatedly reveal the influence of their native cultures. Problems in English Pronunciation StudyThe problems existing in English pronunciation study are underlined by many aspects, the first of which is those of mother language and dialect.
36、Mans distinction and study of pronunciations are empirical. His acquisition of mother language is principally achieved through imitating the articulations and talks of the surrounding throngs from very young, and through long-term linguistic practice. People master the whole articulating experience
37、of their mother language and dialect and fix such experience. Thus, as they grow older, their ability of distinction deteriorates, and they frequently transfer such experience to their English study. Moreover, the habits the college students formed in their middle school are deeply rooted, some unre
38、gulated articulating habits are difficult to rectify. In addition, the combined influence of mother language and dialect misleads them from correct articulation, thus, the interference of mother language or the negative transfer of phonetic system of their mother language become the major hindrance
39、for a right command in pronunciations.A. Pronunciation Difficulties of Students from Three Gorges Area of ChinaThree Gorges Reservoir Area is located in the east of Chongqing, connecting Sichuan and Hubei provinces. Mountains are high and this area keeps off big cities. The dialect here has special
40、characteristics. In Wanzhou district, dialects of Hubei and Chongqing are co-existed, the characteristics are more obvious. For example, the end of tone and innovation in Wanzhou speech often has the feature of going up.“Wan” in“wanxian” is pronounced as falling tone, and“xian” is pronounced as leve
41、l tone, which has difference with the speech in Chongqing and Hubei.Generally speaking, the characters of English pronunciation in Three Gorges Reservoir area are following:1. No CacuminalWhen people pronounce English words, tongues are often flatness. There is no cacuminal. For example, When Wanzho
42、u people speak mandarin“ri、re、rou”, their tongues are flat not retroflex.2. Confusingv withwWhen articulating the fricative labiodentalv, the upper front teeth touch the lower lip lightly, and the air passes through the lips and the teeth; whereas the lips are required to be rounded when articulatin
43、g thew. However, the articulation in colloquialism is not used to rounding, so students easily confusev withw, and always articulatew asv. For instance,wumen is pronounced asvumen.3. Confusingf withhThe words“会”and“花”, they should be pronounced ashui andhua, but Wanzhou people pronouncefei andfa. Th
44、is habit of pronunciation will easily make learners confuseh andf. In fact,f is a voiceless labio-dental fricative consonant. When articulatingf, you should raise the soft palate so that the nasal cavity is closed, causing the air to pass in a continuous stream between the lip and the teeth with fri
45、ction, and press the lower lip against the upper teeth and dont vibrate the vocal folds. But when articulatingh, you should keep the tongue in position for the immediately following vowel, and allow the air stream to pass through the wide-open glottis producing audible friction.4. No Back-nasal Cons
46、onantThe learners in Three Gorges Reservoir Area have difficulty in grasping these nasals asn and, which are lacked in this area. They pronounce“chuan” as“chuang” in mandarin. So when they speak English, they often pronouncekin aski. In fact, there are some difficulties betweenn and,n is a voiced al
47、veolar nasal consonant. So when articulatingn, you should lower the soft palate to release the air through the nose, put the tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth-ridge and upper side-teeth and keep the teeth slightly parted. Meanwhile, vibrate the vocal cords. But is a voices velar nasal
48、consonant, if articulating, you should lower the soft palate so that the air can pass only through the nose, and raise the back of the tongue against the soft palate to stop the air behind the closure.5. Confusingn withlTherefore, they confusen withl in mandarin. For instance,“xiaoliu” is often pronounced as“xiaoniu”. In English, the place of articulation of the soundsn andl is similar to that in Chinese, thus the students find it difficult to catch the differences between articulation of lifelaif and that of knifenaif. Whilen is pronounced by pressing the tip of the to