Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers

Language transfer has been a controversial topic that has been the debate of many linguists, language teachers and instructors. This paper investigates the existence of such transfer in Malaysian Malay ESL speakers in the production of the English vowel sounds %i/ and /d. It has been found that t...

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Main Author: Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan.
Format: Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 1997
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/8/Mother-tongue%20influence%20in%20the%20pronunciation%20contrast%20of%20the%20English%20-i-and%20-I-%20vowel%20sounds%20among%20Malaysian%20Malay%20ESL%20speakers%28fulltext%29.pdf
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author Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan.
author_facet Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan.
author_sort Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan.
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Language transfer has been a controversial topic that has been the debate of many linguists, language teachers and instructors. This paper investigates the existence of such transfer in Malaysian Malay ESL speakers in the production of the English vowel sounds %i/ and /d. It has been found that the majority of the speakers do not differentiate between the long and short vowel sounds. They do not pronounce the long /i/ vowel sound with accuracy as the sound does not exist in their mother-tongue language (Malay). The main reason for this is the frequent use of their mother-tongue and also the amount of exposure they have to Malay. English is only used occasionally as it does not play a major role in their communication everyday. Several factors are also speculated on in this paper, emphasising individual differences which may cause the problem. Among the recommendations suggested are activities that could be employed in ESL classrooms during English lessons in aid of students who face the similar problem.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T06:28:06Z
format Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
id unimas-10131
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T06:28:06Z
publishDate 1997
publisher Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS)
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling unimas-101312024-09-12T06:34:42Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/ Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan. PE English Language transfer has been a controversial topic that has been the debate of many linguists, language teachers and instructors. This paper investigates the existence of such transfer in Malaysian Malay ESL speakers in the production of the English vowel sounds %i/ and /d. It has been found that the majority of the speakers do not differentiate between the long and short vowel sounds. They do not pronounce the long /i/ vowel sound with accuracy as the sound does not exist in their mother-tongue language (Malay). The main reason for this is the frequent use of their mother-tongue and also the amount of exposure they have to Malay. English is only used occasionally as it does not play a major role in their communication everyday. Several factors are also speculated on in this paper, emphasising individual differences which may cause the problem. Among the recommendations suggested are activities that could be employed in ESL classrooms during English lessons in aid of students who face the similar problem. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 1997 Final Year Project Report / IMRAD NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/8/Mother-tongue%20influence%20in%20the%20pronunciation%20contrast%20of%20the%20English%20-i-and%20-I-%20vowel%20sounds%20among%20Malaysian%20Malay%20ESL%20speakers%28fulltext%29.pdf Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan. (1997) Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers. [Final Year Project Report / IMRAD] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle PE English
Tan, Li-Lian @ Lillian Tan.
Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title_full Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title_fullStr Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title_full_unstemmed Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title_short Mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the English /i/and/i/vowel sounds among Malaysian Malay esl speakers
title_sort mother-tongue influence in the pronunciation contrast of the english /i/and/i/vowel sounds among malaysian malay esl speakers
topic PE English
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10131/8/Mother-tongue%20influence%20in%20the%20pronunciation%20contrast%20of%20the%20English%20-i-and%20-I-%20vowel%20sounds%20among%20Malaysian%20Malay%20ESL%20speakers%28fulltext%29.pdf