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124 Pages·2010·1.98 MB·English

LANGUAGE IN INDIA
Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow
Volume 10 : 5 May 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

A Phonetic and Phonological Study of
the Consonants of English and Arabic

by

Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Education

Department of English
School of Education
Hodeidah University
June 2000

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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Allah for all the blessings He has showered upon me
throughout my life and especially during the period of this research. I thank my
mother who prays for my success every single day.
I would like to thank the Rector of the University of Hodeidah, Dr. Qassim
Berihe, for starting this Master‘s Degree Programme in Hodeidah. I would thank also
Dr. Qaid Al-Umaithily, Vice-Rector, Higher Studies and Research, University of
Hodeidah and Dr. Ibrahim Omer Hugari, Dean, Faculty of Education Hodeidah.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Balasubramanian for the
support, guidance and encouragement he has provided me. His depth of knowledge of
phonetics and phonology has been an invaluable asset to me throughout the period of
this work.
I am deeply indebted to my wife, my family, my fellow students and the staff
members of the Department of English, University of Hodeidah whose understanding,
love and support have been more than I could ever ask for or expect.

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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
TABLE OF CONTENSTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………….……………….…..…ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS…….……….………...……………………..………….…iii
ABSTRA….…………….……………………………………………..………….…iv
INTRODUCTION……...………………………..……..…………………………...1
CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................................... 251
CONTRASTIVE LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 251
1.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 251
1.2 Contrastive Linguistics and Language Teaching .............................................. 251
1.3 Contrastive Analysis .................................................................................................. 253
1.4 The Aim of Contrastive Linguistics ....................................................................... 255
1.5 Linguistics and Phonetics ......................................................................................... 256
1.6 Phonetics and Phonology ......................................................................................... 258
CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................... 263
THE AIM AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 263
2.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 263
2.2 Dialects chosen for this study ................................................................................. 267
2.3 Motivation ..................................................................................................................... 269
CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 270
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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS .................................................................................................... 270
5.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 270
5.2 The Vocal Organs ....................................................................................................... 270
5.3 Classification of Speech Sounds ............................................................................. 271
CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................. 273
THE CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH .............................................................................................. 273
4.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 273
4.2 Classification of English Consonants RP ............................................................ 275
4.3 Description of the Consonants of RP English .................................................... 276
4.4 Lip-position during the articulation of the consonants of English ............... 303
4.5 Occurrence in different position of the consonants of English: .................... 305
CHAPTER FIVE .................................................................................................................... 307
THE CONSONANTS OF ARABIC................................................................................................ 307
5.1 Introductory Remarks ................................................................................................ 307
5.1.1 The Arabic consonants and their occurrence in words ............................... 308
5.1.2 The Arabic consonants and their places of articulation .............................. 310
5.1.3 The Consonant of Arabic according to the state of the glottis during
their articulation. ........................................................................................................................... 311
5.1.4 The Consonants of Arabic according to the manner in which they are
articulated. ........................................................................................................................................ 311
5.2 A brief Phonemic Analysis of the Consonants of Arabic ................................ 314
5.3 Lip-position during the articulation of the consonants of Arabic ................ 346
CHAPTER SIX ....................................................................................................................... 348
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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
A COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF THE CONSONANT SYSTEMS OF THE TWO
LANGUAGES AND ITS PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS ......................................................... 348
6.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 348
6.2 Phonetic Differences .................................................................................................. 349
6.3 Phonological Differences ......................................................................................... 353
6.4 Consonant Clusters in English and Arabic ......................................................... 360
6.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 362

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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
A PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE
CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH AND ARABIC

ABSTRACT
Since a contrastive analysis of any two languages will give us a clear picture
of the areas of difficulty that the learners of a foreign language face, the researcher, as
a teacher of English as a foreign language to Yemeni learners felt that it is vitally
important to contrast the two languages—English and Arabic.
As a teacher, the researcher has noticed peculiar phonetic and phonological
features in his learners‘ spoken English. So in this dissertation the researcher has
attempted a contrastive analysis of one aspect of his learners‘ mother tongue with that
of English. The area chosen for contrastive analysis is a phonetic and phonological
study of the consonants of English and Arabic.
In chapter one of this dissertation, the researcher has discussed the value of
contrastive analysis between the two languages and the pedagogical implications of
such a study. The chapter also discusses briefly the relationship between linguistics
and phonetics and the relationship between phonetics and phonology.
The second chapter is a brief outline of the aim and scope of the study. This
chapter also gives reasons for choosing Classical Arabic and Received Pronunciation
as the dialects to be compared and contrasted and the factors motivating this research.
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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
In the third chapter, since this is a phonetic study, the researcher has discussed
briefly the vocal organs that play an important role while producing sounds and the
classification of speech sounds.
Chapter four has been devoted to the classification and description of the
consonants of English and their occurrence in different positions in a word.
In chapter five, the researcher discusses the consonants of Arabic in the same
way in which the consonants of English have been described and discussed in chapter
four.
Chapter six is a chapter devoted to a contrastive analysis of the two systems.
The points of similarities and dissimilarities between the two languages have been
pointed out. This chapter also discusses those sounds in pronouncing which an Arabic
learner of English may face problems and the pedagogical implications of this study.

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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
INTRODUCTION

Language is used by human beings for the purposes of linguistic
communication. Of course, language is not the only mean of communication.
Communication is quite possible without the use of the language. For example, a dog
barks and informs its master of the approach of a stranger. A child cries and informs
its mother that it is hungry, thirsty or uncomfortable. In both the examples we have
cited above, communication does take place, but these are examples of non-linguistic
communication. In this research we will deal with linguistic communication.
A language can be used in one of two ways for the purposes of
communication. We either speak the language or write in it. Whether to speak the
language or to write in it, we use the same language but we do not use it in the same
way. On each occasion, we use a different medium. When someone says something,
he uses the spoken medium of language (aural medium) and when someone writes
something and shows it to others, he uses the written medium of language (visual
medium).
The medium of speech is more important than the medium of writing. This is
because in the history of any language community, speech comes first and then
writing follows, perhaps centuries later. Secondly, any human being in any society
learns to speak first and then, long after this, he learns to write. Thirdly, the medium
of speech is used much more than the medium of writing as a vehicle of
communication by any society, anywhere in the world. Fourthly, writing is only an
attempt to put down on paper the sounds that occur in a language, using graphic
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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
symbols. Each letter of the alphabet of a language represents a sound (some letters
represent more than one sound in several alphabets) that occurs in that language.
Lastly, modern technology has contributed tremendously to the importance of speech ـ
modern inventions like the telephone, the radio, the tape recorder and several such
devices have raised several problems that are concerned with the spoken medium of
communication.
Having established the importance of the spoken medium, it is not surprising to find
that there is a special branch of linguistics that deals exclusively with speech. And that
there is no branch of linguistics which deals exclusively with writing.
Linguistics is a systematic study of language. In fact the branch of linguistics
that deals exclusively with the spoken medium of language is called phonetics. This
branch of linguistics deals with the production, transmission and reception of the
sounds of human speech. In the following chapters we shall look into some of these.

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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic
CHAPTER ONE

Contrastive Linguistic Analysis

1.1 General Remarks
It is a common belief that the learner‘s first language (which he learns in his
infancy and therefore is well established in his mind) superimposes itself on the
language he acquires later on in life when he attempts to learn a second language. The
―foreign accents‖ in the second language (L2) speech of learners are the clearest
support for this belief. When an Arab speaks English, his English sounds like Arabic.
The learning of the new set of structures of any foreign language after the acquisition
of the set of habits of the first language (L1) (mostly the mother tongue) is, therefore,
bound to present problems, owing to the belief that the role of the L1 in second
language acquisition is a negative one. That is, the influence of the L1 gets in the way
or interferes with the learning of the L2, in such a way that features of the L1 are
transferred into the L2, because the transfer, as Lado (1963) argues, is usually in one
direction, from the native language to the foreign language or from L1 to L2.

1.2 Contrastive Linguistics and Language Teaching
Linguistics can be applied to many fields and language teaching is one of
them. In this section let us briefly analyze the part played by linguistics in language
teaching. Linguistic studies began in the world several centuries ago. For a long time,
linguists have been looking at points of similarities and dissimilarities between
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Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami, Ph.D. Candidate
A Phonetic and Phonological Study of the Consonants of English and Arabic