English Phonetic And Phonology Research Assignment (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

Pronunciation problems
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This being a globalized world, English is being used by many people to serve various purposes especially when it comes to communication. There are also many non-native speakers who are using the English language as a main means of communication. Additionally, the number of non-English speakers is also growing. It is fair to mention that these non-English speakers try as much as possible to perfect pronunciation of English words. Perfect pronunciation is driven by the need to enhance effective communication. Despite their efforts to speak in a more comprehensive manner, it is still easier to come across a variety of pronunciation problems both by non-English speakers as well as English speakers. An analysis of the pronunciation of English words in this portfolio brings out the many pronunciation problems particularly those that are common by many English speakers.
Pronunciation problems exist for both vowels and consonants. One of the most common pronunciation problem lies in the two “th” sounds i.e. [θ] and [ð]. In the English language there are “th” sounds which can also be reoffered to as voiceless interdental fricative, [θ], and the second one is the voiced interdental fricative, [ð] (Roach, 2010). The commonly mispronounced words under voiceless interdental fricative are; Thing, Thin, Thunder (Morehouse, 2017). On a different note, there are also common voiced interdental fricative words that are mispronounced in communication. They include; The, This, and That (Morehouse, 2017). Both these words fall in the category of interdentals. The fact that they are interdentals explains why they are frequently or rather commonly mispronounced. Interdentals are pronounced by placing the tongue in the lower teeth and upper teeth which is not common. Mispronunciation of interdentals comes about in that the “th” sound is pronounced as [d] sounds or [t] sounds i.e.
Thingdingting
Thindintin
Thunderdundertunder
The dete
This distis
Thatdattat
In addition to the above, the “r” i.e. [ɹ] sound is also commonly mispronounced. Across the globe, sounds which are written as “r” are frequently confused and mispronounced in many languages (Roach, 2010). In countries that the English language is their major language, such as the United States, the “r” sound is also mispronounced. In English, the “r” sound is known as postalveolar approximant. Examples of words with the sound are; Red, Rain, and Rapid (Morehouse, 2017). It is a common mispronunciation problem since the “r” sound has to be pronounced with the tongue placed in the retroflex or retracted. That is an unusual position in the mouth especially for people who have been using Spanish for a long period of time.
The lax “i” sound i.e. [I] is commonly mispronounced. In the English language, there are two vowels which are consistently written with letter “i”. The first vowel is the close front unrounded vowel whi...