A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ENGLISH AND MANDARIN CHINESE SPEECH SOUNDS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

APRILIANA BETA ULINA

Student Number: 044214060

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ENGLISH AND MANDARIN CHINESE SPEECH SOUNDS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

APRILIANA BETA ULINA

Student Number: 044214060

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

2009

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This Thesis is dedicated to:

My lovely parents, brothers

and sister, and also all my

friends wherever they are…

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude and praise to the

Almighty Jesus Christ for His endless love, blessing and guidance during the process of

completing my thesis. I always believe that there is nothing impossible in Him.

My great gratitude is for my beloved parents, S. Sembiring Brahmana and S.

Sebayang, and also my two brothers, Firdaus Sembiring and Rio Mustika Sembiring,

and my only sister, Nindy Rizki Octaviani for their prayer, love, support, and

encouragement which help me very much. I would also thank my big family in Medan,

especially my grandmother, Iting, and my aunt, Salimah for their prayer.

My deepest gratitude is also addressed to Dra. Bernadine Ria Lestari, M.S., as

my advisor, for her guidance and ideas in this thesis. I thank her patience in helping me to

accomplish this thesis and spending much time and energy to read, criticize, and correct

this thesis. I would also like to thank Anna Fitriati, S. Pd, M. Hum who has been so

kind to be my co-advisor of this thesis, and has given some suggestions for the

completion of this thesis.

I am also particularly grateful for all lecturers in English Letters Department who

have spent their invaluable time in teaching me in the years of my study. I should also

like to thank my Mandarin Lecturers; Anita Xiăojie and Rusli Lăoshī for borrowing me

their books.

I also thank my 65 X friends; Mba Sari, Dhita “Nenek”, Yeni “Emak”, Wella,

Putri “Iput”, Bona, and Della for being such good friends. I also thank my Karate

friends; Sempai Agus, Sempai Yohanes, Sensi, Nency, Dhita, Adi, Eric, Resy, Onel,

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Ayub, Nila, Umar, Andri, Donny, and Agus for being me confidence, and always

optimism. I would also love to thank my old best friends in Batulicin, South

Kalimantan; Abidin “Julak”, Rita, Samsul Alam, Bambang, and Yadin for the time,

guidance and support.

I would also express my gratitude to all members of English Letters especially

Pita, Dhita, Atik, Angga, Desy, Caty, John ‘02 and not to forget to my partners in work;

Rini (PBI), Nia, Rita, Bekti, Irma, mba Tya (Happy Bear), Tiwi, and mba Dewi

(Lingua International) for their support. I also thank everyone who supports me, but I

can not mention them one by one in this page.

Apriliana Beta Ulina

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................... iii DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………………. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… v TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… vii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. viii ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………... ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….. 1

A. Background of the Study ………………………………………….. 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………… 3 C. Objectives of the Study …………………………………………… 3 D. Benefits of the Study ……………………………………………… 3 E. Definition of Terms ……………………………………………….. 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ………………………………. 5

A. Definition of Phonetics …………………………………………... 5 B. The Classification of English Phonetics ………………………….. 6 C. The Classification of Mandarin Chinese Phonetics ………………. 23

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………….. 33

A. Object of the Study ……………………………………………….. 33 B. Approach of the Study ……………………………………………. 33 C. Method of the Study ………………………………………………. 33

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………………………………………………… 35 A. The Similarities and Differences ………………………………….. 35 B. The Problems which Cause the Difficulties ………………………. 70

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………… 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………. 80

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ABSTRACT

APRILIANA BETA ULINA. A Comparative Study on English and Mandarin Chinese Speech Sounds. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

Language is a part of communication system. Everybody uses language in their communication with other people to convey their ideas, wants, emotions, and also their intentions. One way to master a language is learning the sound system because the sounds of a language have a system in combining them into a certain form, so that they have a special meaning. To know about the sounds of language deeply, learners have to learn the science of the speech sounds that are utilized by all human language to represent meanings which is called as Phonetics. Each language has its uniqueness which differs from other languages, for example, English and Mandarin Chinese. Both languages have some similarities and differences on the speech sounds. Because of that, this thesis has the objective. The objective is identifying and comparing English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. It is done to find out the similarities and differences between English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds.

The methodology used in this study is Library research. The data were from English and Mandarin Chinese phonetics books and all the references about English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. The first step the writer did was collecting data and references from library. Then, the writer read those English and Mandarin Chinese phonetics books and all the references to get better understanding. Then, the writer analyzed the data by comparing English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. After that, the writer found and analyzed some problems that cause difficulties in pronouncing the English words for Chinese people.

The result of the study shows that there are some differences and similarities in English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. One of the similarities is about the concept of phonetics that it is as the study of speech sounds. Besides that, English and Mandarin Chinese are similar on the total of speech sounds. Moreover, most of the consonant sounds of English and Mandarin Chinese can be placed in the initial and final position. The differences of those two languages can be seen from the distribution. For example, all English vowel can be placed in the initial, medial, and final position, while in Mandarin Chinese, there is only initial position that vowel can be placed or before consonant sound.

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ABSTRAK

APRILIANA BETA ULINA. A Comparative Study on English and Mandarin Chinese Speech Sounds. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009. Bahasa merupakan bagian dari sistem komunikasi. Setiap orang menggunakan bahasa untuk mengungkapkan ide, hasrat, perasaan, dan maksud mereka terhadap orang lain melalui komunikasi. Cara untuk menguasai suatu bahasa yakni dengan mempelajari sistem bunyi karena bunyi bahasa memiliki sistem dalam mengkombinasikan bunyi tersebut kedalam suatu bentuk, sehingga menghasilkan makna. Untuk memahami bunyi bahasa lebih dalam, para siswa harus mempelajari ilmu tentang bunyi bahasa yang digunakan oleh semua bahasa manusia yang disebut dengan Phonetics. Setiap bahasa memiliki keunikan yang berbeda dengan bahasa lainnya, sebagai contoh, bahasa Inggris dan Mandarin. Kedua bahasa tersebut memiliki beberapa persamaan dan perbedaan bunyi bahasa. Karena itu, skripsi ini memiliki tujuan, yakni untuk menemukan persamaan dan perbedaan bunyi bahasa antara bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Mandarin. Metode yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini yakni penelitian pustaka. Data-data berasal dari buku-buku dan referensi bahasa Inggris dan Mandarin. Tahap pertama yang dilakukan penulis yakni mengumpulkan data-data dan referensi dari perpustakaan. Kemudian, membacanya untuk memahami lebih dalam. Setelah itu, penulis menganalisis data-data tersebut dengan cara membandingkan bunyi bahasa antara bahasa Inggris dan Mandarin. Kemudian, penulis mencari dan meneliti masalah-masalah yang menyebabkan kesulitan bagi siswa Cina untuk melafalkan kata-kata dalam bahasa Inggris. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada beberapa perbedaan dan persamaan bunyi bahasa antara bahasa Inggris dengan bahasa Mandarin. Salah satu persamaan antara bahasa Inggris dengan bahasa Mandarin adalah mengenai konsep phonetics, yakni sebagai ilmu yang mempelajari bunyi bahasa. Selain itu, kedua bahasa tersebut memiliki persamaan jumlah bunyi bahasa. Ditambah lagi semua bunyi konsonan dapat terletak pada awal dan akhir kata. Perbedaan dari kedua bahasa tersebut dapat dilihat dari distribusinya. Sebagai contoh, semua bunyi vokal dalam bahasa Inggris dapat berada di depan, tengah, dan akhir kata, sedangkan dalam bahasa Mandarin, bunyi vowel hanya dapat terletak didepan kata atau sebelum bunyi konsonan.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

The importance of language is naturally very great. Language is a part of

communication system. People can use it in their communication with other people to

convey their ideas, wants, emotions, and also their intentions. The greatest part of

learning a language is, therefore, learning the sound system. The sounds of a

language are not just like series of sounds produced by animals but they have a

system in combining them into a certain form so that they have a special meaning.

The science dealing with the sounds of language is called phonetics.

In order to know the understanding of phonetics better, we need to know what

speech sound is. Speech sounds are certain acoustic effects voluntarily produced by

the organ of speech; they are the result of definite actions performed by organs of

speech. The sounds of speech are all around us. We use them, we hear them, we

enjoy them, and suffer from them, but in general we know remarkably little about

them (Daniel Sahaluta, 1998).

Most linguists agree on the basic characteristics of language, namely a means

of communication for human beings either in a written or spoken form. This basic

communicative function can be included as expression, information, exploration,

persuasion, and entertainment (Michael Swan, 1995: 51).

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Since the writer believes that the greatest part of mastering a language is

mastering the sound system, the writer tries to find some problems that cause the

difficulties for Chinese people learning the English sounds, especially pronouncing

the English words.

The consideration for comparing English with Mandarin Chinese is that

English is the most important language in the world, because it functions as an

International language. However after many years of study, many students in

different countries are still not capable of following the English system. English is

different from other languages especially Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is a

unique language which has different characteristics from English. For example,

Mandarin Chinese is well known as a tonal language. In Mandarin Chinese, a

different tone of a sound will refer to a different word with a totally different meaning.

The employing of the four tones to denote different characters in Mandarin Chinese is

the most important difference between English and Mandarin Chinese pronunciation.

In English, sound variation for different words is affected by varying the vowel or

consonant sounds. These fundamental differences make the difficulties for the

Chinese student to master the English sounds. Moreover, Mandarin is the second

language in the world. It can be shown by so many people who speak Mandarin

Chinese in the world. Besides that, nowadays, there are so many companies and

products which are from China, so we also have to master Mandarin Chinese to

compete in the job fields.

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B. Problem Formulation

Based on the difficulties in understanding the English and Mandarin Chinese

Speech sounds by the Chinese students, the problems that come up can be formulated

as follows :

1. What are the similarities and differences between English and Mandarin

Chinese Speech Sounds?

2. What problems cause the difficulties in pronouncing the English words for

Chinese people?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study aims at identifying English and Mandarin Chinese Speech Sounds,

comparing them in order to find out their similarities and differences, and finding

some problems that cause difficulties in pronouncing them. In order to find the

similarities and differences, the writer will compare the English and Mandarin

Chinese Speech sounds in terms of meaning and distribution.

D. Benefits of the Study

This study hopefully will give us insights that English Speech sounds and

Mandarin Chinese Speech sounds have some similarities and differences.

By understanding those similarities and differences between English and

Chinese Speech sounds which are revealed by the comparative analysis, we will be

able to apply English and Chinese Speech sounds correctly.

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Finally, the writer hopes that this research will also contribute something

useful to anyone who is interested in conducting further study, and to the existing

discussions on the field alike.

E. Definitions of Terms

The definition of terms is given in the following to narrow down and to lead

the writer to conduct this study :

1. Comparative Study

It may roughly be defined as a sub discipline of linguistics concerning with

the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to

determine both the differences and similarities between them (Jacek Fisiak, 1987).

2. Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of the speech sounds that are utilized by all human

language to represent meanings (Daniel Sahaluta, 1998).

3. Mandarin Chinese/Pŭtōnghuà 普通话

Mandarin Chinese is the standard language spoken by Chinese officials, most

of whom came from Beijing. Standard Mandarin is a formal. Chinese people usually

use Standard Mandarin when they speak to a person who does not understand the

local dialect. The local dialect (be it non standard Mandarin) is generally used among

close family members and friends and in everyday conversation within the local area

(http://www.chineselanguage.org.html).

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter discusses related theories upon which the study is undertaken,

namely theories of English and Mandarin Chinese Phonetics. The writer assumes that

by providing the theories of Phonetics, it will be easier for learners to grasp the core

of English Phonetics. In addition, the writer will also present some theories on

Mandarin Chinese Phonetics. Those theories about Phonetics are taken from some

English and Chinese phonetic books.

A. Definition of Phonetics

Daniel Sahaluta defined Phonetics as the study of the speech sounds that are

utilized by all human language to represent meaning (1998).

According to Peter Ladefoged in his 2nd edition book A Course in Phonetics,

Phonetics is concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in the languages

of the world (1982: 55).

David Crystal defined Phonetics as the study of the production, transmission,

and reception of speech sounds, which consists of three main branches: articulatory,

acoustic and auditory. Articulatory phonetics is the study of how the vocal tract

produces the sounds of language. Articulatory phonetics tries to understand the

nature of language by understanding the nature of the sounds produced by the upper

respiratory tract and how they are produced. Acoustic phonetics is the study of the

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physical properties of the sounds themselves, while Auditory phonetics is the study of

how speech sounds are heard (1987: 131-132).

B. The Classification of English Phonetics

1. Speech Production

Speech production is the process of planning and executing the act of speech

which deals with the propagation of sound through the air. Crystal stated that the air

particles are disturbed through the movements and vibrations of the vocal organs,

especially vocal folds (Crystal, 1987: 132). Vibration plays an important role in the

production of speech.

a. The Air stream Mechanism

It is a method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract (the airway which

is used in the production of speech, especially the passage above the larynx, including

the pharynx, mouth, and nasal).

Clark and Yallop stated that the air stream mechanisms provide the sources of

energy for generating speech sounds, using airflow and pressure in the vocal tract

(1990: 56).

2. Articulation

According to John Ohala and Simpson in the Encyclopedia of Language and

Linguistics. Vol.7, the Articulation phase is the final shaping rise to a sound of a quite

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specific type of manner. Movements of the speech articulators produce slow pressure

changes inside the airways of the vocal tract (lungs, pharynx, oral and nasal cavities)

and when released, these pressure differentials create audible sound (1994: 3058).

a. Organs of Speech

Clark and Yallop defined organs of speech as all parts of human body which

are concerned in various ways with the production of speech (1990: 14).

There are some organs of speech;

i. The lips are anterior termination of the oral cavity and the vocal tract.

ii. The mouth provides considerable plasticity and mobility to show the vocal tract

configurations possible in the articulation of speech (1990: 50). The movements

can be opening and closure, rising and lowering, rounding and spreading the

upper and the lower lips.

iii. Hard Palate is the roof of the mouth directly behind the upper gumridge (the rough

upper ridge gum located directly above and behind the upper front teeth).

iv. Soft Palate is the portion of the roof of the mouth directly behind the hard palate.

It ends at the back portion of the mouth in a small bulb called uvula (Gordon &

Wong, 1961: 9).

v. Tongue Blade is the flat surface of the tongue just behind the tip.

vi. Tongue body/dorsum is the main part of the tongue, lying below the hard and soft

palate. The body, specifically the back part of the body moves to make vowels

and many consonants.

vii.Tongue root is the lowest part of the tongue in the throat

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viii. Pharynx is the cavity situated in the throat immediately behind the mouth.

ix. Larynx forms the upper part of the windpipe passage leading to the lungs.

x. Epiglottis is a sort of the tongue situated just above the larynx.

xi. Vocal cords or folds are the muscles in the larynx (adam’s apple) which vibrate

when one exhales breath from the lungs.

xii. Glottis is the area between the vocal cords.

Figure 1.1. Diagram of Speech Organs taken from Shen (1962: 9) b. Speech Cavity

There are two kinds of cavity where the sound is produced. Those two

cavities are oral and nasal cavities.

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i. Oral Cavity

The oral cavity is the single most important part of the vocal tract in

determining the phonetic qualities of the speech sounds. Its importance rests on the

ability to control the geometry and volume of the cavity by shaping and positioning

the tongue and by moving the lips, jaw and the soft palate.

ii. Nasal Cavity

The passage above the larynx-the part that is behind the velum or the soft

palate, and the cavity in the nose is known as the nasal passage (Shen, 1962: 10). The

sounds are produced when the velum is lowered, the air escapes through the nose as

well as the mouth (Fromkin and Rodman, 1988: 37).

3. The Classification of Sounds

Every speech sound belongs to one or other of the two main classes known as

vowels and consonants (Jones, 1978: 23).

a. Articulation and Description of Vowels

In the Outline of English phonetics, Daniel Jones defined a vowel as “a voiced

sound in forming which the air comes out in a continuous stream through the pharynx

and mouth without obstruction and no narrowing that would cause audible friction.”

(1978: 23).

John Ohala stated that in English, the vowel sounds can be divided into two,

namely monopthongs/simple vowel and dipthongs (1994: 3055).

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i. Monopthong/Simple Vowel

There are 12 Simple Vowels in English, they are:

1 i:-tea 7  �:-are

2 I-sit 8 Λ-up

3 e-pen 9 u:-school

4 æ-sad 10 �-foot

5 з:bird 11   �-war

6 ə-ago 12 �-not

Figure 1.2; Table of English Monopthong taken from John Ohala (1994: 3056)

1) Types of Monopthong

The individual vowels/monopthongs can be classified into four criteria;

a) Tongue Height (the openness of the mouth)

There are three kinds of tongue height in producing vowel sounds, high, mid,

and low. High vowels/close vowels are made with the front of the mouth less open

because the tongue body is raised or high. The high vowels of English are [i, u, I, �]

as in the words leap, loop, lip, look.

Mid vowels are produced with an intermediate tongue height; in English,

these mid vowels include [e, ε, �, ə, Λ, o] as in bait, bet, about, caught, but, boat.

Carolyn Mc. Manis, Deborah Stollenwerk and Zhang Zheng Sheng in the

book titled “Materials for an Introduction to Language” stated that Low vowels or

open vowels are pronounced with the front of the mouth open and lowered. The

English low vowels are [æ, a] as in had and hard (1987: 55).

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b) Tongue Advancement (the position of the tongue in the mouth)

The tongue can be pushed forward or pulled backward within the oral cavity.

There are also three kinds of tongue advancement; front, central, and back. Front

vowels are produced when the body of the tongue is pushed forward just under the

hard palate. They include [i, I, e, ε, æ] (1987: 55).

Central vowels require neither fronting nor retraction of the tongue. They are

ə and Λ.

Back vowels are produced when the body of the tongue is in the back of the

mouth toward the velum. They are [u, �, �, a, o ].

c) Lip Rounding (the shape of the lips)

Vowel quality also depends on lip position. There are two types, rounded and

unrounded. In English, there are four rounded vowels [u, �, �, o].

Unrounded or spread vowels include the front, mid/central vowels, and [a],

the only back vowel.

d) Tenseness (the length of the vowels)

Based on the degrees of muscular tension, vowels are distinguished into two

classes, tense vowels and lax vowels. Tense vowels production requires considerable

muscular tension on the part of the tongue (Jones, 1988: 39).

Lax vowels are produced when the tongue is supposed to be held loosely.

They do not describe accurately the action of the tongue in differentiating certain

vowels (Jones, 1988: 39).

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ii. Diphthong/Gliding Vowels

Diphthong is a compound vowel sound made by pronouncing two vowels

quickly one after the other (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd edition

with New Words Supplement, 2001).

There are 11 diphthongs in English, those diphthongs are: 1 OƱ - note [noƱt] 5 �I- boil [b�Il] 9 Ʊə - tour [tƱə(r)]

2 aІ - buy [baІ] 6 Iə - ear [Iə(r)] 10 aƱ- down [daƱn]

3 eІ - bait [beIt] 7 eə - care [keə(r)] 11 əƱ - coat [kəƱt]

4 uə - actual [ækt∫uəl]

8 iə- peculiar [pIkju:liə]

Figure 1.3; Table of English Diphthong from John Ohala (1994)

Diphthong consists of one syllable. Its duration depends on the process

whether it is performed slowly or quickly.

1) Types of Diphthong

There are two kinds of diphthong; offgliding and ongliding diphthongs.

Ongliding diphthongs occur when the glides come before the nucleus vowels such as

in the word mute [mju:t]. Prator said that the glides involve in English are either [I]

or [u]. The semivowels [y] and [w] are often pronounced as onglides (1960: 31).

Offgliding diphthongs are produced when the glides occur after the nucleus

vowels. Based on the tongue movement, offgliding diphthong can be divided into

three types; fronting, backing, and centering diphthongs. Fronting diphthongs occur

when the glide goes into one of the front vowels, usually [i] or [I], but sometimes [e]

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or [ε], the nucleus vowels may be one of the variety of non-front vowels, including

[Ʊ], [a], [ə], [o], [�] and [Λ]. They are [aI], [eI], [�I], for example in the word “bike”

[baIk] (Prator, 1960: 31). Traditionally in English phonetics, they are produced with a

tongue movement from a mid or low to a high position. They are known as closing

diphthongs i.e. moving to a closer tongue position (Clark & Yallop, 1990: 74).

Backing diphthongs move to the range of [u], [Ʊ], or [o]. There are some

varieties in the combinations that are actually used in English dialects like [a], [æ],

[Λ], [�], [o]. Their sounds are [aƱ], [oƱ], for example in the word “out” [aƱt] (Prator,

1960: 31).

Centering diphthongs occur when the glide goes to a central vowel such as

schwa. They are [εə], [�ə], such as in the word “bare” [bεə] (Prator, 1960: 31-32).

They are produced with a tongue movement from a peripheral to a central position

(Clark & Yallop, 1990: 74).

b. Articulation and Description of Consonants

A consonant is a speech sound which is articulated with constriction or

closure at some points in the mouth.

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There are 25 consonants in English, namely :

1. p-pen /phen/ 11. θ-thin /θIn/ 21. d-dip /dIp/

2. t-top /thop/ 12. ð-this /ðIs/ 22. b-book /bƱk/

3. k-cat /khæt/ 13. m-man /mæn/ 23. j-yet /jet/

4. f-fine /faIn/ 14. n-now /naƱ/ 24. t∫-cheer /t∫Iə(r)/

5. v-very /veri/ 15. ŋ-sing /sIŋ/ 25. x-loch /lDx/

6. s-sea /si:/ 16. g-girl /gIrl/

7. z-zero /zIərəυ/ 17. l-like /laIk/

8. ∫-she /∫i/ 18. r-right /raIt/

9. ʒ-measure /meʒə(r)/ 19. dʒ-judge /ʤΛdʒ/

10. w-wait /weIt/ 20. h-harm /hɑ:m/

Figure 1.4; The list of English Consonant from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd edition with New Words Supplement, Essex: Longman Group.UK.Ltd., 2001.

i. Classification of Consonants

Consonants can be classified into four ways;

1) Manner of Articulation

Manner of Articulation can be defined as the method that the consonant is

articulated.

In terms of manner of articulation, the English consonants can be classified

into some types, they are:

a) Plosive (Stop): This is a sound which is formed by a complete closure of the air

passage, behind which the air pressure builds up and can be released suddenly or

explosively. e.g. p, t, k, b, d, g.

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b) Affricate: It is a sound which is formed by a complete closure at some points in the

mouth, behind which the air pressure builds up, and the separation of the speech

organs is relatively slow so that friction is heard as the second element of the sound.

e.g. t∫ and ʤ.

c) Nasal: It is a sound which is formed by a complete closure at some points in the

mouth, with the soft palate being lowered so that the air is free to pass out through

the nose. e.g. m, n, ŋ.

d) Liquids: It is a sound which is formed by some obstruction of the airstream in the

mouth, but not enough to cause any real constriction or friction. There are two

liquid sounds, the lateral liquid [l] and the retroflex liquid [r].

e) Fricative: It is a sound which is formed by narrowing the air passage to such an

extent that the air in escaping produces audible friction. e.g. f, v, ∫, ʒ, s, z, θ, ð, h.

f) Glides/Semi vowel: It is a voiced gliding sound in which the speech organs start at

or near a close vowel and immediately move away to some other vowel. e.g. w, j

2) Place of Articulation

Place of Articulation is the place of obstruction of air at some points in the

vocal cords.

In terms of place of articulation, the English consonants can be classified into

9 types, they are;

a) Bilabial: It is a sound which is articulated by the two lips e.g. b, p, m, w.

b) Labio-Dental: It is a sound which is articulated by the lower lip against the upper

teeth e.g. f and v.

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c) Dental: It is a sound which is articulated by the tip of the tongue against the upper

teeth. e.g. θ and ð.

d) Alveolar: It is a sound which is articulated by the tip or the blade of the tongue

against the alveolar ridge. e.g. t, d, l, n, s, z, r.

e) Palatal: It is a sound which is articulated by the blade of the tongue against the

alveolar ridge with a rising of the main body of the tongue toward the palate. e.g.

∫,ʒ, t∫,ʤ, j.

f) Velar: It is a sound which is articulated by the back part of the tongue against the

soft-palate. e.g. k, g, ŋ.

g) Glottal: It is a sound which is articulated in the glottis e.g. h.

Figure 1.4.; Diagram of Place of Articulation 3) Vibration of the Vocal Cords

In terms of vibration of the vocal cords, the consonants can be divided into:

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a) Voiceless

A sound is described as Voiceless when the vocal cords do not vibrate during

its articulation. The vocal cords vibrate when they are closed to obstruct the airflow

through the glottis. The consonant sounds which belong to Voiceless are; p, t, k, f, s,

∫,t∫,θ, h.

b) Voiced

A sound is described as Voiced when the vocal cords (folds of muscle located

at the level of the glottis) do vibrate. The consonant sounds which belong to Voiced

are the rest of Voiceless sounds.

4) The Puff of Air

In terms of the puff of air, English consonant can be classified into “aspirated”

and “unaspirated”.

a) Aspirated

The explosion of air during the time that elapse between release of the

articulation and the beginning of vocal band vibration of the following segment.

In English, there are three sounds which belong to aspirated sound, they are [p, t, k].

These sounds are aspirated when they occur at the beginning of words or stressed

syllables. e.g. Pin, Tin, Kill, etc.

18

b) Unaspirated

When we pronounce a sound, the vocal cords start vibrating as soon as the

lips are opened. Usually the unaspirated sounds occur in unstressed syllables. e.g.

Skill, Spit, Skin, etc.

4. Phonetic Transcription

Phonetic Transcription has often been defined as a kind of alphabetic writing

in which each letter represents one sound. e.g. keep [ki:p], cook [kuk], etc. The

function of phonetic transcription is necessary to distinguish between the orthography,

or spelling, of words, and their pronunciation. The most popular Phonetic

transcription is IPA (The International Phonetic Alphabet), which includes modified

Roman letters and diacritics by means of which the sounds of all human languages

can be represented.

Daniel Jones says that Linguists use a phonetic alphabet for the purpose of

recording speech sounds in written or printed form. The alphabet of the International

Phonetic Association (IPA) consists of a large number of symbols which may be

employed to represent the sound of all languages, with modifying marks which are

useful for showing several kinds of differences in articulation of sounds in the speech

of persons speaking in variety of dialects (1888: 18).

19

a. The Classification of English Phonetic Transcription

There are 2 classifications of English phonetic transcription;

i. Broad Transcription

It means that one letter symbol represents one sound. For instance, the symbol

[l] is used for the [1] in words like leaf [li:f], feel [fi:l], children ['�ildrən] and health

[helө].

ii. Narrow Transcription

It means that diacritics are added to the one letter symbol to show the

differences between sounds. For example, the sound [l] in the above mentioned words

differ slightly. The [1] in leaf [li:f] occurring before a vowel is called a clear [1] and

the [1] in feel [fi:l] occurring at the end of a word or before another consonant is

called dark [1]. In narrow transcription, the diacritic [~] is used to indicate that the

sound [l] is a dark. Then in the sound combination [helө] the sound is called a dental

[l] because it is followed by dental [ө].

b. English Phonetic Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letters. The term alphabet refers to a

writing system that has characters for representing both consonant and vowel sounds.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is one of the most popular and well-

known phonetic alphabets.

The symbol from the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA), as used in

phonetic transcription can be seen in the below table

20

Consonant Vowel IPA Words IPA Words

Figure 1.5: Table of English Phonetic Alphabet From Peter Ladefoged (1982: 27).

Symbols representing sounds are put into square brackets. e.g. [b] as in “bird”;

[d] as in “dog”. Other symbols are variations of alphabet letters: e.g. [ŋ] as in “sang”;

[∫] as in “dish” or symbols from Greek alphabet. e.g. [2] as in “this”.

b bad, lab d did, lady f find, if g give, flag h how, hello j yes, yellow k cat, back l leg, little m man, lemon n no, ten ŋ sing, finger p pet, map r red, try s sun, miss ʃ she, crash t tea, getting ʧ check, church θ think, both ð this, mother v voice, five w wet, window z zoo, lazy ʒ pleasure, vision ʤ just, large

Λ cup, luck ɑ: arm, father æ cat, black e met, bed ə away, cinema ɜ: turn, learn I hit, sit i: see, heat Ɗ hot, rock ɔ: call, four u put, could ʊ: blue, food əI five, eye əʊ now, out оʊ go, home eə where, air eI say, eight Iə near, here uə pure, tourist

21

5. Supra-segmental Features

“Supra-segmental” comes from the word “supra” which means parts that up in

the segment. Supra-segmental feature deals with something larger than individual

segments. e.g. syllables or vowels, words, phrases.

There are three elements of Supra-segmental Features, they are:

a. Tone

A tone language is a language that uses the pitch of individual syllable to

contrast meanings. So, differences in pitch usually will cause differences in meaning.

In other words, differences in word meaning are signaled by differences in pitch. An

example of a tone language is Mandarin Language.

English is not a tone language because in English differences in pitch do not

cause differences in meaning.

b. Intonation

In linguistics, intonation is the variation of pitch when speaking. Intonation

and stress are two main elements of linguistics prosody.

Intonation has a function to indicate sentence meaning and signal the attitude

of a speaker. Many languages use pitch syntactically, for instance to change a

statement to a question. Such languages are called intonation languages.

For example, - That red car is expensive, isn’t ` it?

- That red car is expensive, isn’t ´it?

22

The first sentence means agreement that the red car is really expensive, while

the second sentence means doubtful that the expensive thing is that red car not other

car.

English is an intonation language because the pitch is used syntactically to

change a sentence from a statement to question. Besides that, in English it is the pitch

contour of the phrase or sentence that is important. For example, rising and falling.

The differences between rising and falling is its function. “Rising” is used for

question, while “Falling” is used for statement.

c. Stress

Stress is used to produce a syllable with relatively greater length, loudness,

and/or higher pitch in which extra respiratory energy is needed. In languages such as

English, stress may cause difference in syntactic category such as noun or verb. Here

are some examples:

Word - Verb - Noun object - ob'ject - 'object subject - sub'ject - 'subject record - re'cord - 'record digest - di'gest - 'digest abstract - ab'stract - 'abstract segment - seg'ment - 'segment survey - sur'vey - 'survey

In English, stress is important because stress is phonemic (can determine the

meaning of lexical category). For example the word “Import”. If the stress is in the

23

medial position such as im′port, it means verb, while if the stress is in the initial

position such as ′import, it means noun.

In English, one or more syllables in each content word except for little word

like to, the, a, of are stressed. The most highly stress is indicated by an active accent

or primary stress (′), the other stress vowels marked by secondary stress (`). e.g.

re`signátion, phònétic, etc.

C. The Classification of Mandarin Chinese Phonetics

Mandarin Chinese Phonetics can be classified according to the same

principles as used to classify English Phonetics.

Cheung Yuk Man defined Phonetics as the branch of linguistics which deals

with how the different sounds of language are produced. The most important things in

Mandarin Chinese Phonetics are the classification of sounds (Vowel and Consonant),

Supra segmental feature especially tones, and Mandarin phonetic transcription

systems (2001: 18).

There are some forms of Mandarin Chinese Phonetics:

1. Speech Production

Basically, the speech production of Mandarin Chinese is the same as English.

It also contains articulation and speech organs to produce the sounds.

24

2. Articulation

a. Speech Organs

The articulation of sounds and the speech organ in Mandarin Chinese is also

the same as English speech organ.

3. The Classification of Sounds

Mandarin Chinese has two classifications of sounds, they are:

a. Vowels

In Mandarin Chinese, Vowels are usually in the final and medial position

because the former is a consonant. There are 18 vowels which are divided into; 7

simple vowels or Monopthong, 9 Dipthongs, 2 Tripthongs (Vowels which are

followed by the consonant, except “m”), and 14 nasal vowels in Mandarin Chinese.

i. Monopthong/Simple Vowels

The Seven Monopthong/Simple Vowels in Mandarin Chinese are;

1. Λ-mā 妈妈 (mother)

2. ə-chē 车 (vehicle)

3. І-yī 一 (one)

4. o-mÒ 墨 (ink)

5. u-liù 六 (six)

6. i-nü 奴 (female; person)

7. a-năr哪 (where)

25

ii. Dipthong

There are 9 Dipthong Vowels in Mandarin Chinese, they are;

1. ai-găi该 (to change) 6. ua-guā 刮 (wind)

2. ei-běi 北 (north) 7. uo-zuò 坐 (sit)

3. ao-dào 到 (arrive) 8. ou-zŏu走 (walk)

4. Ia-jiā 家 (home) 9. üe-yuè 月 (month)

5. ie-jiĕjiě 姐姐 (elder sister)

iii. Tripthong

Mandarin Chinese only has 2 Tripthongs, they are:

1. iao-jiαo教 (to teach)

2. uai-kuài 快 (fast)

b. Consonants

Mandarin Chinese consists of 14 Consonant sounds, they are:

1. p - piào票 (ticket) 8. ŋ-xiăng响 (sound)

2. m-māma 妈妈 (mother) 9. t∫-qī 七 (seven)

3. f-fàng 放 (to put) 10. s-xiānggăng 香港 (Hongkong)

4. t-dàxué 大学 (university) 11. ∫-shēngrì 生日 (birthday)

5. n-nán 难 (difficult, hard) 12. r-rènshi 认识 (know)

6. l-lăoshī 老师 (teacher) 13. w-wŏ 我 (I, me)

7. k-gēgē 哥哥 (elder brother) 14. h-hē 喝 (drink)

26

i. Classification of Consonants

Consonants can be classified into four ways;

1) Manner of Articulation

Manner of Articulation can be defined as the method that the consonant is

articulated.

In terms of manner of articulation, the Mandarin Chinese consonants can be

classified into 5 types, they are:

a) Plosive (Stop): The airstream is totally blocked in the oral cavity. The Consonant

sounds which belong to stops are p, t, k.

b) Affricate: The Sounds are produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a

slow release of the closure characteristic of a fricative. Mandarin Chinese only

has one affricates sound, that is t∫.

c) Nasals: A complete closure at some point in the mouth, but the soft palate being

lowered the air escape through the nose. In Mandarin Chinese has 3 nasal sounds,

they are m, n, ŋ.

d) Liquids: There is some obstruction of the air stream in the mouth, but not enough

to cause any real friction. Mandarin Chinese has two liquids sounds, they are l & r

e) Fricatives: The air stream is not completely stopped but is obstructed from

flowing freely. There are four sounds which belong to Mandarin Chinese

Fricatives, they are f, s, h, ∫.

f) Glide/semi vowel: a sound which is produced with little obstruction of the air

stream in the mouth. Mandarin Chinese only has one glide sound, that is w.

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2) Place of Articulation

In terms of place of articulation, the Mandarin Chinese consonants can be

classified into 6 types, they are;

a) Bilabial: It is a sound which is articulated by the two lips. e.g. p, m, w.

b) Labio-Dental: The lower lip articulates with the upper teeth. e.g. f

c) Alveolar: A sound which is formed with the tip of the tongue against the bony

ridge behind the upper front teeth. e.g. t, s, n, l, r.

d) Palatal: A sound which is articulated by the back and middle of the tongue close

to or touching the roof of the mouth. e.g. t∫

e) Velar: A sound which is Formed with the back of the tongue close to or touching

the soft part of the roof of the mouth. e.g. k and ŋ.

f) Glottal: A sound which is formed with an obstruction or a narrowing causing

friction but not vibration, between the vocal cords. e.g. h

3) Vibration of the Vocal Cords

In terms of vibration of the vocal cords, the Mandarin Chinese consonants can

be divided into 2 types, they are;

a) Voiceless

A sound is described as Voiceless when the vocal cords do not vibrate during

its articulation. The vocal cords vibrate when they are closed to obstruct the airflow

through the glottis. The consonant sounds which belong to Voiceless are; p, t, k, f, s,

h, ∫, and t∫.

28

b) Voiced

A sound is described as Voiced when the vocal cords (folds of muscle located

at the level of the glottis) do vibrate. The consonant sounds which belong to Voiced

sounds are the rest of voiceless sounds.

4) The Puff of air

In terms of the puff of air, Mandarin Chinese consonants can be classified

into “aspirated” and “unaspirated”.

a) Aspirated

Aspiration means exhalation, a puff of air. It is the explosion of air during the

time that elapses between release of the articulation and the beginning of vocal band

vibration of the following segment. e.g. p, t, k.

b) Unaspirated

It means when we produce the sounds, the exhalation is very little. The

sounds such as p, t, and k which do not occur in the beginning syllable are called as

unaspirated sounds.

4. Phonetic Transcription System

Mandarin Chinese has a system for transliterating Mandarin Chinese with 25

European characters, except "v". This system is called Hànyŭ Pīnyīn.

Hànyŭ Pīnyīn is the visual system of symbolization of the sounds occurring in

spoken human language. It uses a phonetic alphabet (such as the International

Phonetic Alphabet).

29

The phonetic symbols of Putonghua (Standard Chinese) in Modern Chinese

comprises 21 initials that are consonants beginning a syllable, and for the finals, there

are 39 vowels that are followed by nasal consonants. These finals fall into three

categories:

1. Simple finals which have only a single vowel, e.g. a and o.

2. Multi-finals which have two or three vowels, e.g. ai, ua, and iao.

3. Nasal finals which consist of one or two vowels and a nasal consonant, e.g. an,

uan, eng, iong.

a. Chinese Phonetic Alphabet

The list below illustrates the Chinese phonetic alphabet (usually referred to as

"bopomofo"). This alphabet is used to specify the pronunciation of Chinese

characters.

Consonant

p péngyou (friend) m mă (horse) n néng (can;to be able to) f fùqin (father) t tiānqÌ (weather) l làzhú (candle) k kèwén (text) h hé (box) t∫ cháng (long) ∫ shàngwŭ (morning) r rÌ (sun) w wŏ (I, me) s xiānggăng (Hongkong)

30

Vowel

Λ mā (mother) ə chē (vehicle) І yī (one) o mÒ (ink) u liù (six) i nü (female) ai găi (change) əi běi (north) ao dào (arrive) ou zŏu (walk) ia jiā (home) ie jiĕjiě (elder sister) ua guā (wind) uo zuò (sit) üe yuè 月 (month) an fàn (meal) en mèn (melancholy) aŋ bāng (help;assist) eŋ fēng (seal) oŋ dòng (move) ian tiān (sky) iaŋ xiăng (enjoy) iŋ xìng(surname;family

name) ioŋ xiong (chest) uan kuān (wide) uaŋ chuáng (bed) in nÍn(you)

üan yüan (distant; far) ün yŭn (allow;permit) iao jiαo (to teach) uai kuài (fast)

Figure 1.7. Table of Mandarin Chinese Phonetic Alphabet taken from Zay Wu (2000: 54)

31

5. Supra-segmental Feature (Prosody)

a. Tone

Mandarin Chinese is known as a tonal language because Tone is very

important. Tone can change the meaning of words. There are four basic tones in

Putonghua (Standard Mandarin) as shown by the following tone marks, the first tone

is (¯), second tone (˝), the third tone (˘) and the fourth tone (`). When a syllable is

pronounced in different tones, it has different meanings.

Figure 1.3: Diagram of Mandarin Chinese Tones

To get more understanding about Chinese Tone, the writer presents some

example of four tones, they are:

1. ā: a neutral tone. It is a high, even and constant tone. e.g. mā (Mother).

2. á : This is a rising tone that grows stronger. e.g. má (Hemp)

3. ǎ : first falling and then rising (like a dipthong). e.g. mǎ (Horse)

4. à : a falling tone.This is a quickly falling and fading tone. e.g. mà (What)

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In languages such as Mandarin, the pronunciation of two words may be the

same except the pitch difference. For example, [ma] pronounced with a high-level

tone means "mother", and with a low-mid to mid rising tone means "a horse".

b. Intonation and Stress

Basically, Mandarin Chinese does not have Intonation and Stress such as

word stress, phrase and sentence stress. In Mandarin Chinese, the Intonation is only

as the expanding of Tone language. In other words, the function of Intonation is same

as Tone. Besides that, there is no Stress in Mandarin Chinese because Stress is not

important. It does not distinguish the meaning of word and sentence (Zay Wu, 2000:

56).

33

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is English and Mandarin Chinese Phonetics books.

This study deals with a study of two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese.

These two languages are discussed with a comparative analysis, which examines the

speech sounds of two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese.

b. Approach of the Study

Since this study analyzes the differences between English and Mandarin

Chinese Speech sounds, it is obvious that this study will use the approach of

Phonetics of English and Mandarin Chinese language.

c. Method of the Study

The writer applied library research to analyze or to answer two problem

formulations. The first step the writer did was collecting data and references from the

library. It was done in order to find and collect data from many books, especially

phonetics books. In gathering the description of English and Mandarin Chinese

Phonetics, the writer made as simple and complete as possible so they could cover

everything about the English and Mandarin Chinese Speech sounds. Then the writer

34

read those English and Mandarin Chinese phonetics books and also all the references

to get better understanding.

Next the writer found the similarities and differences of the English and

Mandarin Chinese speech sounds from Linguistics books, especially Phonetics books

because the research method used in this study was Comparative analysis which aims

were to find the similarities and differences between two languages. It was done to

answer the first problem formulation.

After that the writer found some problems which caused the difficulties in

pronouncing the English words for Chinese people. This was done in order to answer

the second problem formulation.

The first step had been completed in chapter II. The chapter (IV) was about

the actual comparison and notes about the difficulties for Chinese people in

pronouncing English words. Then, the next chapter (V) was about conclusion of this

thesis.

35

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

We know that each country has its own language with its uniqueness which

can be the characteristic of the country. Every language has differences and

similarities with other languages. It can be showed by the system of communication

such as how people produce the sound of speech. We can see that every people

produces the speech sound by using the organ of speech, it shows that there is one of

the similarities between one language to another languages.

This chapter covers findings and the discussion that are related to the study in

order to answer the two problems in chapter I. The first part deals with the

comparison between the English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. This kind of

comparison is chosen because it will facilitate us to see some similarities and

differences between the English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds. The second

part deals with the discussion about the problems that cause difficulties in

pronouncing the English words for Chinese people.

A. The Similarities and Differences between English and Mandarin Chinese

Speech Sounds

1. The Similarities between English and Mandarin Chinese Speech Sounds

First of all, the similarity between English and Mandarin Chinese can be seen

from the concept of phonetics that it is the study of the speech sounds that are

utilized by all human language to represent meaning.

36

a. Speech Production

Basically, both English and Mandarin Chinese are similar on the contain of

speech production, especially on the articulation and speech organs which are used to

produce the sounds.

b. Articulation

English and Mandarin Chinese have similar articulation because the system

or the way of producing the sounds are same that the process of the movements of the

speech articulators produce slow pressure which changes inside the airways of the

vocal tract (lungs, pharynx, oral and nasal cavities) and when they are released, these

pressure differentials create audible sound.

c. The Classification of Sounds

There are some similarities between English and Mandarin Chinese based on

the classification of sounds. The first one is about the classification of sounds. Both

of languages, English and Mandarin Chinese have two classifications of sound, they

are Vowel and Consonant. The articulation of those sounds also same.

i. Articulation and Description of Vowels

Both languages define a vowel as a voiced sound that is made without

stopping of the breath by the tongue, lips, etc.

Both English and Mandarin Chinese have the same classification of vowel,

namely Monopthong and Dipthong.

37

1) Monopthong/Simple vowel

There are some sounds which are similar one to the other such as I and i:

The articulation of I and i: are the same that they are articulated by the

opening of narrow mouth. The tongue raised and pushed forward towards the position

naturally against the lower teeth. The lips spread to the two sides into a flat position.

2) Dipthong

English and Mandarin Chinese are similar in the total of Dipthong sounds.

Both languages consist of 9 dipthongs. Besides that, English and Mandarin Chinese

also have some similarities about Dipthong sounds, they are əI and eI. Moreover,

both languages have a similarity on the position of vowel sounds. In English and

Mandarin Chinese, the vowel sounds can be put in the medial and final position as in

the following examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

In the medial position 1. job → ʤob xÌng姓 → surname; family name

2. dog → dDg kuān宽 → wide

3. wall → wɔ:l fēng封 → seal

In the final position 1. who → hu: hē喝 → drink

2. coffee → kDfI zŏu走 → walk

3. why → waI guā刮 → scrape

38

ii. Articulation and Description of Consonants

Both languages have a similarity on the position of the consonant, that is the

consonant sounds can be put in the initial and final position as in the following

examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

initial position are 1. Tea /thi:/ tàidù态度 (attitude)

2. Coffee /kDfi/ kàn看 (see)

3. Too /tu:/ tiānqÌ天气 (weather)

Final position 1. eat /i:t/ yān /ian/烟 (cigarette)

2. ink /iŋk/

3. inventor /in’ventə(r)/

Moreover, English and Mandarin Chinese have a similarity on the total of

Consonant sounds. There are 14 Consonant sounds which are similar between

English and Mandarin Chinese. The similar consonant sounds are p, t, k, f, s, ∫, t∫, m,

n, ŋ, l, r, w, and h as in the following examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

1. p → spit /spIt/ p → piao / phiào/ 票 (ticket)

39

2. t → top /thop/ t → téng /théŋ/ 疼 (pain/

3. k → skin /skIn/ k → kèbĕn /khepen/课本 (textbook/

4. f → fine /faIn/ f → fàng /faŋ/放 (put)

5. s → sea /sI:/ s → xiāng /siaŋ/乡 (country side)

6. ∫ → she /∫i:/ ∫ → shēngrÌ /∫eŋre/ 生日 (birthday)

7. t∫ → church /t∫з:t∫/ t∫ → qī /t∫ī/七 (seven)

8. m → milk /mIlk/ m → māma /mama/妈妈 (mother)

9. n → name /neIm/ n → nán /nan/难 (difficult)

10. ŋ → sing /sIŋ/ ŋ → táng /taŋ/糖 (candy)

11. l → little /lItl/ l → lăoshī /laise/老师 (teacher)

12. r → rabbit /ræbIt/ r → rènshi /rense/认识 (know)

13. w → wait /weIt/ w → wŏ /wo/我 (I)

14. h → heal /hi:l/ h → hē /he/喝 (drink)

40

1) Classification of Consonants

Both English and Mandarin Chinese have same classification of Consonant.

There are four classifications of Consonant, namely; Manner of Articulation, Place of

Articulation, Vibration of the vocal cords, and the puff of air.

a) Manner of Articulation

The similarities on the Manner of Articulation between English and Mandarin

Chinese are about the types or classification of Consonant sounds based on Manner

of Articulation, the articulation and the sound itself.

Based on Manner of Articulation, both English and Mandarin Chinese consist

of five types of consonant sounds which are similar, they are plosive, affricate, nasal,

lateral, and fricative.

i) Plosive (Stop)

Both English and Mandarin Chinese articulate the consonant sounds by a

complete closure of the air passage, behind which the air pressure builds up and can

be released suddenly or explosively. English and Mandarin Chinese consist of the

same consonant sounds, they are p, t, and k.

ii) Affricate

Both English and Mandarin Chinese define affricate as the method of

producing sounds which are formed by a complete closure at some points in the

mouth, behind which the air pressure builds up, and the separation of the speech

organs is relatively slow so that friction is heard as the second element of the sound.

41

English has a similar sound with Mandarin Chinese, that is t∫, as in the following

example.

t∫ → chair (English)

qī means eight (Mandarin Chinese)

iii) Nasal

English and Mandarin Chinese have similar articulation, the total of nasal

sounds, and the sound itself.

Both English and Mandarin Chinese define nasal consonant sound as a sound

which is articulated by a complete closure at some points in the mouth, with the soft

palate which is being lowered so that the air is free to pass out through the nose.

Besides that, English and Mandarin Chinese have a similarity on the total of

nasal sounds. They are three nasal consonant sounds; m, n, and ŋ.

For the position of those sounds, there are some similarities between English

and Mandarin Chinese, for example the nasal sounds such as m and ŋ can be placed

in the initial and in the final position. Moreover, both languages have a similarity on

the sound “ŋ”, that ŋ sound never occur in the initial position. It always occurs in the

final position.

iv) Lateral

Both languages, English and Mandarin Chinese have a similarity about lateral

sound such as the articulation of sound, the total of lateral sound, and the sound itself.

42

English and Mandarin Chinese define lateral as a sound which is articulated

by a partial closure in the mouth where the airstream is being allowed to escape on

one or both sides of the contact. Both two languages have one lateral sound, that is l.

For examples; l → like (English)

→ lǎoshī means a teacher (Mandarin Chinese)

v) Fricative

The similarities between English and Mandarin Chinese can be seen from the

definition, articulation, and the sound itself. Both English and Mandarin Chinese have

defined fricative as a sound which is formed by narrowing the air passage to such an

extent that the air in escaping produces audible friction. Besides that, English and

Mandarin Chinese have three similar fricative consonant sounds, they are f, s, and h.

For example : f → fine (English)

fàng (Mandarin Chinese)

s → sea (English)

shēngrÌ (Mandarin Chinese)

h → heal (English)

→ hē means to drink (Mandarin Chinese)

b) Place of Articulation

There are some similarities between English and Mandarin Chinese based on

the place of Articulation. The first similarity is about the concept of the place of

articulation. Both languages define the place of articulation as the place where in the

43

vocal tract the airflow restriction occurs. Here, different consonantal sounds are

resulted because the movement of the tongue and lips called the articulators cause the

restriction, reshaping the oral cavity in various ways to produce the various

consonants.

The second similarity is about the classification of the consonant sounds

based on the place of articulation. Both languages have six classifications of

consonant sounds which are similar. They are Bilabial, Labio-dental, Alveolar,

Palato-Alveolar, Velar, and Glottal.

i) Bilabials

Both languages, English and Mandarin Chinese have same concept about

Bilabial sound that is a sound which is articulated by the two lips. The same

consonant sounds of English and Mandarin Chinese are p and m, as in the following

examples:

p → put (English)

→ bāba means father (Mandarin Chinese)

m → mother (English)

→ māma means mother (Mandarin Chinese)

ii) Labio-Dentals

Both English and Mandarin Chinese define Labio-dental as a sound which is

articulated by the lower lip against the upper teeth. Moreover, English and Mandarin

Chinese have one labio-dental sound which is similar, that is f.

For example: f → fun (English)

44

→ fēijī means aircraft, aeroplane) (Mandarin Chinese)

iii) Alveolars

Both English and Mandarin Chinese have the same concept about Alveolar

consonant, articulation of Alveolar sounds and five alveolar consonant sounds.

Alveolar sounds are the sounds which are articulated by raising the front part of the

tongue to the alveolar ridge. The five alveolar consonant sounds which are similar

between English and Mandarin Chinese are t, d, l, n, s, and r.

iv) Palatals

English and Mandarin Chinese have same articulation of consonant sounds

based on Palatal that the palatal sounds are produced by the blade of the tongue

against the alveolar ridge with a raising of the main body of the tongue toward the

palate.

Both languages consist of one sound which is similar. The similar palatal

consonant sound between English and Mandarin Chinese is t∫.

v) Velars

The similarities of velar consonant sounds in English and Mandarin Chinese

are the articulation of sounds and the sound itself. Both languages define velar

consonant sounds as the sounds which are produced by raising the back of the tongue

to the soft palate or velum. There is only one similar sound in English and Mandarin

Chinese, the sound is k such as in word;

k → kite (English)

→ gē means Song (Mandarin Chinese)

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vi) Glottal

The similarities on Glottal consonant sound in English and Mandarin Chinese

can be seen from the articulation of glottal consonant sounds, the total of sound, and

the sound itself. Those two languages define glottal as a sound which is articulated in

the glottis. Both of two languages have one glottal consonant sound, that is h such as

in word; h→ horse (English)

→ hē means to drink (Mandarin Chinese)

c) Vibration of the vocal cords

In terms of vibration of the vocal cords, English and Mandarin Chinese are

similar in the classification and the articulation of consonant sounds. Both languages

consist of two classifications of consonant sounds based on the vibration of the vocal

cords, they are voiceless and voiced consonant sounds.

i) Voiceless

English and Mandarin Chinese define voiceless as a sound which is resulted

when the vocal cords do not vibrate during its articulation, but they vibrate when they

are closed to obstruct the airflow through the glottis. There are seven voiceless

consonant sounds which are similar between English and Mandarin Chinese, they are

p, t, k, f, s, t∫, and h.

ii) Voiced

One of the similarities between English and Mandarin Chinese phonetic can

be seen from the articulation of voiced consonant sounds. Those two languages

describe a sound as a voiced when the vocal cords (folds of muscle located at the

46

level of the glottis) do vibrate. The voiced sounds which are similar in English and

Mandarin Chinese include m, n, l, and r.

d) The puff of air

Both English and Mandarin Chinese consist of two classifications of

consonant sounds based on the puff of air, they are Aspirated and non aspirated

consonant sounds.

i) Aspirated

Those two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese have defined aspirated

sounds as the sounds which are produced when the explosion of air during the time

that elapse between release of the articulation and the beginning of vocal band

vibration of the following segment. There are three similar aspirated consonant

sounds in English and Mandarin Chinese. The three sounds are p, t, and k. Besides

that, those two languages indicate aspirated consonant sounds by writing the phonetic

symbol with a raised h, as in the following examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

Ph → pate ph → péngyou /phengyou/ 朋友 (friend)

th→ tale th→ tiānqÌ /thiant∫i/ 天气 (weather)

kh → kale kh → kèwén /khewen/课文 (text)

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ii) Non aspirated

English and Mandarin Chinese define non aspirated consonant sounds as the

sounds which are produced when the exhalation is very little. Here, the vocal cords

start vibrating as soon as the lips are opened.

The similar consonant sounds based on the non aspirated are the rest of the

aspirated consonant sounds.

d. Phonetic Transcription

The similarity about phonetic transcription between English and Mandarin

Chinese is that both languages have a system to transliterating sounds and phonetic

Alphabet which is used to represent both consonant and vowel sounds.

Besides that, the phonetic symbols which represent the sounds are put into the

square brackets. For examples in English, the sound [b] as in word “bird”, and in

Mandarin Chinese, the sound such [h] as in word “hē” means to drink.

e. Supra-segmental Features

Both English and Mandarin Chinese have three elements of supra-segmental

features, they are Tone, Intonation, and Stress.

The similarity on the Tone, Intonation, and Stress between English and

Mandarin Chinese is only in the concept that Tone language which uses the pitch of

individual syllable is used to contrast the meaning. Besides that, both languages

describe the Intonation which is the variation of pitch used to indicate the sentence

48

meaning and to signal the attitude of the speaker, while the stress is used to produce a

syllable with relatively greater length, loudness, and higher pitch in which extra

respiratory energy is needed.

2. The Differences between English and Mandarin Chinese Speech Sounds

a. The Classification of Sounds

Although English and Mandarin Chinese have two classifications of sounds,

namely Vowel and Consonant, both languages have differences on the classification

of vowels and consonants. The explanation about those differences are described

below.

i. Vowels

The first difference between English and Mandarin Chinese can be seen from

the classification of vowel sounds. The difference is about the total classification of

vowel sounds. As the writer has explained before that English has 23 vowels which

are divided into two classifications of vowel sounds, while Mandarin Chinese

consists of 18 vowel sounds which are divided into three classifications of vowel. The

21 English vowel sounds are divided into 12 Monopthong/simple vowels and 11

Dipthongs. The 18 Mandarin Chinese vowels are divided into 7 Monopthong/simple

vowels, 9 Dipthongs, and 2 Tripthongs.

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1) Monopthong

English Monopthong/Simple vowels are:

1 i:-tea 7 �:-are

2 I-sit 8 Λ-up

3 e-pen 9 u:-school

4 æ-sad 10 �-foot

5 з:bird 11    �: -war

6 ə-ago 12 �-not

Mandarin Chinese Monopthong/Simple vowels are:

1 Λ-māma 妈妈 (mother) 2 ə-chē 车 (vehicle) 3 І-yī 一 (one) 4 o -mÒ 墨 (ink)

5 u-liù 六(six) 6 i-nü 奴(female; person) 7 a-năr哪 (where)

From the data above, we can see the differences between English and

Mandarin Chinese based on the production of vowel sounds, they are:

50

a) Tongue Height

i) High vowels

Those two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese have differences on the

total of sounds and the sound itself. English has four high vowel sounds, they are i, u,

I, and υ, while Mandarin Chinese only has three high vowel sounds, they are i, I, and

u because Mandarin Chinese does not have vowel sound υ such in the following

examples;

English Mandarin Chinese

i: → Leap /li:p/, deep /di:p/ i → nü (female)

u: → Loop /lu:p/, book /bu:k/ I → yī (one)

I → Lip /lIp/ u → liÙ (Six)

�: → Look /l�:k/ —

ii) Mid vowels

In English, the mid vowels include [e, ə, כ, Λ, o,] while in Mandarin Chinese,

there are only three mid vowel sounds, they are [ə, Λ, o] such in the following

examples;

English Mandarin Chinese

e → bait /beIt/ —

ə → about /əbaυt/ ə → chē (vehicle)

� → caught /k�:t/ —

Λ → but /bΛt/ Λ → mā妈妈 (mother)

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O → boat /bəυt/ O → mÒ 墨 (ink)

iii) Low vowels

English low vowels include [æ, a], while Mandarin Chinese only has one low

vowel that is [a] such in the following examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

æ → Had /hæd/ —

a� → now /na� a → năr (where)

b) Tongue Advancement

i) Front vowels

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese is on the total of

sounds. English consists of four front vowel sounds, they are i, I, e, æ, while

Mandarin Chinese only consists of two front vowel sounds, they are i and I.

ii) Back vowels

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese is on the total of Back

vowel sounds. English has five back vowel sounds, they are u, �, �, a, o, while

Mandarin Chinese only has three back vowel sounds, they are u, a, and o.

iii) Lip Rounding

English consists of four rounded vowel sounds, they are [u, �, �, o], while

Mandarin Chinese consists of two rounded vowel sounds, they are u and o.

iv) Tenseness

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English consists of five tense vowels (longer in duration), while Mandarin

Chinese has no tense vowel sounds. All Mandarin Chinese vowel sounds are lax

vowel.

English tense vowel sounds are:

i: → tea /ti:/

�: → harm /h�:m/

�: → bore /b�: (r)/

u: → zoo /zu:/

з: → sir /sз:(r)/

English Lax vowels (shorter in duration) include;

I → bit /bIt/ æ → cat /kæt/

u → actually /ækt∫uəl/ Λ → but /bΛt/

� → put /p�t/ ə → about

/əba�t/

e → bed /bed/ i → happy /hæpi/

Mandarin Chinese lax vowels include all the simple vowel/monopthong

sounds because the vowel sounds are generally produced with normal tension of the

tongue muscles, and they are shorter in duration.

2) Dipthong

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese on the dipthong

sounds can be seen from the total of different dipthong sounds. There are 11 English

53

dipthong sounds that Mandarin does not have. The eleven different dipthong vowel

sounds are:

1 o� - note [no�t] 5 �I - boil [b�Il] 9 �ə - tour [t�ə(r)]

2 aІ - buy [baІ] 6 Iə - ear [Iə(r)] 10 a� - down [da�n]

3 eІ - bait [beIt] 7 eə - care [keə(r)] 11 ə� - coat [kə�t]

4 uə - actual

[ækt∫uəl]

8 iə- peculiar [pIkju:liə]

Besides that, English has the classifications of Dipthongs, they are: Offgliding

and Ongliding, while Mandarin Chinese does not have classification of Dipthong

sounds. English offgliding dipthongs can be seen in some words, such as:

1. bout [bəwt] → vowel [ə] is followed by the glide [w] resulting dipthong

[əw]

2. boy [bכj] → vowel [�] is followed by the glide [j] resulting dipthong [�j]

English ongliding dipthongs can be seen in the same words, such as:

1. mute [mju:t]

2. nutrient [nju:triənt]

3. music [mju:zIk]

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3) Tripthong

Besides the differences in Monopthong and Dipthong, another differences of

those two languages can be seen in another types of vowel, that is Tripthong.

English has no Tripthong vowel sounds, while Mandarin Chinese has two

Tripthongs, they are iəo and uəi.

For examples: iəo - jiəo (to teach)

uəi - kuài (fast)

Below is the diagram of English and Mandarin Chinese Vowel;

The Diagram of English Vowel

Front Central Back High Mid-High

i (meet) I (mitt)

u (who) � (hood)

Mid-Low e (bait) ε (met)

ə (above) Λ (butt)

o (boat)       � (bore)

Low

æ (bat) a (bomb)

The Diagram of Mandarin Chinese Vowel

Front Central Back High Mid-High

i (nü) = female I (yī) = one

u (liù) = six

Mid-Low ə (che) = vehicle Λ (māma) = mother

o (mò) = ink

Low a (năr) = where Moreover, the difference between English and Mandarin Chinese can be seen

from the position of vowel sounds. Here, the position of English vowel sounds can be

55

placed in the initial, medial, and final position, while in Mandarin Chinese, the vowel

sounds are placed only in the medial and final position. Mandarin Chinese vowel

sounds never occur in the initial position such in the following examples:

English Mandarin Chinese

In the initial position ago /ə’gə�/ ―

In the medial position base /beIs/ yÒng用 (to use)

In the final position key /ki:/ lè仂 (surplus)

ii. Consonant

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese on the consonant can

be seen from the total of consonant sounds.

English consists of 25 consonants, they are:

1. p-pen /phen/ 14. θ-thin /θIn/

2. t-top /thop/ 15. ð-this /ðIs/

3. k-cat /khæt/ 16. m-man /mæn/

4. f-fine /faIn/ 17. n-now /na�/

5. v-very /veri/ 18. ŋ-sing /sIŋ/

6. s-sea /si:/ 19. g-girl /gIrl/

7. z-zero /zIərə�/ 20. l-like /laIk/

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8. �-she /∫i/ 21. r-right /raIt/

9. ʒ-measure /meʒə(r)/ 22. �-judge /�Λ�/

10. w-wait /weIt/ 23. h-harm /h�:m/

11. d-dip /dIp/ 24. b-book /b�k/

12. j-yet /jet/ 25. x-loch /lDx/

13. t∫-cheer /t∫Iə(r)/

Mandarin Chinese consists of 15 consonants, they are:

1. p - piào票 (ticket) 9. č-cÍ 雌 (a female)

2. m-māma 妈妈 (mother) 10. t∫-qī 七 (seven)

3. f-fàng 放 (to put) 11. s-xiānggăng 香港 (Hongkong)

4. t-dàxué 大学 (University) 12. ∫-shēngrì 生日 (birthday)

5. n-nán 难 (difficult, hard) 13. r-rènshi 认识 (know)

6. l-lăoshī 老师 (teacher) 14. w-wŏ 我 (I, me)

7. k-gēgē 哥哥 (elder brother) 15. h-hē 喝 (drink)

8. ŋ-xiăng响 (sound)

From the data above, we can see that Mandarin Chinese does not have

consonant sounds such as b, v, z, ʒ, �, θ, ð, g, x, j and d. Besides that, in Mandarin

Chinese a consonant sound can represent two consonant sounds, such in the

following examples;

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1. The letter “b” is read as sound [p] such in word bāba爸爸 (father)

becomes “papa” (father).

2. The letter “g” is read as sound [k] such in word gēgē 哥哥 (elder

brother) becomes “keke”.

3. The letter “z” is read as sound [č] such in word zhōngguó 中国

(China).

1) The Classification of Consonants

Consonant is classified into 4 classifications, they are; Manner of Articulation,

Place of Articulation, Vibration of the vocal cords, and the puff of air. Although the

total of the classification of consonant is similar, but the total of consonant sound

based on the types of consonants differ each other. Here, the writer will describe the

classifications of consonants one by one.

a) Manner of Articulation

In terms of manner of articulation, the English consonants can be classified

into six types, while in Mandarin Chinese the consonants are classified into five types.

Besides that, the differences between English and Mandarin Chinese based on

Manner of Articulation can be seen from the total of sounds.

The classification of consonant sounds based on Manner of Articulation are:

i) Plosive (Stop)

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The differences between English and Mandarin Chinese is on the total of

Plosive (stop) consonant sounds. English consists of 6 plosive consonant sounds,

while Mandarin Chinese consists of 3 plosive consonant sounds. English plosive

consonant sounds are p, t, k, b,d, g. such as in words:

p → pet /pet/

t → tale /teIl/

k → came /keIm/

b → bet /bet/

d → dale /deIl/

g → game /geIm/

Mandarin plosive consonant sounds are p, t, and k such as in words;

p → piào票 (ticket)

t → téng 疼 (pain)

k → kèběn 课本 (textbook)

ii) Affricate

For the Affricate consonant sounds, English consists of two affricate sounds,

they are t∫ and dз, while Mandarin Chinese consists of one affricate consonant sound,

that is t∫. The examples of two English affricate consonant sounds are;

t∫ → choke / t∫o�k/

� → joke / �o�k/

59

The example of Mandarin Chinese affricate consonant sound is;

t∫ → chángchéng 长城 (The Great wall)

iii) Nasal

In terms of Nasal consonant sounds, both English and Mandarin Chinese do

not have differences on the total of nasal consonant sounds because those two

languages consist of three nasal consonant sounds, they are m, n, ŋ such as in words;

English

m → meat /mi:t/

n → neat /ni:t/

ŋ → sing /siŋ/

Mandarin Chinese

m→ 买 măi (to buy)

n→ 年纪 niánjÌ (age)

ŋ→ 高兴 gāoxÌng (happy)

The differences between English and Mandarin Chinese based on Nasal

consonant sounds can be seen from the distribution of each sound. For example, in

English all nasals can be stated in the final position such as in the words below

m → boom

n → bone

ŋ → bang

60

In Mandarin Chinese, there are only two nasal consonant sounds that can be

stated in the final position. They are n and ŋ. For examples;

n → nán 难 (difficult, hard)

ŋ → liύxuéshēng留学生 ( foreign student)

iv) Liquids

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese Liquid consonant

sounds is that all English liquid consonant sounds can be placed in the final position,

while Mandarin Chinese only consists of one liquid consonant sound which can be

placed in the final position, that is /r/. The liquid consonant sound /l/ never occurs in

the final position of word in Mandarin Chinese.

v) Fricatives

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese fricative consonant

sounds can be seen from the total of sound itself. English has more fricative

consonant sounds than Mandarin Chinese. English has nine fricative sounds, they are

f, v, ∫, ʒ, s, z, θ, ð, h such as in words;

f → fine /fəIn/

v → vine /vəIn/

∫ → mesher /me∫ə/

ʒ → measure /meʒə/

s → seal /si:l/

z → zeal /zi:l/

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θ → thick /θIk/

ð → this /ðIs/

h → hot /hot/

Mandarin Chinese only consists of three fricative consonant sounds, they are f,

s, and h such as in words;

f → f-fàng 放 (to put)

s → sh-shēngrì 生日 (birthday)

h → h-hē 喝 (drink)

vi) Glides/Semi vowels

The differences on Glides or Semi vowels between English and Mandarin

Chinese also can be seen from the total of sound itself. Here, English consists of two

Glides sounds, they are w and j such as in words;

w → woo /wu/

j → you /ju/

Mandarin Chinese only consists of one glide/semi vowel sound, that is w such

in the following example:

w → wŏmen我们 (we)

b) Place of Articulation

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Here, the differences between English and Mandarin Chinese can be seen

from the total of sounds based on the Place of articulation. English has 7

classifications of consonant sounds, while Mandarin Chinese only consists of 6

classifications of consonant sounds.

The classification of Consonant sounds based on the Place of Articulation are:

i) Bilabial

English consists of four bilabial consonant sounds, they are; p, b, m, w, while

Mandarin Chinese only consists of three bilabial consonant sounds, they are p, m and

w.

ii) Labio-Dental

English has two Labio-dental consonant sounds, they are f and v, while

Mandarin Chinese consists of one Labio-dental consonant sound, that is f.

iii) Dental

English consists of two Dental consonant sounds, they are θ and ð, while

Mandarin Chinese does not have Dental consonant sound.

iv) Alveolar

English consists of seven Alveolar consonant sounds, they are t, d, l, n, s, z, r,

while Mandarin Chinese only consists of five Alveolar consonant sounds, they are t,

l, n, s, and r.

v) Palatal

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English has five Palatal consonant sounds, they are ∫, ʒ, t∫, �, j, while

Mandarin Chinese only consists of two Palatal consonant sounds, the two palatal

consonant sounds are ∫ and t∫.

vi) Velar

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese velar consonant

sounds can be seen from the total of the sounds. English consists of three velar

consonant sounds, they are k, g, ŋ, while Mandarin Chinese consists of two velar

consonant sounds, they are k and ŋ.

vii) Glottal

There is no difference between English and Mandarin Chinese glottal

consonant sounds.

c) Vibration of the Vocal Cords

i) Voiceless

The English consonant sounds which belong to voiceless are p, t, k, f, s, ∫, t∫,

Ө, and h while Mandarin Chinese consonant sounds which belong to voiceless are p, t,

k, f, s, h, ∫, and t∫. Here, the difference between English and Mandarin Chinese can be

shown from the total of voiceless consonant sounds. English consists of nine

voiceless sounds, while Mandarin Chinese consists of eight voiceless sounds. The

difference voiceless sounds are Ө because Mandarin Chinese does not have such

sound.

ii) Voiced

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The English consonant sounds which belong to voiced are the rest of

consonant voiceless sounds. In other words, English has so many voiced sounds than

Mandarin Chinese because Mandarin Chinese only consists of seven consonant

voiced sounds, they are m, n, l, and r, w, č, and ŋ.

d) The Puff of air

i) Aspirated

The differences between English and Mandarin Chinese aspirated consonant

sounds can be seen from the condition or requirements of aspiration occur. In English,

there are two requirements of aspiration occur. The first requirement is the phoneme

such as /p/, /t/, and /k/ have to occur in the initial position. For examples; /phill/, /phIn/,

/then/, /khi:n/. Another requirements is that those three English phonemes have to

occur in the initial stress position. For examples; impossible

/Im’phDsIbəl/, applaud /ə’phl�:d/, Impose /Im’phə�z/. In Mandarin Chinese, there is

only one requirement of aspiration occur. The requirement is that the phoneme such

as /p/, /t/, and /k/ have to occur in the initial position.

ii) Unaspirated

The main difference between English and Mandarin Chinese is the position or

the occurrence of unaspirated consonant sounds. In English, the unaspirated sounds

occur in unstressed syllables, while in Mandarin Chinese, the unaspirated consonant

sounds occur when the sounds such as t, k, and p represent another sounds. For

65

example the sound [t] represents the letter d, such in word dàxué is read /tasue/. The

[t] sound here is not aspirated.

Besides that, the difference between English and Mandarin Chinese can be

seen from the total of unstressed consonant sounds. In English, there are so many

unaspirated consonant sounds because the rests of English aspirated sounds are

English unaspirated sounds, while in Mandarin Chinese, there are only some

unaspirated consonant sounds. The sounds such as m, f, n, l, h, and r are categorized

as Mandarin Chinese unaspirated sounds.

Below is the diagram of English and Mandarin Chinese Consonant

The Diagram of English Consonant

Bilabial Labio-dental

Dental Alveolar Alveo-palatal

Velar Glottal

Voiceless stop

p

t

k

Voiced stop

b

d

g

Voiceless affricate

t∫

Voiced affricate

�

Voiceless fricative

f

θ

s

∫

h

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Voiced fricative

v

ð

z

ʒ

Lateral l

Nasal m n ŋ

Semi-vowel w r j

The Diagram of Mandarin Chinese Consonant

Bilabial

Labio-dental

Dental Alveolar Alveo-palatal

Velar Glottal

Voiceless stop

p

t

k

Voiced stop

Voiceless affricate

t∫

Voiced affricate

Voiceless fricative

f

s

∫

h

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Voiced fricative

Lateral

l

Nasal

m n ŋ

Semi-vowel

w r

b. Phonetic Transcription

The first difference between English and Mandarin Chinese on phonetic

transcription can be seen from the system of alphabetic writing in which each letter

represents one sound. Here, English has phonetic transcription which is called as IPA

(International Phonetic Association). English IPA consists of a large number of

symbols, while in Mandarin Chinese, the system of alphabetic writing is called as

Hànyύ Pīnyīn. It is a system for transliterating Mandarin Chinese letters with 25

European characters, except “v”. Hànyύ Pīnyīn is based on Putonghua (Standard

Chinese) which comprises 15 initials that are consonants beginning a syllable, and for

the finals, there are 31 vowels that are followed by nasal consonants. There are three

categories for final sounds, they are :

1. Simple finals which only have a single vowel. For example ə and o.

2. Multi-finals which have two or three vowels such as əI, uə, iəo.

3. Nasal finals which consist of one or two vowels and nasal consonants, for

example; ən, uən, eng, and long.

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4. The second difference is about the classification of Phonetic transcription. In

English, there are two classifications of phonetic transcription; Broad

Transcription and Narrow Transcription, while in Mandarin Chinese, there is

no classification of phonetic transcription.

i. Phonetic Alphabet

One of the differences between English and Mandarin Chinese is the Phonetic

alphabet. The differences on the phonetic alphabet can be seen from the total of

phonetic Alphabet. English consists of 45 symbols from the International Phonetic

Alphabet (IPA) as used in phonetic transcription. Those 45 symbols are divided into

two classifications; 25 Consonant symbols, and 20 vowel symbols. Mandarin Chinese

consists of 42 symbols of Putonghua (Standard Chinese), which are divided into two

classifications; 15 consonant symbols that occur in the initial position, and 31 vowel

symbols that are followed by nasal consonants.

c. Supra-segmental Feature

Supra-segmental feature deals with something larger than individual segments.

For examples; Syllables or vowels, words, and phrases.

Supra-segmental feature consists of three elements, they are :

i. Tone

Tone in language means a language that uses the pitch of individual syllable

to contrast the meaning.

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The differences between English and Mandarin Chinese is that English is not

a tone language because in English the differences in pitch or tone do not cause the

differences in meaning. In other words, Tone in English does not change the meaning

in word, phrase or sentence, while Mandarin Chinese is known as a tone language

because in Mandarin Chinese, Tone is very important. When we pronounce the words

with different tones, it will change the meaning of those words, so it is very important

to pronounce words with correct tone.

Mandarin Chinese consists of four tones which are marked on top of the main

vowel and represented respectively by the following tone-graphs: The first tone is

(—), second tone (΄), the third tone (ˇ) and the fourth tone is symbolized with (`). The

explanation about Mandarin Chinese tones are explained below.

a. The first tone with symbol — such as in ā means a rising tone. It is a

constant tone. For example, mā means Mother.

b. The second tone with symbol ΄ such as in á means a rising tone that grows

stronger. For example, má means Hemp.

c. The third tone with symbol ˇ such as in ă means first falling and then rising.

For example, mă means horse.

d. The fourth tone with symbol ` such as in à means a falling tone. This is a

quickly falling and fading tone. For example, mà means what (asking a

question).

ii. Intonation

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Intonation means a variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to

distinguish words. The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese on

Intonation is that about the function of Intonation. In English, Intonation is used to

indicate the sentence meaning and to signal the attitude of the speaker, for example;

- That red car is expensive, isn’t it ?

- That red car is expensive, isn’t ‘it ?

The first sentence means agreement that the red car is really expensive, while

the second sentence means doubtful that the expensive thing is that red car not other

car.

In English, Intonation is very important because the pitch is used syntactically

to change a sentence from a statement to question. Besides that, English has the pitch

contour of the phrase or sentence that is important, namely rising and falling. The

difference between rising and falling is in its function that rising is used for question,

while falling is used for statement.

In Mandarin Chinese, Intonation is not too important because Intonation is not

used to distinguish words, but only to pose a question.

iii. Stress

The difference between English and Mandarin Chinese on the word stress can

be seen from their function. In English, stress is used to produce a syllable with

relatively greater length, loudness, and higher pitch in which extra respiratory energy

is needed.

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Stress is important in English because stress is phonemic, it can determine the

meaning of lexical category such as noun or verb. For example, the word “Import”. If

the stress is in the medial position such as im’port, it means verb. If the stress is in the

initial position such as ‘import, it means noun.

Moreover, the most highly stress in English is indicated by an active accent or

primary stress which is symbolized with (΄), the other stress vowels are marked by

secondary stress (`), for example re’signa’tion, phÒnétic, etc.

In Mandarin Chinese, there is no specific explanation about stress because it

is not important for Mandarin Chinese. Although traditionally, Mandarin Chinese has

stress, it only involves the expanding of the tonal range.

B. The Problems which Cause the difficulties in pronouncing the English words

for Chinese people

Teaching pronunciation is training the students to use the sound system of a

language in speaking. It is not to talk about the sounds, but to use them in utterances

for communication.

Understanding the problems in pronouncing the English words is important

before one tries to solve the learner’s difficulties. The comparative analysis of

English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds in the preceding chapter has shown the

possible problems that a Chinese learner of English is faced with when he is

pronouncing the English words. The essential reason for those problems is that

English has so many sounds which are different from Mandarin Chinese. Moreover,

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there are some English sounds which are not recognized in Mandarin Chinese. When

transferring some Mandarin Chinese sounds to English, the differences that exist

between the two languages are not recognized by the learner, both in hearing and in

producing the sounds, so that reducing the intelligibility of the utterance.

There are some differences and similarities between English and Mandarin

Chinese speech sounds that we can observe from the first analysis. These phenomena

have some effects on the process of pronouncing the English words for a Chinese

learner of English.

The similarities here can facilitate the learning process, because the previous

habits in the native language are easily transferred into the second language. Then, on

the contrary, the differences will inhibit the process of learning and cause some

difficulties. The writer has found that there are some problems that cause the

difficulties in pronouncing the English words for Chinese people, especially Chinese

students who learn English.

The following is the classifications of problems that cause the difficulties in

pronouncing the English words for Chinese people. The classification is based on the

assumption that the problems are resulted from the differences of English and

Mandarin Chinese speech sounds.

1. The absence of some Initial Voiced Consonantal sounds

One of problems which causes the difficulties in pronouncing the English

words for Chinese people is the absence of initial voiced consonantal sounds such as

/b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/, and /ð/. Those initial voiced consonantal sounds are unfamiliar for

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Chinese people and those sounds never occur in the initial of words in Mandarin

Chinese so that those consonantal sounds create difficulty for the Chinese people in

hearing and producing the English words with those initial voiced consonantal sounds.

Moreover, Chinese people are difficult to distinct such pairs of English words as

“pin and bin”, “tied and died”, “card and guard”, “fine and vine, “sink and zinc”.

To pronounce those English words, Chinese people have to change those

unfamiliar initial voiced consonantal sounds with familiar consonantal sounds.

For examples; The sound /d/ is changed with sound /t/

The sound /b/ is changed with sound /p/

The sound /z/ is changed with sound /�/

The sound /v/ is changed with sound /f/

The sound /g/ is changed with sound /k/

The sound /ð/ is changed with sound /t/

2. The absence of some Initial Voiceless Consonantal sounds

The second problem which causes the difficulties in pronouncing the English

words for Chinese people is the absence of the voiceless consonantal sounds such as

/θ/ and /∫/ from the range of Cantonese speech sounds. As the result, Chinese or

Cantonese students have considerable difficulty in pronouncing these two

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consonantal sounds of English in speech. Such of English words as shed, shame,

shoot, theme, etc. To pronounce those two English initial voiceless consonantal

sounds, Chinese people pronounce them by substitute the sound /f/ for the sound /θ/,

and the sound /s/ for sound /∫/.

For examples; /θ/ in word throw /θrə�/ becomes frow /frə�/

/∫/ in word shed /∫ed/ becomes set /set/

3. Problem with final consonantal sounds

The third problem which causes the difficulties in pronouncing the English

words for Chinese people is about the final consonantal sounds such as /m/, /l/, /t/, /p/,

/f /, /s/, /z/, /w/, /k/, etc except the sounds /n/, /r/, and /ŋ/. There are so many

consonantal sounds which never occur in the final position of Mandarin Chinese

words because those consonantal sounds occur only in initial and medial position of

syllable. In other words, those so many consonantal sounds become unfamiliar for

Chinese people when those sounds occur in the final position, but those consonantal

sounds become easily to pronounce for Chinese people when those sounds occur in

the initial and medial position of words. To pronounce the English words, Chinese

people will change those unfamiliar sounds with familiar sounds.

For example; The sound /m/ in word “time” becomes /n/ in word “tine”

4. Problem between words ending with a voiced consonant followed by “s”

Chinese people are difficult to pronounce the English words ending with a

voiced consonant then followed by sound “s”, as in the plural and possessive form of

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some nouns of high frequency. It becomes difficult for Chinese people to pronounce

it because in Mandarin Chinese, there is no words which ending with a voiced

consonant then followed by sound “s”. In other words, those sounds do not occur in

Mandarin pronunciation.

The examples of English words which become difficult for Chinese people to

pronounce are “bags and packs”, “pecks and begs”, “sights and sides”.

5. Problem with different Alphabet

As we know that Chinese does not have an alphabet but uses a logographic

system for its written language. In logographic (a picture word) system symbols

represent the words themselves. The words are not made up of various letters as in

alphabetic systems. Because of this fundamental difference, Chinese learners may

have great difficulty reading English texts and spelling words correctly.

6. Problem with different sound system

Most aspects of the English sound system cause difficulties for Chinese

learners. Some English sounds do not exist in Mandarin Chinese. Besides that, Stress

and Intonation patterns are different between English and Mandarin Chinese. Unlike

English, Mandarin Chinese is a tone language. This means that it uses the pitch

(highness or lowness) of a phoneme sound to distinguish word meaning. In English,

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changes in pitch are used to emphasize or express emotion, not to give a different

word meaning to the sound.

7. Problem with the sound /l/ and /r/

Chinese people find the difficulties to hear the difference between l and r, and

so may mispronounce rake and rice as lake and lice. A major problem is with the

common final consonant in English. This feature is much less frequent in Chinese and

results in learners either failing to produce the consonant or adding an extra vowel at

the end of the word. For example, hill may be pronounced as if without the double ll

but with a drawn out i, or as rhyming with killer.

8. Problem with different numbers of Vowel sounds

As we know that English has more vowel sounds than Chinese. Because of

that, Chinese people are difficult to pronounce the English words such as ship/sheep,

it/eat, full/fool. Consequently, most Chinese speakers of English will not be able to

distinctively pronounce words such as "sheep" and "ship" or "pool" and "pull,".

9. Problem which is caused by the difference on the Supra-segmental feature.

One of supra-segmental feature elements is Tone. It becomes the most

distinctive difference between English and Mandarin Chinese phonetically. A

different tone or pitch of a sound would in most cases refer to a different word with a

totally different meaning. For every syllable, there are 4 different tones (constant

level, high rising, falling, high falling). This means that the same written word or

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character may have up to four meanings depending upon the tone used when saying

that word. For example, the word “ma” can mean mother, horse, scold, flax. In

addition to consonants and vowels, there is a third constituent element of the Chinese

word. This is the height and movement of the fundamental pitch of the voice, known

as tone. Tones have often been described as a device to distinguish words. Besides

differences in the consonant and vowel sounds, the employing of the four tones to

make sounds of different pitch to denote different characters in Mandarin is the most

important difference between English and Mandarin phonetic. In English, sound

variation for different words is affected by varying the vowel or consonant sounds.

These fundamental differences make it difficult for the Chinese student to master the

English sounds.

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10. Problems of distributions

a. Initial, medial, and final position

Essentially, the occurrence of English sounds in initial and medial position is

not troublesome for the Chinese learner. But for the final position such as all the

consonant sounds in Mandarin Chinese except /n/, /r/, and /ŋ/ may cause the problems

for the Chinese learner because Mandarin Chinese does not have many final

consonant sounds. For example, the sound /v/ and /z/ . The Chinese learner will

practically substitute them with the voiceless sounds such as /f/, /z/ when the Chinese

learner read English word.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

There are some similarities and differences between English and Mandarin

Chinese speech sounds which the writer has found. Those similarities and differences

are searched by identifying and contrasting the English phonetics and Mandarin

Chinese phonetics. One of the similarities in English and Mandarin Chinese can be

found in the concept of phonetics, that it is as the study of speech sounds. Besides

that, English and Mandarin Chinese are similar on the speech production which

include speech organs, articulation and the total of sound itself.

The differences between English and Mandarin Chinese speech sounds are

found in the terms of pronunciation system. Here, English has pronunciation system

which is very much different from Mandarin Chinese, for example, the total

classification of vowel sounds. As the writer has explained before that English has 21

vowels which are divided into two classifications of vowel sounds, while Mandarin

Chinese consists of 18 vowel sounds which are divided into three classifications of

vowel. The 21 English vowel sounds are divided into 12 Monopthongs/simple vowels

and 9 Dipthongs. The 18 Mandarin Chinese are divided into 7 Monopthong/simple

vowels, 9 Dipthongs, and 2 Tripthongs. Another difference is about the Tone. English

is not a tone language because in English a tone does not change the meaning in word,

phrase or sentence while Mandarin Chinese is known as a tone language because tone

is very important. The tone can change the meaning of word, phrase or sentence, and

in learning pronunciation of English, a learner tends to use the sound system of

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Mandarin Chinese in English, as a tendency as such is natural in learning a foreign

language. Because of that, a Chinese learner of English should be taught English

pronunciation because merely hearing English speech sounds does not result

automatically in good pronunciation.

In addition to the similarities and differences, the writer found some problems

that cause the difficulties in pronouncing the English words for Chinese people. For

example, the problem with final “m” sound. Here, the final “m” sound becomes a

problem because sound “m” never occurs at the end of syllable in Mandarin Chinese

pronunciation, e.g. “time” read as “tine” or “timo”. Another problem is about the

absence of some initial voiced consonantal sounds, such as /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/. Those

initial voiced consonantal sounds create the difficulty for the Chinese student in

hearing and producing a distinction between such pairs of words as “pin and bin”

“sink and zinc”. Those problems show that learning English is not easy for Chinese

people. It is because both languages have different characteristic of language. In other

words, one of the techniques to solve the problem is that we should remember the

principle of pronunciation, especially that pronunciation involves two activities, i.e.

recognition of sounds and production of sounds. We should practice to pronounce the

words, especially the English words.

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