A STUDY ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF

CONSONANTS: A CASE STUDY OF JAVANESE

LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

THESIS

Submitted to the Department of Language Studies,

Graduate School of Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Education

A Thesis

by

Mukhamad Luthfi Ali

ID No. S 200110068

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE STUDIES

GRADUATE SCHOOL

UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SURAKARTA

2016

ABSTRACT

MUKHAMAD LUTHFI ALI. S200110068. A STUDY ON THE

PRONUNCIATION OF CONSONANTS: A CASE STUDY OF JAVANESE

LEARNERS OF ENGLISH. Thesis. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta

2016.

The present research is to investigate the characteristic pronunciation of consonant

difficulties encountered by Javanese learners of English. The idea for this study

has risen out when the researcher teaching English at one of senior high school in

central Java. The researcher often found the lack of systematic of sound system

produced by Indonesian EFL learners, especially on consonant sounds. In this

research, the researcher used descriptive method, which is appropriate to the

research. In collecting the data, the present study applied direct observation.

Subject of the research are 20 Javanese learners of English which have gotten the

material of English pronunciation. From 21 consonants that studied, the researcher

found 12 sound shifts done by JLE, they are; /f/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /b/, /g/, /d/, /ʃ/, /θ/, /ð/,

/ʒ/, /z/, and /v/. The most difficult sound that found by the researcher was /ʒ/. JLE

could only pronounce 9.28% correctly. This phoneme also has 7 sound changes.

Most of them change it into /dʒ/ in initial position, /ʃ/ in medial position, and /dʒ/

in final position. The researcher also found that the position of sounds in initial,

medial, and final influences the sound shift. Those difficulties appear because of

three major problems; the differences in the phonemic systems between English

and Javanese, the non-existence of consonant clusters in Javanese, and a

systematic deviation.

Key words: Pronunciation, Consonants, Sound Shift, Javanese Learners of

English

ABSTRAK

MUKHAMAD LUTHFI ALI. S200110068. A STUDY ON THE

PRONUNCIATION OF CONSONANTS: A CASE STUDY OF JAVANESE

LEARNERS OF ENGLISH. Thesis. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta

2016.

Penelitan ini meneliti tentang kesulitan cara pengucapan bunyi konsonan yang

dialami oleh pembelajar Bahasa Inggris berlatar belakang Jawa. Ide dari penelitian

ini muncul ketika peneliti mengajar Bahasa Inggris di salah satu sekolah

menengah atas di Jawa Tengah. Peneliti juga menemukan hilangnya sistem bunyi

yang dihasilkan oleh pembelajar EFL berlatar belakang Indonesia, khususnya

pada bunyi konsonan. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti menggunakan metode

deskriptif. Penelitian ini menggunakan pengamatan langsung untuk

mengumpulkan data. Subjek penelitian adalah 20 pembelajar Bahasa Inggris

berlatar belakang Jawa yang pernah mendapatkan materi English Pronunciation.

Dari 21 konsonan yang diteliti, peneliti menemukan 12 perubahan bunyi yang

dilakukan oleh pembelajar Bahasa Inggris berlatar belakang Jawa, antara lain

bunyi /f/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /b/, /g/, /d/, /ʃ/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʒ/, /z/, and /v/. Bunyi yang paling sulit

yang ditemukan oleh peneliti adalah bunyi /ʒ/. Hanya 9,28% yang diucapkan

dengan benar oleh para pembelajar Bahasa Inggris berlatar belakang Jawa. Bunyi

ini juga mengalami 7 perubuhan bunyi. Kebanyakan para pembelajar Bahasa

Inggris berlatar belakang Jawa mengubahnya menjadi bunyi /dʒ/ di depan, bunyi

/ʃ/ di tengah, dan bunyi /dʒ/ di belakang. Peneliti juga menemukan bahwa posisi

bunyi di depan, tengah, dan belakang mempengaruhi perubahan bunyi. Kesulitan-

kesulitan tersebut muncul karena tiga masalah utama; perbedaan system fonemis

antara Bahasa Inggris dan Bahasa Jawa, tidak adanya konsonan kluster dalam

Bahasa Jawa, dan penyimpangan yang sistematis.

Kata Kunci: Bunyi, Konsonan, Perubahan Bunyi, Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris

berlatar belakang Jawa.

MOTTO

MOTTO:

☺ Dream it, plan it, pray it, do it.

☺ Do the best thing and don’t wait till tomorrow what you can do today.

☺ Do something honesty and sincerely.

☺ Mistakes may be painful and costly but we can learn from our mistakes.

DEDICATION

The following people are those who I admire the most and would like to

give my deepest thanks to:

His beloved dad, Faijun Sudiharjo, S. Pd. and mom, Nur Endah

Sulistyowati, S. Pd.

His beloved wife, Madania Kusumawardani, S.Kom.

His Brothers M. Verdy Averos and M. Heldy Ardiansyah and my sister

Nurmalita Kurnia Wulandari.

All of his friends of MPB 2011 (Pak Trisno Solo, Mas Agung, Mas Heri, Bu

Wiwik, Bu Jamiyati and the others)

His beloved lectures (Mr. Agus Wijayanto, Mrs. Muamaroh, Mr. Anam

Sutopo, and the others)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillahirabil’alamin, the researcher says thanks to Allah SWT for

the merciful and blessing in order that the researcher can finish this thesis from

the first up to the last.

It has been realized by the researcher that this writing would never been

completed comprehensively without any help from others, and actually many

people have contributed spiritually or physically for this thesis. The researcher

would like to express the deepest gratitude and an appreciation to:

1. Prof. Dr. Bambang Setiaji, as the Rector of Universitas Muhammadiyah

Surakarta.

2. Prof. Dr. Khudzaifah Dimyati, SH., M.Hum, as the director of Graduate

Program of Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.

3. Prof. Dr. Markhamah, M.Hum, the head of Magister Language Study of

Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta who have given her a chance to write

this thesis.

4. Agus Wijayanto, Ph.D., the Primary Supervisor, for her careful guidance,

support, suggestion, corrections and advice, which has helped the writer to

shape up this work.

5. Muamaroh, Ph.D., the Co-Supervisor, for her careful guidance and advice,

which has helped the writer to shape up this work.

6. The participants of the research who have helped the researcher to submit the

data.

7. His beloved father (Faijun Sudiharjo, S.Pd.) and mother (Nur Endah

Sulistyowati, S.Pd.), who always gives his the support and pray the researcher

to finish this thesis.

8. His beloved wife, Madania Kusumawardani, S.Kom., who always give her

supports, her prays, and her loves everyday and every time.

9. His beloved brothers Briptu M. Verdy Averos, M. Heldy Ardiansyah and

Sister Nurmalita Kurnia Wulandari.

10. The big family of Post Graduate Program of Language Studies Department

2011 for the encouragement and motivation to finish the thesis.

11. All of his friends who give the support and the spirit for the researcher to

finish this thesis.

The researcher realized that this thesis is far from being perfect, in order to

make this thesis be better, the researcher hopes the comment, and suggestion to

complete this thesis. The researcher also hopes this is useful for the readers and

the others.

Surakarta, October 2016

The Writer

MUKHAMAD LUTHFI ALI

S200110068

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE ....................................................................................................................... i

PRIMARY SUPERVISOR’S APPROVAL FORM ............................................... ii

CO-SUPERVISOR’S APPROVAL FORM .......................................................... iii

APPROVAL OF THESIS FOR SUBMISSION .................................................... iv

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... v

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... vi

MOTTO ................................................................................................................ vii

DEDICATION ..................................................................................................... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... xi

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES ...................................................................................... xiv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study .................................................................. 1

B. Limitation of Study .......................................................................... 6

C. Statements of the Problems .............................................................. 6

D. Objectives of the Study .................................................................... 7

E. Significants of the Study .................................................................. 7

F. Definition of the Key Terms ............................................................ 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED THEORY ................................................. 9

A. Previous Study .................................................................................. 9

B. Review of Literature ....................................................................... 16

1. The Concept of Pronunciation ................................................... 16

2. Factor that Affect the Mastering of Pronunciation .................... 18

3. Accent ....................................................................................... 19

4. Non-native Accent ..................................................................... 21

5. Java Accent ................................................................................ 23

6. Influence of Java Accent Toward English Pronunciation ......... 24

7. English Sounds .......................................................................... 25

8. English and Javanese Sound System ......................................... 42

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ................................................................ 46

A. Type of the study ............................................................................ 46

B. Setting of the study ........................................................................ 48

C. Subject of the study ........................................................................ 48

D. Data and Data sources .................................................................... 49

E. Technique of Collecting the Data .................................................. 50

F. Data Validity .................................................................................. 50

G. Technique of Data Analysis ........................................................... 51

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ............................ 53

A. Research Findings .......................................................................... 53

1. The Consonants Sound Shifts of English Pronunciation Done by

Javanese Learners of English ..................................................... 53

2. The Variations of English Pronunciation Done by Javanese

Learners of English .................................................................... 65

3. The most difficult sounds pronounced by Javanese learners of

English ....................................................................................... 84

B. Discussions ..................................................................................... 87

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND RECOMMENDATION .. 99

A. Conclusions .................................................................................... 99

B. Implication .................................................................................. 100

C. Recommendation.......................................................................... 101

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES

No Table Name of Table Page

1 2.1 Java accent 24

2 2.2 Vowel sounds 25

3 2.3 Consonant sounds 27

4 2.4 Table of the verb /p/ 29

5 2.5 Table of the verb /b/ 29

6 2.6 Table of the verb /t/ 30

7 2.7 Table of the verb /d/ 30

8 2.8 Table of the verb /k/ 31

9 2.9 Table of the verb /g/ 31

10 2.10 Table of the verb /tʃ/ 32

11 2.11 Table of the verb /dʒ/ 33

12 2.12 Table of the verb /f/ 33

13 2.13 Table of the verb /v/ 34

14 2.14 Table of the verb /ð/ 34

15 2.15 Table of the verb /θ/ 35

16 2.16 Table of the verb /s/ 35

17 2.17 Table of the verb /z/ 36

18 2.18 Table of the verb /ʃ/ 37

19 2.19 Table of the verb /ʒ/ 37

20 2.20 Table of the verb /h/ 38

21 2.21 Table of the verb /m/ 39

22 2.22 Table of the verb /n/ 39

23 2.23 Table of the verb /ŋ/ 40

24 2.24 Table of the verb /l/ 41

25 2.25 English consonants (MacCarthy, 1960) 43

26 2.26 Javanese consonants (Marsono, 1987) 44

27 4.14 Comparison between the articulatory movements of

the speech organs 92

LIST OF APPENDICES

No. Name of Appendices

1 Instrument

2 Phonetics transcription

3 The result of pronunciation done by the participants

4 The variations of pronunciation done by the participants

5 The number of variations of pronunciation done by the participants

6 English phonemes which are difficult to pronounce by participants

7 List of participants