A STUDY OF PRONUNCIATION VARIATIONS AMONG RURAL AND URBAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

Abstract

This study explores the difference between the pronunciation of rural and urban Punjabi speakers in learning English. The focus of the study is to explore the differences found in the pronunciation of the consonant clusters at the coda position of English words. The research design of the study is qualitative in nature. The data for this is collected by passage reading and word elicitation tasks. Twenty-seven speakers participated in this research and six Punjabi native speakers are selected for the validity and reliability of the data. The CV phonology theory is employed to analyze the data. The result shows that urban Punjabi speakers made changes according to the phonotactic constraints of Punjabi. It includes epenthesis in syllable-initial consonants clusters. Results of the study showed that urban speakers due to their understanding and practice of pronunciation managed to pronounce English words without restructuring the consonant clusters on the contrary urban speakers modified theses consonant structure to suite to their own phonological rules. Thus L1 interference is observed in the pronunciation of rural Punjabi speakers. The outcomes reveal that mother tongue influence is the vital cause of the declusterization process. Furthermore, study shows that L1 interference can be overcome by listening and practicing.  This study is helpful for those learners who are trying to learn English and those who are teaching the English language. It is also useful for teachers to identify students' mistakes, which they make while reading or speaking.