The role of vowel quality in ELF misunderstandings: Peranan Kualiti Bunyi Vokal dalam Kesalahfahaman ELF

David Deterding; Nur Raihan Mohamad

doi:10.1515/jelf-2016-0021

Article

The role of vowel quality in ELF misunderstandings

Peranan Kualiti Bunyi Vokal dalam Kesalahfahaman ELF

David Deterding
David Deterding is Professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam where he teaches Introductory Linguistics, Advanced Phonetics, Forensic Linguistics, Malay–English Translation, The History of English, and Research Methods. His research has focused on the acoustics of vowels and the pronunciation of English in Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and throughout Southeast Asia. His most recent books have been on Brunei English (together with Salbrina Sharbawi), published by Springer in 2013, and Misunderstandings in ELF, published by Mouton De Gruyter in 2013. He has also published research on the intonation of Singapore English, the acoustics of British English vowels, the rhythm of Singapore English, the phonology of Malay in Brunei (with Adrian Clynes), and emergent Southeast Asian Englishes and intelligibility (with Andy Kirkpatrick). His edited volume on English in Malaysia (with Toshiko Yamaguchi) was published by Brill in 2016. His edited volume on The Use and Status of Language in Brunei (together with Noor Azam Haji Othman and James McLellan) is being published by Springer in 2016.
and Nur Raihan Mohamad
Nur Raihan Mohamad is a PhD candidate in the Applied Linguistics programme at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Her research areas include pronunciation, language change, and Americanisation. She is currently investigating the segmental changes of Brunei English by comparing the pronunciations of teachers, university undergraduates and secondary school students. Also, she has published two research papers titled “The status of Brunei English based on the phonology of local teachers and undergraduates” and “Spelling pronunciation: A new norm in Brunei English?” for South East Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal.

Published/Copyright: September 14, 2016

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From the journal Journal of English as a Lingua Franca Volume 5 Issue 2

Abstract

Misunderstandings are natural occurrences in conversation. Though they are the exception to the norm, and furthermore they do not necessarily result in communication breakdown, they do sometimes occur, and it is important to find out what causes them. Deterding (2013. Misunderstandings in English as a lingua franca: An analysis of ELF interactions in South-East Asia. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.) investigates misunderstandings in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in data from the Asian Corpus of English (ACE) and discusses the role of phonological, lexical and grammatical features in causing them to occur. He reports that over 86 % of the tokens of misunderstandings in his corpus involve pronunciation. The current paper analyses this data further, specifically to determine the role of vowels, as Jenkins (2000. The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) has suggested that vowel quality is not important in English as a Lingua Franca, so she excludes vowel quality from the Lingua Franca Core, the set of pronunciation features that she suggests are important for maintaining intelligibility in an international setting. In fact, a total of over half the tokens of misunderstanding listed in Deterding’s Misunderstandings in English as a Lingua Franca involve the quality of vowels, though in many cases this appears to be a minor factor. The current paper analyses these 98 tokens involving vowel quality in detail, to find out if some shifts in vowel quality are more important than others, and to investigate if vowel quality really is unimportant for intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca. It was found that vowel quality rarely causes a problem, and only in one token, in which the speaker was making a joke, is vowel quality the main factor causing the misunderstanding.

Abstrak

Kesalahfahaman adalah kejadian semulajadi dalam perbualan. Walaupun dianggap sebagai pengecualian kepada yang norma dan tidak semestinya menyebabkan masalah dalam komunikasi, namun ianya sering berlaku dan ia adalah penting untuk mengetahui punca kesalahfahaman itu. Deterding (2013. Misunderstandings in English as a lingua franca: An analysis of ELF interactions in South-East Asia. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.) menyelidiki kesalahfahaman dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa perantaraan (ELF) dari Korpus Inggeris Asia (ACE) dan juga membincang peranan ciri-ciri fonologi, leksikon, dan tatabahasa sebagai penyebab kesalahfahaman. Dia melaporkan bahawa lebih 86 % daripada token-token kesalahfahaman dalam korpus itu melibatkan sebutan. Kajian ini menyelidiki data ini dengan lebih lanjut, khususnya untuk menentukan peranan bunyi vokal seperti yang telah dicadangkan oleh Jenkins (2000. The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) bahawa kualiti bunyi vokal itu tidak penting dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa perantaraan. Ini menyebabkan pengecualian kualiti bunyi vokal dari Lingua Franca Core, iaitu sebuah set ciri-ciri sebutan yang beliau cadangkan adalah penting untuk mengekalkan kebolehfahaman dalam konteks antarabangsa. Sebenarnya, sejumlah lebih separuh daripada token-token kesalahfahaman disenaraikan dalam kajian Deterding (2013. Misunderstandings in English as a lingua franca: An analysis of ELF interactions in South-East Asia. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.) menunjukkan ada penglibatan kualiti bunyi vokal, walaupun kebanyakannya hanya memainkan peranan kecil. Kajian ini akan menyelidiki 98 token yang mengandungi kualiti bunyi vokal dengan lebih lanjut, untuk mengetahui jika ada perubahan dalam kualiti bunyi vokal yang lebih penting daripada yang lain. Selain itu ia menyiasat jika benar kualiti bunyi vokal itu tidak penting untuk kebolehfahaman dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa perantaraan. Daripada kajian ini, didapati bahawa kualiti bunyi vokal jarang menyebabkan masalah dan hanya dalam satu token sahaja di mana peserta itu berjenaka menjadikan kualiti bunyi vokal sebagai faktor utama dalam kesalahfahaman tersebut.

Keywords: misunderstandings; intelligibility; Lingua Franca Core; vowel quality

Kata kunci: kesalahfahaman; kebolehfahaman; Lingua Franca Core; kualiti bunyi vokal

About the authors

David Deterding

David Deterding is Professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam where he teaches Introductory Linguistics, Advanced Phonetics, Forensic Linguistics, Malay–English Translation, The History of English, and Research Methods. His research has focused on the acoustics of vowels and the pronunciation of English in Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and throughout Southeast Asia. His most recent books have been on Brunei English (together with Salbrina Sharbawi), published by Springer in 2013, and Misunderstandings in ELF, published by Mouton De Gruyter in 2013. He has also published research on the intonation of Singapore English, the acoustics of British English vowels, the rhythm of Singapore English, the phonology of Malay in Brunei (with Adrian Clynes), and emergent Southeast Asian Englishes and intelligibility (with Andy Kirkpatrick). His edited volume on English in Malaysia (with Toshiko Yamaguchi) was published by Brill in 2016. His edited volume on The Use and Status of Language in Brunei (together with Noor Azam Haji Othman and James McLellan) is being published by Springer in 2016.

Nur Raihan Mohamad

Nur Raihan Mohamad is a PhD candidate in the Applied Linguistics programme at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Her research areas include pronunciation, language change, and Americanisation. She is currently investigating the segmental changes of Brunei English by comparing the pronunciations of teachers, university undergraduates and secondary school students. Also, she has published two research papers titled “The status of Brunei English based on the phonology of local teachers and undergraduates” and “Spelling pronunciation: A new norm in Brunei English?” for South East Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal.

Appendix: Transcription conventions

bold: misunderstood words
(.): short pause
x:: lengthened vowel
@@: laughter (each “@” indicates one syllable of laughter)
(xxx): words that were guessed by the listener

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Published Online: 2016-9-14

Published in Print: 2016-9-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2016-0021

Keywords for this article

misunderstandings; intelligibility; Lingua Franca Core; vowel quality