The Perception of the Vowels Of Tswana-English

Abstract

Dit is 'n welbekende feit dat die vokaalsisteem van Gerespekteerde Suid-Afrikaanse Engels uit 12 monoftonge bestaan, teenoor die sewe van Tswana. Dit kan moontlik die oorsaak wees van onderdifferensiasie ('n vorm van negatiewe taaloordrag) in die produksie van die Engelse vokale deur Tswanasprekers. Dit kan op sy beurt lei tot verstaanbaarheidsprobleme. Hierdie hipotese is in 'n persepsiestudie getoets. Moedertaalsprekers van Engels en Tswana is hierby betrek. Diefokus van die studie was op die vokale /i/ (it), /Ï/ (miss), /:/(nurse), /æ/(trap) en /з/(strut), wat nie een in die vokaalsisteem van Tswana voorkom nie. Die persepsie hiervan is vergelyk met dié van vier vokale wat in sowel Engels as in Tswana voorkom, naamlik /e/(dress), /o/(thought) en /a/(bath). Daar is gevind dat onderdifferensiasie inderdaad 'n verskynsel in Tswana-Engels is, wat al die genoemde vokale op die een of ander wyse betrek. Wat betref die mate waartoe verstaanbaarheid beïnvloed of benadeel is, egter, kon daar, weens die beperktheid van die ondersoek geen besliste gevolgtrekking gemaak word nie. Die bevindinge van hierdie persepsiestudie bevestig egter wel die akoestiese resultate van Tswana-Engels soos gerapporteer deur Van Rooy en Van Huyssteen (hierdie uitgawe).

It is well known that the vowel system of Respectable South African English contains 12 monophthongs, whereas the Tswana vowel system consists of seven monophthongs. This may be a cause of under-differentiation (a form of negative language transfer) in the production of English vowels by Tswana speakers, which can lead to impairment of intelligibility. In order to test this hypothesis, perception tests were conducted, involving native speakers of Tswana and English. The focus of this study was on the vowels /I/(it), /Ï/(miss), /:/(nurse), /æ/(trap) and /з/(strut), which do not occur in the vowel system of Tswana. The perception of these vowels is compared to the perception of four vowels that occur in both English and Tswana, viz. /i/ (fleece), /e/ (dress), /o/ (thought) and /a/ (bath). Under-differentiation was, in fact, found to be a phenomenon in Tswana English, involving all of the above-mentioned vowels in one way or the other. Concerning the extent to which intelligibility is influenced or impaired, however, it was found to be impossible to draw any decisive conclusions from a study with such scope. However, these perception results confirm the acoustic results on Tswana-English reported by Van Rooy and Van Huyssteen (this volume).