Teacher's Pronunciation of High Vowels at Closed Final Syllable: An Analysis of Generative Phonology and Sociophonology and its Effect on Students' Spelling Mistakes

Abstract

This study was conducted to explain the teachers' pronunciation of high vowels /i/ and /u/ at closed final syllable based on an analysis using generative phonology and sociophonology, as well as its effect on students' spelling mistakes. Three Malay language teachers and 114 Year One students from a school at Hulu Langat, Selangor, were selected as respondents. The data were collected by questionnaires, feedback forms and voice recorder using library research and observations. The data were analysed qualitatively using (i) generative phonology and (ii) sociophonological factors. The results showed that several Year One students spelt words that contain high vowels /i/ and /u/ at closed final syllable as "e" and "o" due to the teacher’s pronunciation of the said vowels at that position as [e] and [o]. For example, the word "arif" was pronounced as [a.ref], and "kamarul" was pronounced as [ka.mã.rol]. Based on generative phonology, the changes are caused by vowel lowering process, which is the change of the features of [+high] vowel to [−high] vowel and [+ATR]. In terms of sociophonology, the frequent use of natural language, language disorder and use of local dialect are factors that cause vowel lowering process at closed final syllable. In general, this study attempts to highlight the differences between the vowels /i/ and /u/ and [e] and [o], especially for Year One students, to avoid frequent confusion and spelling mistakes of Malay vocabulary.

Keywords: High vowels, closed final syllable, Malay language teacher's communication, sociophonology, generative phonology

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