THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH LONG VOWEL SOUNDS BY FINAL YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH OF AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY.

Abstract

This study examines the pronunciation of English long vowel sounds by the final year students of English. Fifty (50) final year students of the Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University were given a reading test containing words with the long vowel sounds. They were selected through a purposive sampling method. The analysis was done using Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle 1950 Generative Phonology. The study reveals that words not properly articulated could give a wrong meaning in the context used. For instance, when words which have long sounds are articulated as if they are short, as in beat and bit, feet and fit among others. Findings also reveal that absence of long sounds in the indigenous languages also posed a problem to the respondents, as some of them tend to use the doubling of the sound to create the lengthening effect. In addition, it also showed that respondents adopted the deletion, assimilation and the insertion rules of Generative Phonology while articulating words with these sounds. The paper concludes that if the respondents make a conscious and committed effort towards learning these sounds, there is a possibility that they could improve on their pronunciation as students in the Department of English.