CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses about background of the
study, problem statements, objectives of
the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition of the key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study Each language exists in a number of varieties
and is in one sense the sum of those
varieties. However,such a reformulation requires us to define varieties.
Hudson in Wardaugh (1988:22)
defines a variety of a language as ‘a set of linguistic items with similar distribution,’ a
definition that allows one to say that all
of the following are varieties: English, French, London English, the English of
football commentaries, and so on. A
language then would be some unitary system of linguistic communication which includes a
number of mutually intelligible varieties
(Wardaugh, 1988:29).
Language is structured of sounds.
The sounds of all the languages of the world
together constitute a limited set that can be produced by the human vocal tract although there may be some sounds in one
language that are not in another (Fromkin,
2002:2004).
The study of speech sounds is
called phonetics. To describe speech sounds it is necessary to decide what an individual
sound is and how each sound differs from
all others (Fromkin, 2002:2004).The science of Phonetics attempts to describe all the sounds used in human
language-sounds that constitute an important
subject of the totality of soundsthat humans are capable of producing (Fromkin, 2002:2007).
Variation exists at every level
of linguistic representation, but the study of socially conditioned variation has
concentrated more on phonetics than on any other language domain. As a result, it is now
well documented that the phonetic realization
of any particular word can vary according to the speaker (Hay, Jennifer and Katie Drager. Sociophonetics.
www.ling.canterbury.ac.nz/jen/documents/hayanddrager2007,
accessed on February, 19 2008).
Additionally, the variety of
phonetics is explained by Roach that there is a little difference of some possible ways chosen
in pronouncing a sound. From two different
realizations of phoneme, one can be substituted for the other without changing the meaning (Roach, 1983:40).
Speakers of one language differs from each
other phonetically, the set of phoneme is same but some or all of the phonemes are realized differently (Roach,
1983: 208). In the experimental study of
speech, there is enormous amount of variability found both within the speech of
an individual and among different
speakers (Roach, 1983:40).
Therefore, when a nation has to
learn the language of another nation it does
so imperfectly, and tends to introduce into it some of its own speech habits (Ripman, 1955:05). In relation to their
geographical distribution people in one location
often speak a language differently from speakers somewhere else, and those speakers in a third place speak it
differently again (Wardaugh, 1977:220).
Likewise, the situation of
English is different in many countries. While it is a first language as in Britain, it is a
foreign in many countries such as Thai.
There is some degree of
variability, particularly in matters of pronunciation (Corder:1973, 206).
Different speakers of language
have different pronunciations. No standard orthography can keep one symbol for one sound
for all speakers of a language; its goal
can only to make the language readable and writable by all its speakers.
There are many word pairs/sets in
English that are pronounced the same by some speakers, but distinguished by other speakers
(Fromkin, 2001:483).
A crucial difference lies
concerning between native and non-native speakers. For instance, native speakers know
when to aspirate a certain sound because
they are native speakers; they learn this when they acquire their mother tongue, and anybody who is ignorant of
aspiration must be a non-native speakers.
Non-natives are very often faced
with an unknown word for its spelt form and consequently tend to overestimate its role:
pronounce long consonants for double consonant
letters (e.g. Emma) or pronounce silent letters (e.g. iron, Wednesday).
In second language phonology, the
difference in performance between native and non-native speakers is especially salient.
Foreign accent is clearer marker of a speaker
as non-native than syntax or morphology errors. First language influence on the second language sound system is a
commonly-cited source of foreign accent.
(Hoopingarner, Dennie. Native and Non-native Differences in the Perception and Production of Vowels.
http:/clear.msu.edu/dennie/dissertation/disseratation.pdf.
accesed on March th 2008).
Odlin in Nunan (1998:101)
highlights the great influence of the first language on the effort to master the sound
system of a foreign language. Phonetic analysis
compares the two languages in terms of physical differences dealing with the ways they produce and perceive sounds.
Based on the theories above, the
researcher conducts this research under the
title “A Comparative Study between Native and Non-Native Characters’ Phonetic Variations in ‘the King Maker’”. The
researcher chooses this title because in
fact, she finds the variety of phonetics between native and non-native characters that emerges a distinctive
realization of phonemes in speaking English.
This phenomenon is found in ‘The
King Maker’. It is Thai film in English language
that the characters are consisted of Thai and British. In addition, it is the reconstruction of the real story in Thailand
and the first English language Thai film
production since the 1941.
Besides those reasons, there is
also religious factor which inspires the researcher to select this topic. As the Moslem
and the student of Islamic State University
of Malang especially, the researcher thinks that it will be very important to integrate knowledge with Koran.
In surah The Romans (Ar-Rum) verse 22,
it is revealed: And of his signs are the
creation of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your tongues and colors. Surely,
there are signs in this for all mankind.
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