Production of stop consonants by Kelantanese Malay speakers of English

Abstract

This study investigates the production of English stops by Kelantanese Malay university students and how their speech may differ from Standard English. A total of 30 students majoring in English Language and Literature (BENL) and Islamic Studies (IRK) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) were selected as participants. The study uses a quantitative research design to examine the production of voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) and voiced stops (/b/, /d/, /?/). Additionally, it compares the stop production patterns between the BENL and IRK students. Data collection involved word-list and passage-reading tasks to elicit the target sounds. The word-list task results revealed that participants did not consistently produce the voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/). Except for /k/ in word-medial and word-final positions which was often produced for other voiceless stops, some students frequently produced the stops while others frequently omitted the voiceless stops in all positions. However, in the word-final position, /t/ was often substituted. Similarly, the voiced stops (/b/, /d/, /?/) were inconsistently produced. While some students often produced the stops, others often omitted or substituted them. Notably, /b/ and /d/ in the word-final position were not often produced by most students while /d/ in the word-medial position was frequently produced by the least number of students. In the passage-reading task, most students consistently produced the voiceless and voiced stops in all word positions. A comparison between BENL and IRK students in the word-list task revealed significant differences in stop production. For voiceless stops, all or most IRK students frequently produced the sounds in all word positions. In contrast, all or most BENL students often omitted the stops in all positions. The exception was /k/ in word-medial and word-final positions which was often produced and /t/ in a word-final position which the BENL students frequently substituted. There were also significant differences in the production of voiced stops. Except for /d/ in a word-medial position which was often substituted by most students, all or most IRK students frequently produced /b/ and /?/ in word-initial and medial positions and /d/ in word-initial position. On the other hand, all BENL students frequently omitted these sounds in these positions. As for word-final position, most IRK students often produced /g/ but often substituted /b/ and /d/. Most or all BENL students omitted the voiced stops in word-final position. In the passage-reading task, although differences in stop production between BENL and IRK students were observed, these differences were not statistically significant. Generally, both groups frequently produced voiceless and voiced stops in all word positions, with few cases of frequent substitution. The findings indicate that having more formal exposure to the English language and English phonetics like the BENL students, did not guarantee more production of the stops. In addition, task type, word position and the kind of stops may affect the stop production of Kelantanese students. These findings contribute valuable insights for scholars and educators interested in understanding the stops in the Malaysian English variety.