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DIGLOSSIA IN THE PHONOLOGY OF SECOND LANGUAGE
Abstract
Chapter One deals with the purpose and the scope of the study. The purpose is to examine the impact of diglossia on Palestinian students learning the segmental phonemes of English: How the co-existence of Standard Arabic (SA) and Palestinian Arabic (PA) affect the ability of those learners. Chapter Two centers on the treatment of diglossia in linguistics and sociolinguistics. A well-supported argument is presented in favor of Ferguson's (1959) paradigm which applies rigorously to the Arabic linguistic situation. Chapter Three reviews various studies on diglossia and its relationship to language learning/teaching. While some studies are found to be productive, others are inadequate in terms of theory and practice. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical framework upon which the study is based. It focuses on transfer, contrastive analysis, inter- language, and error analysis. It is argued that transfer is central in language learning and that error analysis is a more reliable theory. Chapter Five is concerned with the results. Contrary to Dulay and Burt's (1974, 1975) argument, native language (NL) interference is significant. It comes from both SA, e.g. /z - (')j/, /ay - aey/, spelling pronunciation cases, and PA, e.g. /b - b/, /c - s/, consonant cluster cases. NL interference also comes from either SA or PA, e.g. /p - b/, /v - f/, /g - k/. These findings confirm the first hypothesis that pho- nological and phonetic NL (diglossic) interference comes from both Arabic varieties. Taken together SA and PA facilitate the learning of several English sounds. The subjects tend to transfer the SA sounds ( o , (')j , (theta) ), and the PA sounds ( ow , c and ey ) to English. These findings support the second hypothesis that SA and PA enrich the learner's phonemic inventory and that diglossic NL is advantageous. Chapter Six proposes that more attention should be paid to: the listening skill, pronunciation in phonetic context, avoiding overusing the repetition technique, and employing a multiple-method strategy in language teaching programs.
Subject Area
Linguistics
Recommended Citation
HAMAD, ABDULLAH HAMED, "DIGLOSSIA IN THE PHONOLOGY OF SECOND LANGUAGE" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8624592.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8624592