Production Of English Tense And Lax Vowels /ɪ I: ɒ Ɔ: Ʊ U:/ By Vietnamese Learners

Abstract

Vowels play an essential part in precise pronunciation. Regarding the production of all vowels, that of tense and lax vowels is the angle that consumes the immense effort of the majority of English learners. Therefore, this paper aims to acoustically analyze the production of English lax and tense vowels /ɪ i: ɒ ɔ: ʊ u:/ by Vietnamese speakers, thereby finding the most frequent differences in the production by Vietnamese and native English speakers and unveiling the reasons for those dissimilarities. The participants are 20 Vietnamese students who are English linguistics students from different universities in Ho Chi Minh city. The acoustic differences that provide insights into the issue under concern are explored based on acoustic analysis of English vowels produced by Vietnamese and native English speakers. The results indicate that most of the differences are recognized in the features of tongue height and frontness/backness in the vowel production by the Vietnamese participants, especially in that of back vowels. Furthermore, the production errors discovered in this study indicate that Vietnamese English learners may have some trouble in their production of English vowels. In fact, they are caused by the teaching and learning method in Vietnam, the interference of their first language, and a lack of English linguistics knowledge.