Mapping Pronunciation Errors in English Silent Consonants: A Corpus-based Study of Saudi EFL Undergraduates

Abstract

This study sought to explore Saudi EFL undergraduate students’ mispronunciations of silent consonants /b, d, h, l, n, s, t, w/ in English words. 115 words in which the students sounded out silent consonants were collected from the spontaneous daily speech of students who were studying English as a foreign language at King Saud University.  Data analysis showed that the students had varying degrees of difficulties with the different silent consonants as follows: Words with Silent d (27%) (handsome, grandmother, windmill), including 12% Silent d due to assimilation (bridge, budget); Silent t (21%) (castle, soften, wrestling); Silent b (14%) where silent b typically follows the pattern of mb (bomb, bombing, plumber); Silent l (8%) (salmon, almond); Silent h (9.5%) (honor, honest); Silent s (7%) (island, Illinois); and Silent n (6%) (autumn, mnemonic). On the contrary, the students seemed to have less difficulty in pronouncing words with Silent k (3%) (Connecticut), and Silent w (3.5%) (Warwick). Interestingly, Saudi students sound out silent consonants in some English words but not others. The students did not sound out silent consonants in words with a Silent k (knee, knife), Silent gh (light, through) and Silent g (sign, design, foreign). In these words, silent consonants seem to be difficult to pronouns as they will form a consonant cluster that does not conform to the Arabic phonological system. Additionally, the students might have learnt these as exceptions. Since Silent letter patterns are not always predictable, the students can sometimes recognize common silent letter patterns (kn-, -gh), but others as in (Wednesday, handkerchief, mortgage). Pronouncing silent consonants in English words can be attributed to transfer from Arabic which is a phonetic language that lacks true silent consonants. Many students rely on spelling to determine pronunciation. Also, the students lack exposure to the pronunciation of English speakers native. The study recommends explicit pronunciation instruction, structured pronunciation exercises, phonological awareness exercises, and contrastive phonetic analysis. Text-to-speech software, YouTube videos, TED talks, podcasts, mobile audiobooks, MP4 lessons and mindmaps can be integrated into pronunciation instruction and practice.