Exploring the Difference in Pronouncing /aɪ/ Between Male and Female Students in a University of Northern China and Their Attitude Towards China English Accent

Abstract

As most English teachers discovered in China, the sound /aɪ/ is frequently pronounced like /e/, which can be considered a typical example of China English. However, even speakers are aware of this phenomenon, they tend to still pronounce the sound as /e/ unconsciously. Gender and ideology differences may be two of the factors causing this issue. This paper first distinguishes the pronunciation difference between gender by comparing the /aɪ/ pronunciation of the participants who are undergraduate students from a university of northern China. Then it elicits their ideology to China English accent by conducting a semi-structured interview. The results show that there is no significant difference between male and female participants in the pronunciation of /aɪ/, and almost half of the participants think there’s no problem to have a China accent, but only two of them show an awareness of World Englishes. Finally, reasons and implications are discussed and necessary suggestions are provided.