Exploring Phonetic Differences and Cross-Linguistic Influences: A Comparative Study of English and Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation Patterns

Exploring the differences in phonemes and cross-linguistic influences, particularly by comparing the pronunciation patterns of English and Mandarin, is crucial for language learners. Such comparative studies can help learners better understand and overcome the pronunciation difficulties encountered during second language acquisition. English and Mandarin have significant differences in their vowel and consonant systems, tones, intonation, and syllable structures. A deep understanding of these differences allows learners to engage in targeted pronunciation training, reducing accent interference. This research provides guidance for improving language teaching methods, enabling teachers to design more effective pronunciation strategies and exercises based on the students’ native language backgrounds, thus enhancing learning outcomes. Additionally, cross-linguistic studies aid in improving speech recognition and conversion technologies, achieving higher accuracy and naturalness in multilingual speech processing systems. From a cultural exchange perspective, understanding and respecting the phonetic characteristics of different languages help to enhance the effectiveness and mutual understanding in cross-cultural communication. The comparative study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns not only provides a theoretical foundation for language education and technological applications but also promotes effective communication in multilingual environments. This thesis uses a comparative research method to elucidate the study of English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns. It begins with an analysis of the characteristics and similarities of the pronunciation patterns in both languages. The thesis then examines the differences between English and Mandarin pronunciation patterns through four aspects: the number and complexity of vowel phonemes, types and distribution of consonant phonemes, tones and stress, and intonation and phonetic phenomena. Finally, based on the comparative analysis of the differences, the thesis offers targeted policy recommendations for learning English and Mandarin.

Error Analysis of English Pronunciation Acquisition by Chinese Non-English Majors

Chinese non-English majors are a large group of English learners.In the process of English pronunciation acquisition,issues such as incomplete phonological knowledge,transfer of mother tongue,and overgeneralization,lead to confusion of phonemes and stress,misunderstanding of syllable structure,and errors of assimilation,drop,and epenthesis.The accuracy of English pronunciation can only be improved by knowing both English and Chinese phonological systems,strengthening the teaching of English phonological knowledge,and adopting various phonological training activities.

Learning English Pronunciation

When one begins to learn a foreign language, he will find the habits of his native tongue often interfere with his learning the sounds of the new language. Chinese students,especially adults,often find it hard to pronounce some English sounds properly;teachers sometimes also find English sounds can not be casily taught by simply telling a learner what to do with his lips,teeth or tongue etc. Even some English major students find they arc misunderstood because of their incorrect use of a phoneme or an incorrect stress.In a listening test, some students fail to catch the meaning of a certain phrase or a word because they are not familiar with a word juncture or intonation. When a Chinese student learns English pronunciation, he might meet several difficulties.The following are the main factors which may affect his learning, of English.

后RP时代语音教学标准及教学重点——从English After RP:Standard British Pronunciation Today(2019)谈起

世界英语背景下本族语标准不断受到挑战,一线教学面临诸多迷惑。English After RP:Standard British Pronunciation Today(Lindsey 2019)一书指出RP在英国已经死亡,这要求外语教学界回应语音教学中的两个突出问题:应采用何种语音标准来教授?该标准对现有课程框架的教学内容及教学重点将产生怎样的影响?中国及世界英语教学理论与实践的研究表明,以传播中国,沟通世界为目的的中国外语教学,应该理性地选择世界范围内认可度最高的规范作为教授标准,并与时俱进,更新教学内容;从评价输出角度来说,应转变教学理念,聚焦信息交流的可理解度,将教学重点转向韵律。师生均需拓宽视野,培养世界胸怀,培养国际交流中对待地域及社会变体的积极的语言态度。

Research on the Mistakes Made by College English Teachers in Pronunciation of /n/&/l/

As an old saying goes that"once you open mouth, you are decided". Thus, there is no doubt about the fact that English pronunciation is of great importance, especially for English teachers whose pronunciation exerts far-reaching and direct influences on that of students. Some of College English teachers, however, have poor pronunciation; most of them cannot distinguish/n/ from /l/. Therefore, it is of huge practical value to commit to the research on the mistakes made by College English teachers in pronunciation of /n/ &/l/ and analyze the underlying causes in the hope of helping teachers to improve their poor pronunciation.

Approaches to College English Pronunciation Teaching

In most universities in China,pronunciation has long been overlooked in college English teaching.With the reform of college English teaching,great attention has been paid to the cultivation of the students' listening and speaking skills,that is,Eng lish teaching has moved to language functions and communicative competencies,a new urgency for the teaching of pronuncia tion has arisen.This paper covers the four areas of pronunciation:sounds,stress,rhythm,and intonation,with the expectation that it will provide readers with comprehensive insight into ways of teaching pronunciation.

Self and Peer Evaluation in English Pronunciation Instruction

A case study was carried out to test the effects of self and peer evaluation in the process of English majors' English pro-nunciation teaching and learning. First-year English majors were directed to do self and peer evaluation, whose views on the evalu-ation experience were collected through individual talks and a questionnaire. The significant majority of subjects have found the re-flection helpful in promoting their English pronunciation learning and facilitating autonomy. However, problems rise with changesof teachers' roles in the class and their assessment on students' performance and learning progress.

A Useful System in Learning and Teaching English Pronunciation——IPA Cardinal Vowels System

The paper introduces the cardinal vowels system invented by the famous English phonetician Daniel Jones.This system enables a teacher to describe to his students a foreign vowel by comparing it with the nearest vowel in his mother tongue,which makes the learning of a foreign sound much easier to his students.Two cases of teaching Chinese students English vowels are taken as an example to illustrate the point.IPA cardinal vowel system is of use in terms of teaching and learning English.Two suggestions are put forward in the end.

A Review of the Research on English Pronunciation Self-concept

English pronunciation self-concept is a personal judgment based on pronunciation.It is English learners’self-perception as well as the judgment of their English pronunciation competence as well as pronunciation learning ability,which is formed as they develop their skills in pronunciation.A higher level of English pronunciation self-concept can promote students’self-assurance in foreign language learning.Through the analysis,this paper summarizes the scholars’studies about English pronunciation self-concept as follows:1)Formation and characteristics of English pronunciation self-concept;2)Relevance between English pronunciation self-concept as well as English learning.

Differences between English and Chinese Syllables and Its Inspiration on English Pronunciation Teaching

English and Chinese belong to different linguistic systems, so English and Chinese syllables, as the basic linguistic structure, own great differences in syllable structure, syllabification, syllable function as well as liaison. Chinese English learners are apt to have the negative transfer in English pronunciation acquisition under the influence of their mother tongue-Chinese. Therefore, only the repeated imitation and practice on the ground of theoretical contrasts and analyses can help learners speak perfect English.

Factors Interfering Chinese Students' English Pronunciation and Its Solutions

In English learning, undesirable pronunciation of vowels and intonation that plagues Chinese students in many ways is caused by the interference of mother tongue, accents and system of examination. In order to correct the errors, teachers, students and the system need to adjust themselves accordingly.

Typical pronunciation problems with Chinese students of English

Listening comprehension has always been a major problem for Chinese students of English and it has a lot to do with the dissimilarities between English and Chinese ways of pronunciation. This paper tries to explore the discrepancy in terms of the timing and stress property in the two languages and also illustrates the author’s effort to apply the English pronunciation properties in her English teaching.

On Chinese Putonghua and English Pronunciation

Chinese putonghua is the official language in China, The students in China begin to study English after mastering the Chinese quite well, the pronunciation of English is influenced by mother language greatly. There are many pronunciation difficulties that have been encountered by Chinese students, resulting from the interference of their mother tongue: Mandarin (Chinese putonghua). This paper mainly discusses the relationship among Mandarin and English pronunciation. Besides, it provides the teachers and the EFL learners some suggestions to eliminate the negative transfer to improve the students' pronunciation.

The First Step of English Teaching —— Pronunciation

This paper narrates the importance of pronunciation teaching and analyzes the relations among pronunciation, grammarand vocabulary, and states the influence of pronunciation on the English abilities of the learners. Pronunciation teaching is the important English teaching step in the school, as well as for the English self-learners. Therefore, pronunciation teaching is essentialand indispensable.

Pronunciation in English Pedagogy in China

Teaching English pronunciation in SLA has been a challenge for almost every English teacher because students' local Chinese accents have been a major obstacle when they're learning English.This article is aiming to illustrate the phenomena and solutions of the pronunciation in English pedagogy.

The Influence of Mandarin and WMD over English Pronunciation

Applied Linguistics requests to research the foreign language teaching by using contrastive and error analysis (Zhang, 2001, p.13). English voice system includes 46 vowels and consonants phonemes. During the study process, accents are mainly caused by students who view the target language phoneme system and mother tongue phoneme tongue system equally, so it is necessary for us to tell the target language from mother tongue in systems, so that students can be preaware of their own mistakes in pronunciation (Zhang, 2001, p.16). When the practical problems encountered, students can find the reasons and resolve them faster and better, under the guidance of a good teacher.

The Current Situation of Chinese College Students' English Pronunciation

Nowadays, we can find the expression"dumb English"in newspapers and websites. The phrase exposes a situation that many Chinese college students, who earn high scores in English proficiency tests, such as CET-4, cannot speak fluent English. When they started to work after graduation, they cannot perform effective communication with foreigners verbally in many occasions. This paper aims to illustrate the current situation of Chinese college students' English pronunciation and analyze it in detail.

Research on the Reform of Pronunciation Teaching in Business English Major

Traditionally, English pronunciation teaching in universities in China is always focused on the theoretical teaching in classroom, which cannot meet the requirements of society. At the same time, the new national standard of business English major puts forward higher demands of the educational objectives of the course. In order to adapt to the reform of business English major, university teachers of English pronunciation course should be active in promoting the curriculum reform. This paper proposes to make suggestions to change the traditional theory teaching of classroom and to improve the students＇ practical skills by training.

English Speech Recognition and Multidimensional Pronunciation Evaluation

As one of the four major skills in English learning,speaking is an important part in English learning which getting more and more attention.The study set out to improve the accuracy of speech recognition by applying speech recognition technology to the evaluation of English pronunciation.On this basis,the study attempts to improve computer speech evaluation methods.This model employs indexes such as intonation,speech rate,rhythm and intonation,using multi-dimensional indicators as evaluation criteria to establish a more comprehensive and objective English speech evaluation model.English learners can use the evaluation systems to guide their self-study,and the system can have a profound influence on the practice of teaching spoken English.

Native/Non-native English Speakers’Attitudes:Addressing Learners’Goals and Needs Towards Pronunciation Issues

The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italian students studying at the University of Calabria(Italy)and native English speakers from Alberta University(Canada)and Florida Atlantic University(USA).An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data.The research questions will investigate learners’attitudes in relation to the following aspects:accent and identity,beliefs about native/non-native accents,impact of pronunciation on communication,and learners’expectations towards pronunciation teaching.Firstly,mean scores in relation to the aforementioned aspects will be examined.Secondly,differences between native/non-native speakers’responses will be statistically analysed.Thirdly,non-native learners’responses will be correlated with their proficiency level in English to identify the extent to which language competence may affect learners’attitudes.The study aims to gain useful insights that may hopefully raise students and teachers’awareness of what models we expect learners to imitate and attain in the English language classroom,how appropriate and relevant these may be especially in the globalized English world where non-native speakers will increasingly use English in a diversity of forms to achieve their communicative goals.The preliminary results will be presented and pedagogical considerations suggested.