The Impact of Phonological Characteristics of Pashto' and Native English Environment' On The Pronunciation of English Consonants

The impact of ‘phonological characteristics of Pashto’ and ‘native English
environment’ on the pronunciation of English consonants
Author:
Irfan Ullah
M00279273
Research Supervisor:
Dr. Billy Clark
A Dissertation Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts in Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages
Middlesex University London, UK

September, 2011
Acknowledgements
Being author of this research report, I wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to
all those who assisted, advised or provided support for the completion of this project. First of all, I
would like to thank my research supervisor Dr. Billy Clark for his patience and thought provoking
suggestions, support and guidance. I am also indebted to thank Clare O'Donoghue for her continuous
support, guidance and cooperation particularly during my illness and Gillian Lazar for her everlasting
encouragement during my stay at campus.
I also want to thank my classmate and best friend Melih Gurbuz for his endless support,
motivation and friendship.
At the end, I am extremely obliged to Pakistani and British friends and participants who by
giving up their time participated in the study and enabled me to complete this project.
Finally, words cannot be found to articulate thanks I owe to my family who during my illness
helped, cared and encouraged me to complete this project.
I
Abstract
There is a profound relationship between phonological characteristics of a language and the
intelligibility of the speakers of that language. Pashtun speakers or learners of English, whether in
Pakistan or in UK, consider their pronunciation to be a hindrance in smooth communication during
their interaction with foreigners or among themselves. In this regard, the current study investigates
the impact of phonological characteristics of Pashto and the influence of native English environment
on the pronunciation of English consonants. For this purpose a sample of five Londoner Pashtuns
(residing there around five or more than five years) and five Pakistani Pashtun speakers (domiciled in
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province)of English participated in this study. The process of data collection
included an open ended questionnaire and two readings based on two different groups of consonants
inserted in fifteen sentences in each reading. Both groups of participants responded to the
questionnaire and read aloud ‘Reading 1’ and ‘Reading 2’ which included specific consonants. The
analysis of findings demonstrated that those consonants which were absent in Pashto language and
were present in English consonant group appeared to be difficult for Pashtun speakers of English.
Moreover, non-native consonants of Pashto which appeared during literature review also caused
difficulties for Pashtun speakers of English. Regarding the influence of native English environment, the
findings exhibited that there is considerable role of native environment and it showed reasonable
improvement in the pronunciation of Pashtun speakers of English residing in London.
II
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction ……………………………...1

1.2 Aim of the research ……………………………..3
Chapter: 2
Background to the research and literature review

2.1 English syllable structure ……………………………...5
2.2 English sound system ……………………………...7
2.2.1 Consonants of English ……………………………...7
2.3 Pashto language ……………………………...10
2.3.1 Syllable structure of Pashto ……………………………...13
2.3.2 Pashto consonants and their articulation ……………………………...18
2.3.3 Exemplary usage of Pashto consonants ……………………………...21
2.4 Contrastive analysis and related theories ……………………………...23
2.4.1 The critical hypothesis period ……………………………...24
2.4.2 The native language magnet model ……………………………...25
2.4.3 The speech learning model ……………………………...25
2.4.4 Contrastive analysis hypothesis ……………………………...26
2.5 Phonological characteristics and difficulty categories ……………………………...31
2.5.1 Level 0: Transfer ……………………………...31
2.5.2 Level 1: Coalescence ……………………………...31
2.5.3 Level 2: Underdifferentiation ……………………………...31
2.5.4 Level 3: Reinterpretation ……………………………...31
2.5.5 Level 4: Overdifferentiation ……………………………...32
2.5.6 Level 5: Split ……………………………...32
2.6 English and Pashto languages in contrast ……………………………...32
2.6.1 English and Pashto syllable structure in contrast ……………………………...33
2.6.2 English and Pashto consonants in contrast ……………………………...35
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
3.1 Objectives of the research ……………………………...40
3.2 Research questions ……………………………...40
3.3 Significance of the study ……………………………...41
3.4 Participants ……………………………...42
3.5 Instruments for data collection ……………………………...42
3.5.1 Questionnaire ……………………………...42
3.5.2 Reading 1 ……………………………...43
3.5.3 Reading 2 ……………………………...44
3.6 Data collection procedure ……………………………...44
3.7 Limitations of the research ……………………………...45
III
Chapter 4
Findings and analysis of the data
4.1 Section A: Findings of the questionnaire
4.1.1 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker A ……………………………...48

4.1.2 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker B ……………………………...48
4.1.3 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker C ……………………………...48
4.1.4 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker D ……………………………...49
4.1.5 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker E ……………………………...49
4.1.6 Londoner Pashtun Speaker A ……………………………...50
4.1.7 Londoner Pashtun Speaker B ……………………………...50
4.1.8 Londoner Pashtun Speaker C ……………………………...51
4.1.9 Londoner Pashtun Speaker D ……………………………...51
4.1.10 Londoner Pashtun Speaker E ……………………………...51
4.2 Section B: Findings of ‘Reading 1’

4.3 Section C: Findings of ‘Reading 2’

IV
Chapter 5
Discussion and Conclusion
5.1 Discussion ……………………………...66

5.2 Implication of findings ……………………………...69
5.3 Conclusion ……………………………...70
5.4 Recommendations ……………………………...71
References ……………………………..72
Appendices
Appendix A: Information Sheet ……………………………...76

Appendix B: Consent Form ……………………………...77
Appendix C: Instrument 1: Questionnaire ……………………………...78
Appendix D: Instrument 2: Reading 1 ……………………………...79
Appendix E: Instrument 3: Reading 2 ……………………………...80
V
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Syllable structure of English ……………………6
Table 2.2.1 Consonants of English ……………………7
Table 2.3 Language family of Pashto ……………………11
Table 2.3.2 Consonants of Pashto ……………………18
Table 2.6.1 English Pashto syllable structures in contrast ……………………33
Table 2.6.2a Pashto consonants absent in English ……………………35
Table 2.6.2b English consonants absent in Pashto ……………………35
Table 4.1a Summary of the findings of questionnaire (PPS) ……………………49
Table 4.1b Summary of the findings of questionnaire (LPS) ……………………52
Table 4.2a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’ (PPS) ……………………55
Table 4.2b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’ (LPS) ……………………59
Table 4.3a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’ (PPS) ……………………61
Table 4.3b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’ (LPS) ……………………64
VI
CHAPTER 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION
It is an understood fact that a native speaker of a language has the ability to identify foreign
accents of non-natives of that language. Main reason behind this recognition is that such non-native
accents suffer from intelligibility problems in the usage of certain consonants or vowels. Like other
native speakers of languages, the ability of native English speakers to differentiate between native and
non-native accents is also quite reasonable to admit for the reason that any foreign accent in English,
in reality, is based on regular difference of phonetic norms of English language which the natives are
unfamiliar about and their sounds are not pronounced the way they appear in foreign accents such as
Pashtun, Japanese or Caribbean accents of English. For a learner the threshold level in pronunciation is
to make the listener comfortable regarding intelligibility of his accent as according to Fraser (2000) an
ESL learner should be able to use accent or accents of what he/she likes but to be comfortably
understood by the average native speaker. What is intelligibility has been defined quite clearly by
Kenworthy (1987) as “intelligibility is being understood by a listener at a given time in a given
situation.” The achievement of the threshold intelligible level in accent is considered as one of the most
important and also difficult stage for a learner of English. Being unable to achieve comfortable
pronunciation level cause further discouragement as mentioned by Huang (2009). According to him,
learner’s inability and frustration about required pronunciation level becomes the reason of ‘language
shock’. Horwitz (1988, cited in Young, 1991) and Gynan (1989, cited in Ohata, 2005) also reported
that their participants' sensitivity towards their pronunciation created anxiety for them and they
further got discouraged.
It is also a generally accepted fact that learners of English often become proficient at grammar,
morphology and semantics even sometime to the level of a native user of English but remain
unsuccessful regarding achieving the acceptable level of phonology of English. In this regard the role of
1
learner’s L1 is a major factor involved in developing the accent of an ESL/EFL learner (Avery and
Ehrlich, 1992). It is evident from the research that mother tongue syllable structure and phonological
characteristics have great impact in the production of target language sounds. The erroneous sounds
produced by the second language learners are actually the reflection of the sound system of their
mother tongue and not only the random attempts for the production of different sounds of L1
(Singleton and Lengyel, 1995).
As the researcher mentioned above that mother tongue has a considerable role in the production
of L2 sounds thus the English language teachers in this regard are needed to be aware about the
critical role mother tongue of the learner plays in pronunciation learning and producing target
language sounds. In this regard contrastive analysis is an approach which can shed light and
convey a lot regarding similarities and differences between two languages and can help the
researcher to come up with a product to make the teachers and learners both understand the
differences of mother tongue and target language.
The current project is restricted to understand the consonantal differences between English and
Pashto language by using the contrastive analysis approach. Pashtun speakers of English whether
living in England or Pakistan have a particular way to pronounce English consonants. The
researcher, during his stay in England and Pakistan has observed that their consonantal
production has some consonantal sounds which are worth studying for the reason that these
consonants create intelligibility problems and are hurdle in the way of convey message smoothly.
The listeners either put extra effort to understand the words including such consonants or then
need ask for repeating the word.
The main focus of this study is to find out those consonants which are hurdle for Pashtun speakers of
English in learning pronunciation and which create problems of intelligibility for the listener. In order
2
to achieve the objectives contrastive analysis approach in literature review in chapter 2 and then later
on data collection instruments have been used. Further to the aim of the study, it is quite evident
that those consonants which are not present in Pashto interfere with the pronunciation of Pashto
speakers of English and create intelligibility problems for the listeners. Thus this took the
attention of the author to conduct study based on contrastive analysis and find out the differences
of pronunciation that appear in Pashtun speakers’ use of English. In other words it can be
understood that Pashtun learners or speakers need three extra consonant sounds to be learned
and on the other hand they need to neglect the twelve consonant sounds of Pashto and need to
exercise restriction of such consonants not to influence English pronunciation. Moreover, this
study is also based on investigating the role of mother tongue in the production of English
consonants. As there are many consonant sounds in English which are same in English language
but various others do not match exactly or not present in English. Same is the case of English
consonants and it restricts Pashtun speakers of English in appropriate pronunciation of English
consonants. Other than these two aim the third aim and focus of this study is to investigate
whether living in native English environment has influenced Pashtun speakers’ pronunciation of
English consonants.
1.2 Aim of the research
This study has been conducted to find out those consonants of English which Pashtun speakers of
English feel difficult to pronounce. In addition, investigating the phonological impact of Pashto in
the production of English consonants is also the part of the aim with the third and final part of the
project which is based on finding out whether the Pashtun speakers of English have improved
their consonantal pronunciation by living in native English environment of London. This aim got
its place in the mind of the researcher after realizing the need of the research study for Pashtun
speakers in view of the fact that the researcher has observed Pashtun speakers of English to be
uncomfortable while pronouncing some of English consonants. During teaching in both private
3
and public sector schools and colleges, the researcher personally observed this phonological
difference and pronunciation problem. Thus finally the researcher decided to conduct this study to
provide a set of ideas in order to make ESL/EFL teachers aware and making them capable to play
their role and put extra efforts on such learners and speakers of English to work out their
problems in pronouncing English consonants.
4
Chapter Two
Background to the Research and Literature Review
This chapter presents the syllable structures and sound systems of both English and Pashto
languages followed by the theoretical background relating to learning of L2 pronunciation. In this
regard, the major theories relating to the comparison between two or more languages have been
given. At the end of this chapter, the contrastive analysis of both the languages have been entailed
and the sounds, absent in the languages for each other, have been shaded. This contrastive
approach resulted in the identification of those areas which may be problematic for Pashtun
speakers of English.
2.1 English Syllable Structure
One of the prominent members of Indo-European language family is English language. Its system of
alphabets has been derived from Latin with orthography based on letters which denote vowels and
consonants. Like other alphabetical languages, English also has the system of division of syllables
based on number of vowels that determine how many syllables build up a word.
English language belongs to the group of languages that are called stressed-timed. In such
languages, the time taken in pronouncing a sentence is related to the stress receiving syllables in
that sentence (Windfuhr, 1979). (C) (C) (C) V (C) (C) (C) (C) is the longest possible structure in
English syllable system where (C ) represents consonant and (v) represents vowel sounds. It is
revealed that English language has the ability to allow initially a cluster of three consonants
maximum and four at the end or after the vowel sound. A good example of such cluster may be
‘scrambles’ /skræmblz/ where the first cluster at the beginning and then four at the end make up
the longest possible syllable. Syllable structure of English with possible combination of vowel and
consonants is as follow:
5
Words Phonetic transcription English syllables
I /i/ V
an /æn/ VC
ask /æsk/ VCC
apples /æpls/ VCCC
she /ʃi/ CV
sir /sᴈ: (r)/ CVC
battle /bætƏl/ CVCC
Hints /hInts/ CVCCC
free /fri:/ CCV
Trees /tri:s/ CCVC
stand /stænd/ CCVCC
pranks /præȠks/ CCVCCC
trampled /træmpƏld/ CCVCCCC
Strew /stru:/ CCCV
Sprig /sprIg/ CCCVC
Sprint /sprInt/ CCCVCC
strands /strændz/ CCCVCCC
scrambles /skræmblz/ CCCVCCCC
Table: 2.1 Syllable Structures of English
The table above reveals the fact that in English language the occurrence of consonant cluster in onset and
coda or syllable initial and final is possible. Regarding structural point of view, the consonant cluster in
6
English allow three initial and four final consonants clusters with an additional feature that syllables can
also be initiated by a vowel.
2.2 Sound system of English language
2.2.1 Consonants
English is a language with twenty six letters including twenty four consonants and 12 vowels. There
are also diphthongs there which are 8 in total. These all in aggregate are forty four phonemes (Sousa,
2005). Though some of the linguists are not agree with this number but the variation is not that much
huge rather they come with phonemes between 43 to 45. In the table given below, English consonants
have been arranged according to their manner and place of articulation. In manner they have been
arranged vertically and the place of articulation has been shown horizontally.
Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar Glottal Examples
dental alveolar
Plosive p b t d k g pick tick kick
big dig guest
Affricate tʃ dʒ chapter joke
Nasal m N Ƞ beam keen ring
Fricative f v Ө s z ʃ ʒ H fig thick sick
shine hit
ᶞ vine the zebra
treasure
Approximant R j w round yell walk
Lateral L lamb
Approximant
Table: 2.2.1 (Consonants of English) International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), 1999, p. 41.
7
The table above presents both manner and place of articulation of the consonants of English
language. In the first row horizontally, there are six plosives /p, b, t, d, k, g/ which are divided into
three categories i.e. bilabial plosives, alveolar plosives and velar plosives. /p, b/ the bilabial
plosives are produced by stopping the air passage in the mouth by the two lips and soft palate
rises to stop the nasal passage of air. Then the two lips open to let the air go out which produce
plosive sounds /p/ and /b/. The former is voiceless and the latter is voiced where the vocal cords
vibrate. /p/ sound is produced aspirated in initial and middle positions if it is used before stressed
vowel and remains un-aspirated if it is used in final position as in the word ‘stop’. In middle
position the sound /p/ also remains un-aspirated if it comes after /s/ sound and followed by a
vowel sound.
The sounds /t/ and /d/ belong to the category alveolar plosives where the air passage is closed
completely by raising the tip of the tongue to touch the alveolar ridge and soft palate. When the
tongue allows the air to pass the plosive sounds /t/ and /d/ are produced. Sound /t/ is voiceless
and vocal cords do not vibrate while its production. Like the sound /p/ it also comes aspirated in
its initial and medial positions if it appears before stressed vowel and remains un-aspirated if
comes after /s/ and before vowel.
Sounds /k/ and /g/ are also voiceless and voiced respectively. They belong to the category velar
plosives where the air passage is blocked by placing the back of the tongue against soft palate.
When the soft palate is raised the air passage produces sounds /k/ and /g/. Vocal cords do not
vibrate for the former and they do for the latter. After the plosive sounds, there come fricatives
which are consonants of English language with the characteristics that during their production of
them they produce hissing sounds. English language has nine fricatives which are as follow: / f, v,
Ө, ð, s, z, h, ʃ, ʒ /.
8
In the given fricative consonants, four of them /v, ð, z, ʒ/ are voiced and vocal cords vibrate while
they are produced. Rest of them are voiceless. These fricatives may be divided into the following
categories: sibilant voiceless fricative /s/ and sibilant voiced fricative /z/ voiceless post alveolar
sibilant fricative /ʃ/ and the same but voiced one /ʒ/. Other than them are voiceless labio-dental
non-sibilant fricative /f/ and voiced labio-dental fricative. Then next ones are voiceless linguo-
labio-dental non-sibilant fricative /Ө/ and /ð/ is voiced linguo-labial fricative while /h/ is
voiceless glottal fricative consonant sound of English language.
In the above table it is observed that English language has three nasal consonant sounds which are
/m/, /n/ and /Ƞ/ sounds. All the three are voiced ones and the vocal cords vibrate while they are
produced. In these nasal sounds, /m/ is bilabial nasal consonant sound while /n/ and / Ƞ/ are
dental-alveolar and velar consonant sounds respectively. /m/ and /n/ sounds can occur initially
but /Ƞ/ sounds do not occur initially. Another feature of these nasals is that they have their
syllabic allophones. Other than fricatives, given table also shows ‘affricates’ which is another
category of English consonants. There are two sounds in affricates which are / ʧ/ and /ʤ/ sounds.
Both are post-alveolar affricate with the difference of voiceless and voiced quality respectively.
After the affricates, the table shows another category of consonants that is approximant
consonants which include /r/, /j/ and /w/ sounds. In first instance, the sound /ɾ/ is used in
between the vowels like we have in ‘very’ that is usually called alveolar tap. Other allophones of
/r/ sound are retroflex tap /ɽ/ and voiced continuative /r/ like we have in the words ‘hard’ and
‘serene’ respectably. In this same list of approximant, there are two more consonants which are
/j/ and /w/ sounds. The former is palatal and the latter is known as velar approximant.
The last category of consonants according to the above table is lateral approximant /l/ sound. Its
usage in different positions has developed its four allophones which are clear /l/, dark /ƚ/, dental
/ḽ/ and voiceless /ɬ/. The first two mentioned are used more frequently than the rest two. The first
9
allophone of /l/sound, clear /l/ is most frequent one in all the four and come in word initial
position like in the word ‘love’. Dark /ƚ/ is the allophone of /l/ sound which comes at final position
of the word like in ‘rival’ and inter-vocalically like in the word ‘silk’. The third allophone dental /ḽ/
also involves teeth in its articulation like in the word ‘wealth’ and the final sub-category of /l/
sound that is voiceless /ɬ/ as in the word ‘clay’.
2.3 Pashto language
Pashto is a language spoken on both sides of Durand line between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is
national and provincial language of Afghanistan and Pakistan respectively. Due to various reasons,
its name is spelled in various ways and one of the known reasons is the dialectal differences. The
middle consonant of Pashto is different in different areas of Pashtun speakers. For example
Kandaharis pronounce ‘Pashto’ with [sh] as a middle consonant and eastern and central Pashtuns
due to their changed dialects pronounce middle consonant like German ch sound. Another reason
is the lack of appropriate fixed system of standard transliteration to render it in proper Roman
alphabet. This lack of system developed the freedom for Pashto writers and users to write out as
they could consider appropriate. In the western world particularly for BBC and VoA it is Pashto.
Earlier books and literature reveal further variety of the name of this language. For example in the
Bellow’s grammar of Pashto published in 1667, the word Pashto has been used as Pakkhto which
is a new variant and this underlining belongs to Bellow as well of which he might have to show it
is a non-English word or he wanted this spelling like this. While later on in the works of Lorimer,
1915 in his grammar book, fifty year after the work of Bellow (1667 cited in Tegey & Robson,
1996) he used the word ‘Pashtu’. (Tegey and Robson, 1996).
Like Beluchi, Kurdish, Ossentian, Persian and Tajik languages are internally relatives, Pashto also
shares their nearest relative group. Pashto belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and
specifically it belongs to the Iranian branch of this family. Being part of this family, Pashto is
10
relatively near to English language. Following is the family tree of the Indo-European languages
family.
Indo-European Language Family
Celtic Germanic Italic Hellenic Baltic Slavic Indic Iranian
(Welsh) (English (Italian (Greek) (Latvian (Russian (Hindi (Persian
Germanic) French) Lithuanian) Polish) Urdu) Pashto)
Table: 2.3 Language family of Pashto
Although Pashto follows the writing style of Arabic and has borrowed various words of Arabic but
as a matter of fact it does not belong to Arabic language. Regarding nature of this language, it
happened to be one of the most conservative languages of the world as it still preserves archaic
elements and continues to use gender differences through nouns. while rest of the languages
belong to Iranian branch have lost this distinctiveness. Furthermore though it belongs to Iranian
branch of languages, but it shares its retroflex consonants with Indic group of languages. The
nearest word sharing language of Pashto is Dari for the reason that their speakers’ share
neighborhood since ages. Other than Afghanistan, Pashto is the provincial language of North West
Frontier Province of Pakistan which is now called as ‘Khyber Pukhtunkwa’. It is also spoken in
Baluchistan province of Pakistan. Pashto did not get official status in the mentioned province of
Pakistan and the medium of education for Pashtuns is either Urdu or English. Still it is strange fact
to say that more books are published in NWFP province of Pakistan than in Afghanistan and this
high number of publishing houses is the result of British presence in this region.
Pashto language has three main dialects: western dialects, central dialects and eastern dialects.
Southwest areas of Afghanistan and Baluchistan area of Pakistan speak western dialect of Pashto
or can also be called Kandahari dialect. Other than these Khattak and Wazir tribes of NWFP
11
Pakistan in their dialect have the characteristics of Kandahari dialect particularly the retroflex
consonants are used by the said tribes. The residents of Kabul, Parwan province, Logar and Ghazni,
speak central dialect of Pashto. This dialect is also called Kabul dialect. The areas like northwest of
Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan have the eastern dialect. This dialect is also known as
Ningrahar dialect. Among these dialects, the western and central ones are under the influence of
Persian while the one spoken in Pakistan i.e. eastern dialect borrows vocabulary from English and
Urdu languages. Each of such dialects has its own prestige for its speakers. If eastern is considered
normal way in NWFP of Pakistan then Kandahari is more enjoyable for afghan speakers of the
Kandahari dialect. In Afghanistan writing system follows Kandahari dialect while in Pakistan
eastern dialect is used for literary traditions. The soldier and grammarian of British army in 19 th
century Lorimer (1915) is of the view that:
……….Many an Afridi or Shinwari [tribes of NWFP Pakistan] phrase or pronunciation will incure the
contemp of Pehsawar Munshi [a Pashtun teacher of the British troops in Peshawar] as a solecism or a
boorishness,
while to the countryman the Munchi’s speech will seen foreign, womanish and mincing’.
(Lorimer, 1915 cited in Tegey andRobson, 1996)
Regarding standardization of Pashto language, there is no standard fixed like English or Urdu
languages have. There is no agreed upon standard system of Pashto either oral or written which
can be considered as the basis of ‘Correct Pashto’. Languages other than Pashto (for example
English) have agreed upon rules that there is a set of universally accepted spellings, punctuation
and capitalization etc. and all those who do not comply with the agreed upon set of rules are
considered uneducated. But unlike such rules of English, Pashto has no such rules of spelling or
punctuation etc. and the writers of Pashto enjoy the freedom that they write up words the way
they choose. Though highly educated Pashtuns and native speakers of this language are used to of
such variations but non-native speakers of Pashto and language learners do face problems due to
this lack of standardization. The contribution of non-native speakers is also a problem in
12
standardization of Pashto as in newspapers and magazines, the writer and typewriters are non-
native speakers or translations are carried out form Urdu or Dari which reflect resemblance to
Urdu or Dari and less attention is paid to the main language being tried to develop.
Although some positive steps towards standardization of Pashto were taken to develop it. In this
regard, the establishment of Pashto academy in Afghanistan in 1930 by King Zaher and Pashto
academy in Peshawar Pakistan in 1950, are notable. These academies were established to ensure
the development of Pashto by including it appropriately in syllabus at schools as medium of
instructions and to be used in government offices in Afghanistan and provincial offices in Pakistan
but this could not happen. Although the members of afghan academy did notable work for the
development of Pashto by translating notable works from other languages, publishing works of
Pashtun poets, did research in social sciences. Their recommendations to ensure the set rules for
spellings and punctuation were appreciable. Similarly in Peshawar, Pashto academy also
performed in the same way and research is being carried on to develop Pashto used in Pakistan.
2.3.1 Syllable structure of Pashto
Like English, Urdu or other languages, Pashto also has a syllable structure with minimum one
vowel with possibly three consonants before and two after the vowel. Given below are the syllable
structures possible in Pashto language where the alphabet ‘c’ represent consonant and ‘v’
represent vowel.
V CV CCV CCCV
VC CVC CCVC CCCVC
VCC CVCC CCVCC CCCVCC
Languages follow certain set of rules of syllable combination in the makeup of words. For example
in English language ‘Ƞ’ sound cannot be used to start a word. Similarly, in Pashto language the
consonant [h] can only begin a word while the retroflex [ṇ], the diphthong [Əy] and the sound [‫]ږ‬
13
occurs as final syllable of the word. If the consonants of both the languages are considered as
compare to English, Pashto has more allowable combinations. (Tegey and Robson, 1996).
Following are the most frequent combinations of two consonant clusters of Pashto with English
alphabetical order:
[br] [brƏn] angry
[bṛ] [bṛastan] quilt
[by] [byal] separate
[dr] [dremgaṛƏ] third person
[dw] [dwadish] thirty two
[dzgh] [dzghalawi]moves
[dzm] [dzmikh] test
[dzw] [dzwai] son
[gr] [grάn] expensive
[gṛ] [gṛaz] blasting noise
[gw] [gwƏtma] finger ring
[ghl] [ghlagar] thief
[kl] [klaq] tough
[kr] [kraka] horrible smell
[kṛ] [kṛas] breaking sound
[kw] [kwƏnd] widower
[khp] [khpƏ] foot
[khw] [khwast] request
[lm] [lmƏr] sun
[lw] [lway] big
14
[my] [myasht] month
[mr] [mram] dying
[mṛ] [mṛƏ] dead
[ng] [ngur] grapes
[ngh] [ngharay] burner
[nm] [nmar] sun
[ny] [nymat] blessing
[pl] [plandar] step father
[pr] [prakar] thunder sound
[pṛ] [pṛaƞ] lion
[py] [pyala] cup
[tl] [tlal] going
[tr] [tr Ə] paternal uncle
[sk] [skarƏ] burning coal
[skh] [skhar] father-in-law
[sp] [spak] light ( opp: of heavy)
[sr] [srƏ zƏ r] gold
[st] [stognƏ] residence
[sw] [swaredal] riding
[shk] [shkaņ] wheat bug
[shp] [shpon] shepherd
[xk] [xkulul] kiss
[wl] [wlar] gone
[wr] [wrur] brother
15
[wṛ] [wṛund] blind
[zg] [zgeṛƏl] sew
[zgh] [zhgam] forbearance
[zml] [zmung] our
[zṛ] [zṛƏwar] courageous
[zy] [zyarat] visiting
[zhm] [zhmƏndz] hair comb
[zhw] [zhwand] life
Now following are the clusters which, though appear in some words, but the words they form are
that much frequent and fundamental that mentioning them here is obligatory.
[bl] [blarba] pregnant
[dy] [dyarlas] thirteen
[khy] [khyal] thought
[ml] [mlast] lied
[nj] [njƏlƏ] lass
[ngh] [nghƏri] rolling around
[shkh] [shkara] clash
[shm] [shmeral] counting
[tw] [twu:n] capacity
[tsk] [tskal] drinking
[tsw] [tswarlasama]fourteenth
[zb] [zbexi] sucking
[zd] [zdashawƏ ]learned
[zr] [zrak] push
16
[zw] [zwƏndun] life
Following are the consonant clusters which are only limited to onomatopoeic words but needed to
be mentioned here:
[khṛ] [khṛap] slapping sound
[tṛ] [tṛaq] gunshot noise
At the end are clusters which are three in total and come at the beginning of the vowel which are
as follow:
[khw] [khwakh] favourite
[khwd] [khwdάy] Allah almighty
[ndr] [ndror] sister-in-law
[skw] [skwƏlƏl] shear
[skhw] [skhwandƏr] ox
[shkhw] [shkhwand] chew
[xkw] [xkwƏlawƏl] kissing
As mentioned earlier, Pashto language allows three consonant clusters initially and two after the
vowel. In Pashto language syllable –final clusters are less in number than the ones appear in
syllable-initial and formers are mostly borrowed words like bank for the two-consonant cluster at
the end. Following are the most frequent words of native Pashto with two consonant clusters at
the end.
17
[kht] [sakht] hard
[nd] [qadarmand] respectable
[nḍ] [dunḍ] pool
[rg] [zwanimerg] young death
[ṛkh] [naṛkh] rate
[sk] [mƏsk] smiling
[st] [mlast] lie down
[xt] [puxt] generation
2.3.2 PASHTO CONSONANTS AND THEIR ARTICULATION
Pashto language contains thirty two consonants in total. Following table is the systematic
presentation of Pashto consonants along with the place of the articulation in horizontal way and
the manner of articulation in vertical column.
Bilabial Dental Palatal Retroflex Velar Uvular Pharyngeal
Stops
Voiceless P t ṭ k q ‫ﺤ‬
Voiced B d ḍ g
Nasals m n ṇ ng
Fricatives kh ɦ h
Voiceless F s sh gh ʔ
Voiced z x
Affricates
Voiceless ts ch
Voiced dz j
18
Others
Voiceless l
voiced W r Y ṛ
Table: 2.3.2 Consonants of Pashto (Tegey and Robson, 1996)
Technical description of the consonants presented in the above table:
[p] bilabial stop and voiceless consonant
[b] bilabial stop and voiced consonant
[t] dental stop and voiceless consonant
[d] dental stop and voiced consonant
[ṭ] retroflex stop and voiceless consonant
[ḍ] retroflex stop and voiced consonant
[k] velar stop and voiceless consonant
[g] velar stop and voiced consonant
[q] aspirated uvular stop and voiced consonant
[‫]ﺤ‬ glottal stop and voiceless consonant
[m] bilabial nasal and voiced consonant
[n] dental nasal and voiced consonant
[ņ] retroflex nasal and voiced consonant
[ng] velar nasal and voiced consonant
[f] labio-dental fricative and voiceless consonant
[s] dental fricative and voiceless consonant
[z] dental fricative and voiced consonant
[sh] palatal fricative and voiceless consonant
[x] palatal fricative and voiceless consonant
19
[kh] velar fricative and voiceless consonant
[gh] velar fricative and voiced consonant
[h] glottal fricative and voiceless consonant
[ɦ] pharyngeal fricative and voiceless consonant
[ʔ] pharyngeal fricative and voiced consonant
[ts] dental affricate and voiceless consonant
[dz] dental affricate and voiceless consonant
[ch] palatal affricate and voiceless consonant
[j] palatal affricate and voiced consonant
[l] dental lateral and voiced consonant
[r] dental tap and voiced consonant
[ṛ] retroflex flap and voiced consonant
[w] bilabial , voiced, consonant form of [u]
[y] palatal, voiced, consonant form of [l]
There are many consonant sounds in Pashto which do not belong to it rather have been borrowed
from other languages like Arabic, Persian and some others. Such sounds are [f], [q], [ɦ] and [ʔ].
These sounds are pronounced differently by the educated and uneducated Pashtuns natives. Some
of the given examples show the difference how these sounds are tackled by native Pashtun
speakers.
The sound [f] which is non-native sound of Pashto is pronounced as [p] sound, the examples of
which are as follow:
[fazul]: extra or irrelevant [pazul]
[faqir] beggar [paqir]
20
It has been observed that the educated Pashtuns pronounce [f] sound properly and uneducated
and informal speech carry the [p] sound instead of [f].
Another sound [q] has also changed pronunciation as [k], the examples of which are as follow:
[taluq]: relation [taluk]
[aqal]: wisdom [akal]
Same is the situation with this sound as uneducated Pashtuns or informal usage of [q] becomes [k].
Further on the two other non-native Pashto consonant sounds [ɦ] and [ʔ] are also mispronounced
by the uneducated Pashtuns and during informal speech educated also pronounce it with
difference to the original sound. Following are the example of such use;
[ɦalaq]: boy [alak]
[ɦalta]: there [alta]
[ʔilam]: knowledge [ilam]
[ʔamomi]: ordinary [amomi]
The examples reveal that the non-native sounds of Pashto language are pronounced in a way that
shows the non-native nature of the discussed sounds. The dental consonants of Pashto and
retroflex consonants also reveal the difference between English and Pashto sounds which often
become problem for the speakers of both languages.
2.3.3 EXEMPLARY USAGE OF PASHTO CONSONANTS
Below are the consonants of Pashto language with its full range. Now according to the given table
first of all the consonants that resemble English consonants are arranged below:
21
[b] [balakht] pillow
[ch] [chak] bite
[dz] [dzaman] sons
[f] [fasal] crop
[g] [tag] going
[h] [haq] right
[j] [jawar] deep
[k] [kusa] street
[m] [malk] country
[p] [pishu] cat
[s] [sar] head
[sh] [shpa] night
[ts] [tsangul] elbow
[w] [wakht] time
[y] [yaveesh] twenty one
[z] [zama] my, mine
Now given are the consonants which to an extent are different from English consonants:
[t] [tush] empty
[d] [dung] tall
[l] [lus] ten
[n] [nƏ] not
22
The following consonant sounds differ to a large extent from English consonants:
[gh] [afghάn] afghan
[ɦ] [ɦalwu:] name of sweet dish
[kh] [wekhtƏ] hair
[q] [sunduq] trunk
[r] [chakar] round
[x] [xu:g] sweet
[ʔ] [ʔάmƏl] act
Retroflex consonant of Pashto language:
[ṭ] [ṭok] episode
[ḍ] [ḍeru:n] piles
[ņ] [ruņƏ] brothers
[ṛ] [maṛ] dead
2.4 Contrastive analysis and related theories
Successful communication in a non-native language involves more than one aspect of a language.
If grammar contributes to the correctness of language, gestures play their role towards the clarity
of the meaning and vocabulary works for better presentation of one’s ideas. In speaking, though
all mentioned aspects contribute in their own way but the role of accurate pronunciation is
indispensable and cannot be ignored in any case. The ability to identify differences between the
sounds and then pronouncing them correctly has always been a major problem towards the
intelligibility for the learners of a foreign language. Though it is not compulsory to have native like
pronunciation but there is a threshold level to be achieved at least to pronounce the way the
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sounds should not be hurdle or misleading in smooth communication. The question of why the
learners of a foreign language feel difficulty in acquiring the sounds or what is the role of native
language sound system in the learning of another language has been under consideration since
long time. There are different ideas developed in search of understanding the impact of sounds
system of L1in learning the pronunciation of a foreign language. In the following paragraphs, there
are presented fundamental pace setting theories which have been developed in quest of
understanding the role of mother tongue in learning the pronunciation of a foreign language.
2.4.1 The Critical Period Hypothesis
The Critical Period Hypothesis known as CPH is the contribution of Penfield in 1959 of which was
letter worked on by Lenneberg in 1967 (cited in Malgorzata Jedynak, 2009) and now he is
considered the inventor of it though he had only given it a further development to it. In its first
version, this theory asserts that native-like way of pronouncing sounds is more possible in
childhood or in early age and as soon as the puberty of a learner starts this development is
disrupted and the ability of the learner decreases. In other words it followed ‘The earlier, the
better’ idea which influenced greatly the primary schools of the United Kingdom and the US where
the centre of focus become the age rather than focusing on the pronunciation itself which was
followed between 1940’s and sixties. According to Penfield learners who were below the age of
twelve were more flexible (neural plasticity) and it helped them to acquire better and this ability
later on disappeared with the increase in age. Both of the mentioned researchers above were
having basis of their evidence mainly after pathologically studied cases including abnormal to
normal brains. Popular proponents of ‘The Critical Period Hypothesis’ are Pulvermuller and
Schumann 1994 who attached it with the role of Myelin in the brain. Myelin is basically a layer of
lipids and proteins which acts as catalyst to speed up the mental process and it is present in more
quantity in the more busy areas of the brain than in the less busy ones. Although it is quite evident
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that the most authentic material like the pathological cases are available in support of CPH but on
the other hand the criticism of this theory, with the fact that myelination works even years after
the age which the CPH considers puberty, seems reasonable in its essence.
2.4.2 The Native Language Magnet Model
In 1990’s The Native Language Magnet Model dominated all the other theories. Its central idea is
that, irrespective of age, it is the phonology of the native language that interferes and creates
problems in acquiring the native-level pronunciation of the language being learnt. This idea, which
gives importance to the interference of L1, supports the existence of diverse mappings of sounds
of L1 present in L2. These sounds are considered as prototypes of native sounds and remain in the
memory for a long term. According to this theory these mappings based on neural perceptions
happen in infancy and with its magnetic ability it functions by taking in these prototype sounds. In
other words a phonological filter is built which notices down those sounds that make difference to
the first language and hence they are pronounced correctly. This reveals that as the learner gets
older, his or her ability to create new mappings for the language being learnt gets weaker.
2.4.3 The Speech Learning Model
Initially this theory appeared in 1995 by Fledge which further threw light on the difference of
accent acquiring of younger and adult learners. Its central idea is that the failure in acquiring L2
accent is due to the involvement of phonological filter of L1 in learning L2 by the adults and hence
their approach comes against the one used by the younger learners. The formers, due to infirm
establishment of their L1, possess the ability to acquire native like pronunciation, and the weak L1
phonological filter remains less active to interfere with acquiring L2 accent. The significant aspect
to be counted about adult learners is the closest counterpart in L2 which the adults find closest to
the sounds of their mother tongue and pave their way on the basis of similarity of nearness of
25
sounds of both the languages. Fledge named this notion as ‘equivalence classification’. In
discussing adults’ approach he uses terms ‘similar sounds and new sounds’ which due to their
nearness or lack of nearness are important ideas for the learners in acquiring accent. Fledge is of
the view that for experienced or adult learners new sounds are less troublesome for they belong
to a new group of sounds and there comes no confusion of nearness with the sounds of L1. On the
contrary, closest counterparts cause more trouble and are considered more difficult to get them as
are desired.
2.4.4 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
Comparison of two languages is the part of linguistics since long time. Many of the experts of this
field have been conducting research to understand the similarities and differences between the
languages. The name ‘contrastive analysis’ has been termed for the comparison of two languages
to understand similarities and differences since early 1940’s. This activity is to study the insights
of the languages for their differences and the similar aspects which are further utilized for its
pedagogical implications. Its main contribution toward language study is its imparting the
knowledge of language structure and the relations between languages. In support of contrastive
analysis, Fries (1945) is of the view that ‘[t]he most effective material are those that are based
upon a scientific description of the language to be learned carefully compared with a parallel
description of the native language of the learner’. The mid of 20 th century, for a decade contrastive
analysis with its pedagogical implications remained integral part of teaching any foreign language
for the reason that the era was ruled by Behaviouristic psychology and contrastive analysis was
also based upon such assumptions introduced by Behaviouristic psychology. Such theoretical
basis did not include mental process in language acquisition rather remained limited to imitation
and correct responses. Another aspect of contrastive analysis is that it is based on the assumption
of transfer of mother tongue features to the target language usage.
26
Lado (1957) in this regard states:
……………………..individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms
and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture-both
productively when attempting to speak the language……and receptively when attempting to grasp
and understand the language….as practiced by natives.
(Lado (1957) in Linguistics Across Cultures)
Keeping in view the above statement of Lado, it was structural linguistics which systematically
contributed to language study, by utilizing contrastive analysis, compared structure of both L1 and
TL of learner so as to find out the difficulties faced by learners of TL and to provide material based
on pedagogical implications of contrastive analysis to pave the way for the learner’s learning
target language.
The contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, introduced by Lado in 1957, was the most influential and the
most followed approach from 1950’s to 1970’s. Lado was of the opinion that learner of an L2
transfers his complete L1 system into the language he learns and replaces native language
features with that of second language. This theory comes up with its central idea that if a learner
perceives a sound inaccurately, his production of inappropriately perceived sound would also be
inaccurate. The sounds of second language are taken as sounds that are closest counterparts in
native language and hence such interpretation takes place. In other words, this theory advocates
that those sounds of native language which have closest counterpart in L2 should not make
problems in the correct pronunciation of L2 sounds while those which are not should do so. Lado
was with the view that closest counterpart can act as a replacement if there is no
misunderstanding in its usage. According to his idea, the errors which result during the
comparative study of two languages are dependent on the contrast and similar aspects of the
mother tongue and the target language of the learner. For example in English language, if two
nouns appear together the first noun serves as modifier while second remains as head noun.
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Similarly Pashto language follows the same criteria and as compare to Farsi language (where this
order is reversed) there are fewer chances of errors. Thus this hypothesis is based on the concept
that the more the language (L1) differs from target language (TL) the more chances of difficulty
materialized for the learner. In support of such concept, Lado (1957) is of the view that:
‘The student who comes in contact with a foreign language will find some features of it quite easy
and others extremely difficult. Those elements that are similar to his native language will be
simple for him and those elements that are different will be difficult’.
The language transfer concept was also put forward as the psychological basis of this hypothesis
in two negative and positive types. The former will take place if mother tongue of the learner does
not resemble to the language intended to be learned and due to dissimilarities the difficulties
appear while the latter takes place if both L1 and TL of learner are similar. This facilitates the
learning process as the difficulties which arise due to the lack of similarities do not come into the
way of learner for the reason that L1 transfers positively into learning situation of target language.
It is further supported by the linguistics with the explanation that similarity of cultural items,
sounds, structures and words with that of the target language result in easy reception and
learning of target language and dissimilar patterns cause difficulties. Such a version of ‘degree of
difficulty depends on degree of difference’ is known as strong version of contrastive analysis
hypothesis. In continuation, Lado (1957) stated that …. ‘the assumption that we can predict and
describe the patterns that will cause difficulty in learning, and those that will not cause difficulty,
by comparing systematically the language and culture to be learned with the native language and
culture of the student’.
Similar supporting statement of Lee (1968) further highlights the strong version of CAH with the
his statement …’ the difficulties are chiefly, or wholly, due to differences between the two
languages; the greater these differences are, the more acute the learning difficulties will be’
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Being strongly accepted version of the hypothesis it was followed in its time till the criticism of
Oller and Ziahosseiny (1970) who, by making such remarks that the strong version predicts errors
but not all of them a learners makes in learning L2 , paved the way for the downfall of it. According
to Oller and Ziahosseiny (1970) the strong version has shortcomings of which the most prominent
are that firstly the strong version of CAH is limited to the error predicting caused by L1
interference only and secondly the strong criticism from the association of CAH with
Behaviouristic approach. With the review of ‘Skinner’s verbal Behaviour’ Noam Chomsky
challenged Behaviourist’s view of language learning and introduced the role of active mental
process.
The criticism of strong version of CAH opened the way for the weak version presented by
Wardhaugh (1970). He is of the opinion that the weak version ‘starts with the evidence provided
by linguistic interference and uses such evidence to explain the similarities and differences
between the two system’. This version allows the linguist to study error after they are made by TL
learner and the why such errors were made is explained by contrastive analysis. This version also
developed considerable interest of the linguists but still it was limited to the linguistic interference
caused errors. Keeping in view the inadequacy of the strong and weak versions of the CAH, Oller
and Ziahosseiny (1970) conducted a study and based on their analysis they suggested a third
version of contrastive analysis labelled as ‘moderate version’. The study they conducted was to
analyze the spelling errors made by the learners of English as foreign language. Their study,
contrary to the strong version, concluded that those learners whose language used Roman
alphabet (Spanish and Germanic) had more difficulties than those whose language used non-
Roman alphabet (Chinese and Japanese). On the other hand, the weak version also proved wrong
for the reason that weak version supports the notion that similarities cause positive language
transfer while this was disapproved by the study conducted by Oller and Ziahosseiny (1970). Thus
29
both of the versions were disapproved by the mentioned two researchers and favored their own
moderate version of contrastive analysis hypothesis.
Through moderate version, the two mentioned researchers declared that rather than language
transfer (positive or nagetive) it is ‘stimulus generalization’ that plays role in learning of target
language. In simple words, if there is minimum difference between the two languages then instead
of positive transfer of the language, confusion arises and the learner gets caught in trouble of
defining items to avoid confusion. They are of the opinion that learner mainly concentrates on
different items and clearly understand and learn them rather than confusing himself. These two
linguists claimed their moderate version to be the stronger one on the basis of relation of this
version to the nature of human learning rather than contrast favoured by the other two versions.
Being subjective in nature and lacking scientific description criterion of Behaviouristic psychology,
some of the linguists have tried to formalize how to predict the errors through contrastive
analysis which is a step toward reduction of involved subjectivity.
Stockwell, Bowen and Martin (1965) first attempted to formalize the prediction stage of CAH
according to which they established a hierarchy of difficulty in the light of which a linguist or a
language teacher may attempt to find out the kinds of errors. They may also take help in grading
their material, arranging them in effective sequence and understanding the need of drill for a
particular point. In such hierarchy, they put forward eight degrees of difficulties based on
language transfer principal of positive, negative and zero. To encompass grammatical difficulties
they also set degrees of difficulties which were sixteen in total. Although these hierarchies were
set for Spanish and English, yet they claimed about the universality of them.
Soon after them (Prator, 1967; cited in Brown, 1994) contracted the grammatical hierarchy into
six different ascending order difficulty categories with its extra applicability option to
phonological features of language. The following categories of difficulties are presented as cited in
Brown (1994).
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2.5 Phonological Characteristics and Difficulty Categories
2.5.1 Level 0: Transfer
According to this category the difference or contrast is not present in both the languages in their
phonemes, lexical items or structural aspects. And on the basis of positive transfer there is no
difficulty for learner in learning the item of target language. For example the sounds /p, b, t, d, m, n,
ʃ, tʃ, o, i/.
2.5.2 Level 1: Coalescence
In this category the two or more language items merge together into one in the language being
learned. In such case the learner has to overlook the difference which he is used to in his mother
tongue. A good example of such category is the sounds /g/ /h/ which when they get combined in
Pashto language become a sound /gh/ which is not present in English language and the learner
has to ignore it. Another example of Pashto language regarding complete word is talib-e-ilam
which is combination of two words while in English it is only the word student which is used to
denote such meaning. In this sense the learner has to ignore the combination of two words and
will have to concentrate on one word ‘student’.
2.5.3 Level 2: Underdifferentiation
In this category the equivalent sound or item of mother tongue of the learner is not possessed by
the target language and the learner can articulate but does not find such item in the language he
learns. For instance the sounds /ṛ/ and /ʔ/ is present in Pashto language while English does not
contain them.
2.5.4 Level 3: Reinterpretation
When an item of first language adopts a new shape or is distributed in the language being learnt,
the category it belongs to would be ‘Reinterpretation’. For example the sound /l/ exists in Pashto
31
and in English as well but three allophones of this sound can cause problems for the learner. In
English language the allophones of sound /l/ are clear /l/, dark /ɬ/, dental /ḽ/ and voiceless /ɫ/.
2.5.5 Level 4: Overdifferentiation
Sometime a learner face an entirely new item in target language which his articulators have no
experience of practice. The reason for such newness is the complete absence of such sound in the
learner’s mother tongue. Good examples of such sounds in English which are not present in Pashto
can be /θ/ and /ð/ sounds. In this category the learner has to start his articulators move in a new
way to pronounce a new sound.
2.5.6 Level 5: Split
According to this category of difficulty an item in first language of the learner would based on one
word while in the target language it would be split up into two or more items at which the learner
gets confused. For instance in English the pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ are two different pronouns for
male and female respectively but on the other hand in Pashto language for both of them the word
/ ɦƏghά/ is used. Though the hierarchy of difficulty solved the problems of teacher and linguists
in predicting the errors the learner can encounter but it is also a fact that such hierarchy is not
exempted of shortcomings for the reason that ignorance of minor phonetic differences and
allophonic variants is due in such cases. Consequently, it becomes difficult to manage which
category is suitable for a particular error to sit in (Brown, 1994).
Irrespective of pros and cons attached to the contrastive analysis, it is necessary to point out that
this concept is attached since years to the pedagogic world and has always helped in tackling
learning difficulties specifically in phonological side of language.
2.6 English and Pashto languages in contrast
Pashto is a language, though sharing the same family with English i.e. Indo-European language
family but still in its alphabetical system it totally diverts from this family and has Arabic
32
alphabetical system. It contains thirty two consonants in total. As the author is concerned here in
this research work to the consonants thus the contrast presented would be based on the contrast
of both the languages in syllable structure and their consonants. On the contrary English
alphabetical system is Latin rather than Arabic. English contains twenty four consonants in total
which reveals the fact that English has eight consonants less than Pashto has (Sousa, 2005).
2.6.1 English and Pashto syllable structures in contrast:
Syllable structure of English Syllable structure of Pashto
Words Ph,transcriptio English Words Ph,transcriptio Pashto
n syllables n syllables
I /i/ V he /ә/ V
An /æn/ VC Horse /әs/ VC
Ask /æsk/ VCC aspect /aṛkh/ VCC
apples /æplƏs/ VCCC you /tә/ CV
She /ʃi/ CV hand /las/ CVC
Sir /sƏ (r)/ CVC death /mәrg/ CVCC
battle /bætƏl/ CVCC stealing /ghla/ CCV
Hints /hInts/ CVCCC expensive /grάn/ CCVC
Free /fri:/ CCV round /ghwәnd/ CCVCC
Trees /tri:s/ CCVC mouth /khwlә/ CCCV
stand /stænd/ CCVCC Sister-in-law /ndror/ CCCVC
pranks /præȠks/ CCVCCC chewing /shkhwand/ CCCVCC
trampled /træmpƏld/ CCVCCCC
Strew /stru:/ CCCV
Sprig /sprIg/ CCCVC
33
Sprint /sprInt/ CCCVCC
strands /strændz/ CCCVCCC
scrambles /skræmblz/ CCCVCCCC
Table: 2.6.1 English Pashto syllable structures in contrast
A quick look at the table 2.6.1 reveals that there are various similarities between English and
Pashto language structures where there are twelve syllables patterns matching which are V,
VC ,VCC, CV, CVC, CVCC, CCV,CCVC, CCVCC, CCCV, CCCVC, CCCVCC. Both the languages have single
vowel sound and up to three initial and two final consonant clusters. English has six extra syllable
patterns as compare to Pashto language. It is quite obvious that in Pashto language consonant
cluster before vowel are equal to the English consonant clusters i.e. three consonants can be
placed before a vowel like /strand/ in English and /shkhwand/ in Pashto but it is also a fact that
English can have four consonants at the end but there is no such possibility in Pashto language
where the limit is two consonants at the end of a word; for example /shkhwand/ (chewing). In
short possible syllable structure in English is (c) (c) (c) v (c) (c) (c) (c) while in Pashto it is (c) (c)
(c) v (c) (c).
On the other hand English language follows eighteen syllable patterns while Pashto unlike English
has twelve patterns in total. The six different English syllable patterns, which Pashto language
doest not posses are VCCC, CVCCC, CCVCCC, CCVCCC, CCCVCCC, CCCVCCCC.
34
2.6.2 English and Pashto Consonants in Contrast
P t ṭ k q ‫ﺤ‬
B d ḍ g
m n ṇ Ƞ
F s kh ɦ h
z x ʃ gh ʔ
ts tʃ
ʤ j
w r Y ṛ
Table: 2.6.2a Consonant sounds of Pashto not present in English language
p b t d k g
tʃ dʒ
M n Ƞ
Ө s z ʃ ʒ h
ð
f
r j w
Table: 2.6.2b Consonant sounds of English not present in Pashto language
35
The tables above reveal the differences in both the languages in their consonant sounds. It is
obvious that the sounds highlighted in the table of Pashto consonants are not present in English
and the one highlighted in the table of English consonants are not present in Pashto. The English
consonants not present in Pashto are /θ, v, Ʒ/ while those that are not present in English are / ṭ, ḍ
ṇ, kh, gh, ṛ, x, ɦ, ʔ, y, ts, ‫ ﺤ‬/. This reveals the fact that Pashtun learner of English language needs to
learn four more consonant sounds and has to move his articulators in a newer way. On the other
hand, there are thirteen Pashto consonant sounds that are not present in English which implies
that the Pashtun learner of English has to ignore these twelve sounds so as to restrict the
interference of such sounds while pronouncing the nearest of them in English. Following is the
detailed individual description of consonant sounds in contrast:
Coming towards plosive sounds /p/ and /b/ which are voiceless and voiced respectively exist in
both the languages. /p/ in Pashto is un-aspirated in initial, middle and final position. While it is
un-aspirated in final, middle after the sound /s/ and same if placed before stressed vowels of
English. /b/ in both the languages is voiced and has no prominent difference.
Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ exist in both the languages and appear voiceless and voiced
respectively. In Pashto language /t/ remains un-aspirated in initial, middle and also final position
of the syllable. Like the plosive /p/ in English, the sound /t/ also remains un-aspirated in initial, at
middle after /s/ sound and also un-aspirated before an unstressed vowel sound. The sounds /ṭ/
and /ḍ/ which are retroflex consonants of Pashto language do not exist in English and are
different than the English /t/ and /d/ sounds. The stop /‫ﺤ‬/ is pharyngeal plosive which only exists
in Pashto language.
The sounds /k/ and /g/ are also plosive sounds which are velar plosives in English and also in
Pashto as well. They are voiceless and voiced respectively. Slightly palatalized if appear before
36
front vowel but in Pashto language they are more palatalized in initial and middle position before
front vowels.
The respectively voiceless and voiced fricative /f/ and /v/ exist in English but the voice fricative
/v/ does not exist in Pashto which creates problems for the Pashtun learners of English. /f/ sound
is common in both languages but for Pashto language the sound /f/ is non-native and has been
borrowed (Tegey and Robson, 1996). It is often mispronounced by the Pashtun learners of English.
For instance in informal or formal uneducated speech people use /p/ sound instead of /f/. In
Pashto they say /pasal/ instead of /fasal/ meaning ‘crop’ in English. While in English language
they say /ferfect/ instead of /perfect/. On the other hand fricative /v/ does not exist in Pashto and
learners mistakenly pronounce /w/ sound instead of /v/. Thus both the fricatives /f/ and /v/ are
can create difficulties for Pashtun learners of English. The fricatives /s/, /z/, /ʃ/ and /Ʒ/ exist in
English but the last one i.e. /Ʒ/ does no t exist in Pashto. They are voiceless, voiced, voiceless and
voiced respectively in English and similar in Pashto except the last one. Another fricatives is / θ/
sound. This voiceless sound exists in English only and for Pashtun learners this sound can cause
difficulties. The sounds /h/, /ɦ/ and /ʔ/ which are uvular fricatives exist in Pashto but in English
only the sound /h/ exists. The one common in both the languages is articulated in the same way.
In the case of nasals /m/, /n/ and /Ƞ/ and / ṇ/, the first three are present in English and fourth
consonant English language lacks. Pashto unlike English contains all these consonant sounds. /m/
is bilabial nasal,/n/ is alveolar nasal while /Ƞ/ is velar in both the languages. The difference lies in
the use of last one where, contrary to Pashto, it cannot begin a word. In Pashto a good example
may be /Ƞgor/ that is ‘daughter-in-law in English. The fourth velar nasal mentioned above / ṇ/
exists only in Pashto and it is retroflex consonant.
Further on the two affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ sounds exist in both English and Pashto. They both are
voiceless and voiced in both the languages. But they differ in articulation as these sounds are post-
37
alveolar in English while in Pashto language the sound /ʧ/ is palatal affricate and the /ʤ/ is
dental affricate. Pashto, unlike English, has two more affricates which are /ts/ dental affricate and
/j/ palatal affricate. They are respectively voiceless and voiced.
Regarding the consonant sound /r/ there is a considerable difference in the both the languages.
Both articulation and allophonic difference exist in both the languages regarding the mentioned
phoneme. Firstly, /r/ is alveolar approximant in English while in Pashto it is dental. Then after
articulation, there is variation in the allophones of this sound. In English it allophonic variants are
/ɾ/ which appears between the vowels like in ‘very’, /ɽ/ called retroflex tap which appear as in
‘card’ etc. and then /r/ a voiced continuative as in ‘serene’. While in Pashto these allophonic
variants are /R/ which appear in final positions and remains unvoiced as in ‘/kheR/ meaning
‘Donkey’; /ř/ it appears inter-vocally as in /mařan/ ‘meaning snakes’ and third variant /r/ which
is called trill allophone that appears in initial and middle positions as in /ruk/ meaning ‘lost’ and
/marg/ meaning ‘death’. This variation of allophones can cause difficulties for Pashtun learners of
English.
Then the lateral approximant of English which has four allophones clear /l/ , dark /ƚ/, dental /ḽ/
and voiceless /ɬ/. The first allophone of /l/sound, clear /l/ appears in word initial position like in
the word ‘love’. Dark /ƚ/ comes at final position of the word like in ‘rival’ and inter -vocalically as in
‘silk’. Then dental /ḽ/ also involves teeth in its articulation like in the word ‘wealth’ and voiceless
/ɬ/ as in the word ‘clay’. While in Pashto has the same sound /l/ and its variants. One is clear /l/ as
in /lag/ meaning ‘little’ then dark /ƚ/ as in /awal/ meaning ‘first’ and voiceless / ɬ/ as in /plar/
meaning ‘father’ and the dental /ḽ/ as in the word /mulk/ meaning ‘country’. Thus both the
languages have the same allophonic variants of sound /l/.
38
The sounds / ṭ, ḍ ṇ, kh, gh, ṛ, x, ɦ, ʔ, y, ts, , ‫ ﺤ‬/ are not present in English thus Pashtun learner of
English has to ignore these sounds and English learner of Pashto has to make his articulators used
to of such sounds for the correct pronunciation of Pashto words. The articulation manner and
place of such sounds have been given in Pashto consonants above with their placement in
syllables under the title syllable structure of Pashto.
Other than the given account of the contrast between the two languages, the non-native consonant
sounds of Pashto causes problem for Pashtun learners of English which are necessary to be
mentioned here. The sounds /p, f, ð/ are not properly pronounced rather errors occur in such
cases as mentioned above in consonant system of Pashto section. Though according to Tegey &
Barbara (1996), educated Pashtuns in informal and uneducated Pashtuns in both formal and
informal speech mispronounce such sounds but the author has personally observed that educated
Pashtuns, even in formal situations, sometime pronounce them wrongly.
39
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
In this chapter the author will present the objectives of the research along its significance. This
will be followed by the detailed procedure of research methodology employed for this project with
limitation of this research study at the end.
3.1 Objectives of the research
Through contrastive analysis of Pashto and English language, the objective of this study is to
investigate the consonantal differences that cause problems for Pashtun learners/speakers of
English and to identity major consonantal sounds which create problems for intelligibility and
learning of English to help facilitate the process of learning with pedagogical implications in view
for the linguists and teachers of English.
3.2 Research questions:
1. To investigate the consonants which cause difficulties in pronunciation for Pashtun
speakers of English and also interfere with their intelligibility?
2. To find out whether there exists any role of L1in pronunciation of the consonants which
cause difficulties for Pashtuns speakers while using English consonants?
3. To investigate whether living in native English environment has any impact on the
pronunciation of the study group with respect to these consonants?
40
3.3 Significance of the study
Regarding its importance, the current study has various dimensions to discuss. Firstly Pashto is a
language of millions of Pashtuns of a territory where Britishers have ruled or influenced for a
considerable time and the medium of instruction and official language of this territory is English.
In this regard, Pashtuns need to have at least threshold level of command on English and for such
reasons the research studies based on comparison of both the languages are scarce and are in
need to be conducted.
Secondly, the research including Pashto language is very limited on one hand and on the other
hand it is scarce in the field of phonetics and phonology. As the current study includes
pronunciation related fields of both the languages thus it can, to an extent, enrich the field where
there is severe need of research study.
Thirdly the author, during his stay in UK and Pakistan, has observed that Pashto learners of
English have difficulties in pronunciation of certain consonants of English which affect their
intelligibility and in this regard identification of such consonants and notifying them through this
research can contribute to the pedagogical aspects of English language teaching to Pashtun
learners.
Observing such difficulties and the need of the research in this particular field, the researcher has
conducted the current study to investigate the consonants which are difficult for the Pashtun
learners of English including the investigation of the role of mother tongue in such difficulties. The
researcher hopes that the findings of the current study would be able to turn up with a set of ideas
helpful, to English teachers in general and Pashtun EFL teachers in particular, to minimize the
difficulties arise to the Pashtun learners of English in their pronunciation of English consonants.
41
3.4 Participants
This current research included two distinct groups of Pashtun speakers. Group one included four
Pashtun students who were in London for at least five years and were between the ages 20-31.
They all belonged to the NWFP province of Pakistan and were there in London for business
studies in London College of business studies after the completion of 12 years of formal education
in Pakistan. They all had minimum 6 bands in English speaking module. They all were males as
there was no Pashtun female available for this project. These participants were recruited through
author’s friend’s contacts.
The second group of participants included four Pashtun students belonging to NWFP province of
Pakistan. It must be noted that this group, unlike group one, had not spent time in native English
environment and they also had completed their 12 years formal education which is called
‘Intermediate’ in Pakistan. They had studied English as their compulsory subject in these twelve
years of education. Other than this, they were interested to go abroad for further education and
had taken IELTS with minimum 6 bands in spoken module. They were recruited through the
author’s contacts with student consultancies in Peshawar as these consultancies were processing
their admissions in UK colleges or universities. These participants were the students of City
University of Science and Information Technology Peshawar. Moreover, these two groups had
been selected from two distinct environments in order to investigate the role of native English
environment on the pronunciation of Pashtun speakers of English.
3.5 Instruments for data collection
3.5.1 Questionnaire
The first instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. Questionnaire being less
expensive to administer and easy to distribute and send to the participants, was selected
(Polansky, 1960). Questionnaire is easy to analyse once received complete from the respondents
42
and little training is needed for the researcher in the use of this instrument as compared to other
data collection tools (Wilkinson & Birmingham, 2003). In order to know about the pronunciation
of both Pakistani and London Pashtun speakers of English, the author first designed and presented
a questionnaire to the participants to know their interest and to know the value of pronunciation,
their level of satisfaction, and response about facing intelligibility problems.
intention to improve in future and past attempts to improve their pronunciation. The data
collected through this questionnaire was intended to note down the previous experiences the
participants had gone through in their interaction. This technique was helpful as the speakers of
English themselves contributed in identifying their difficulties and then further verified by other
data collection instruments. It is a fact that personal knowledge of one’s difficulties help
considerably in further formal investigation of such problems the speakers of a language come
across.
3.5.2 Reading 1
Other than the questionnaire, the use of elicited imitation has also been used to elicit
pronunciation quality by allowing the participants read aloud (Seliger and Shohamy,1989).
Studies showed that reading aloud with targeted sounds seeded in the reading text, is a helpful
procedure in developmental and variationist L2 phonology studies (Dickerson, 1975 cited in Menn
& Ratner, 2000; Sato, 1984 cited in Edwards & Zampini, 2008; Major, 1987; Tarone, 1979). The
second instrument used for data collection was the reading of 15 sentences which included those
consonants which were newer, as identified through literature review, for Pashtun speakers of
English. This instrument included those consonant sounds of English which were not present in
Pashto (as presented in literature review) and accordingly were considered to be problematic for
Pashtun speakers of English. This instrument was designed by using minimal pairs of the relative
consonant sounds.
43
3.5.3 Reading 2
The third instrument used for data collection was the same reading of 15 sentences but the
consonant sounds included were different. In this reading the consonant sounds that were
included belonged to the group of sounds called non-native consonant sounds in Pashto language.
As identified in literature review, some sounds in Pashto language are non-native and cause
difficulties for Pashtun learners of English for the reason that such sounds are native for English
but Pashto language has borrowed them from other languages. Though literature review contains
many non-native sounds Pashto language has borrowed but ‘Reading 2’ includes only those
sounds which are shared by both English and Pashto.
3.6 Data collection Procedure
The research started with getting informed consent of the participants where the participants
were completely explained the purpose of the project and the process of data collection. They
were told how the data would be collected and how their services would be availed. They were
also informed and assured that their identity would be kept confidential in the presentation of the
report of this project. They were, first, given the information sheet so as to ensure that they are
fully informed of what they are going to do and why. Further on, they were given the ‘Consent
Form’ which was to be read and signed by them after being fully agreed with the process and
procedure of the data collection.
The data collection process was completed in three stages. The first stage of this process started
with collection of data through questionnaire containing 5 questions based on the participants’
response they obtained during their interaction about the problems they felt in their
pronunciation. The questionnaire also included the interest of the participants about
44
pronunciation and the past attempts to improve their pronunciation and the future intention of
improving it.
After the completion of first step, the author prepared ‘Reading 1’ on the basis of literature review
and the response given by the participants through the questionnaire. This step was administered
by the author through elicited speech method by asking them to go through the given 15
sentences loudly.
This was done in order to identify the errors in the pronunciation of Pashtun speakers of English
for those consonant sounds which were absent in Pashto language. Both the groups i.e. Londoner
Pashtuns and Pakistani Pashtuns went through the same sentences and consonant sounds. Both
the groups were taken through this reading in order to understand the impact of native and non-
native environment on the improvement of pronunciation.
Reading 1 was followed by the third step of research where the participants had to go through the
second set of sentences, 15 in total. This set of sentences was prepared on the basis of literature
review done earlier in which some sounds in Pashto language were identified as non-native
sounds and borrowed from other languages by Pashto. On the basis of such review the non-native
sounds were included in the sentences to identify the errors caused by these sounds. Same elicited
speech method by asking them to read such sentences aloud was done. The two reading sets were
separated in order to know which group of consonants (non-native Pashto sounds or newer sound
for Pashtun speakers) cause difficulties and why.
3.7 Limitations of the research
In conducting this research, the author came across numerous problems which interfered with the
process of this study. The major problems, the author faced, were the limited work done on Pashto
45
language. Most of the work done was related to the Pashto spoken in Afghanistan rather than the
one in Pakistan which the author was concerned about.
Second important aspect to underscore is the lack of research books on Pashto language by Pashto
writers. In the first step while the author was in UK, the access to the work of Pakistani Pashtun
linguists on Pashto was really difficult. For such reasons, the author got them sent from Pakistan.
During author’s stay in Pakistan, the problem of universities’ closing was also a major problem.
Due to kidnapping of vice chancellor of Islamia College University Peshawar, the strikes from all
the universities also interfered with the project.
Thirdly, the selection of suitable participants in UK was also a limiting factor in this study. The
author through his contacts and by searching colleges accessed the participants who possessed
the level required in English and were ready to participate in the study after taking out time from
their busy life in London. Moreover, the participants, with length of considerable time (around five
years in UK), was also a challenge for the author. Similarly, the participant selection in Pakistan
was also difficult for the reason that for ordinary learners of English there is no measuring system
to know about their level of English. Thus, finally it was decided to find those students who had
achieved at least 6 bands in speaking module of IELTS and had not spent time in native
environment. Such participants were selected through the help of author’s contacts with student
consultancies for abroad. IELTS in Pakistan is done only for the purpose of going abroad for
education. Other than this testing system, there is no suitable system to measure the English
proficiency of the students.
46
Chapter 4
Findings and Analysis of the Data
This chapter of the report is based on three different and interconnected sections. Section A is based
on the findings of the same questionnaire used for five Londoner Pashtun English speakers and five
Pakistani Pashtun speakers of English. In this questionnaire they were asked about their past attempt
to improve English pronunciation, current level of pronunciation, the comfortability of their listeners
and the future interest of participants to improve their pronunciation. Sections B presents the results
of instrument ‘Reading 1’ which was basically the reading of 15 sentences by both groups of the
participants. Here the sentences were based on frequent usage of those consonants which were
identified as new for Pashtun speakers of English and were identified in literature review of this
research project. This reading instrument was for all the ten participants of both the groups. And at the
end the third section i.e. section C presents the findings of the third instrument which was also a
reading of 15 sentences but actually different from focus on those consonants in Reading 1. Reading 2
was basically designed to focus on those consonants of English which were present in both English and
Pashto language but were not the native consonants of the later language. These consonants were
originally the borrowed consonants of Pashto from other languages.
4.1 Section A: Findings of the questionnaire
(Pakistani Pashtun Participants)
Other than the Londoner group of participants, same questionnaire was presented to Pakistani
Pashtun Speakers in order to know what they say about their pronunciation level they apply while
speaking English in Pakistan and particularly in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province.
47
4.1.1 Pakistani Pashtun speaker A
Participant ‘A’ from the PPSs was not aware the response of his listeners or their comfortability.
But according to him whenever he would consult phonetic dictionary his pronunciation appeared
wrong. This was more than often for him. He had not attempted to take up a course for its
improvement and wanted to improve current level in future.
4.1.2 Pakistani Pashtun speaker B
Participant ‘B’ was a bit different that the participant ‘A’ for the reason that he could understand
that why his listeners are easy to understand him. He responded to an open ended question that
all of his community spoke in Pashtun accent and were comfortable with each other in this case.
He intended to improve it further. In response to the question of future improvement, he also
wrote that in UK he might be having pressure to pronounce clearly so he wanted to engage himself
in a pronunciation course.
4.1.3 Pakistani Pashtun speaker C
Participant ‘C’ like the two above participants had not participated in any pronunciation course
and was not satisfied with his current level. According to him his listeners were comfortable for
they were Pashtuns and could understand him easily. He seldom faced the problem of repeating
his utterance based on pronunciation issues. He was interested to improve it in UK as he thought
he might get better teacher there. In other words it can be said that his did not care about
pronunciation in Pakistan but he wanted to refine it in UK.
48
4.1.4 Pakistani Pashtun speaker D
The fourth PPS ‘D’ had a different approach towards pronunciation. He had gone through a
pronunciation improvement course in a language centre and did not feel any need to improve his
current level. He was also sure that his listeners were comfortable with his pronunciation. He was
not interested to take up a course in future. He thought that his level will itself improve in native
environment.
4.1.5 Pakistani Pashtun speaker E
Participant E in PPS group was also a confident participant and considered his level of
pronunciation suitable to deal Pakistani community. He was satisfied with his current level for he
had gone through a course of ‘British accent development’. According to him his listeners were
comfortable but sometime they asked to repeat something because British accent was difficult for
them to understand. For future attempt he was willing if there arise any need in UK.
Summary of the findings of the questionnaire (Pakistani Participants)
Participants Past attempt for Current level Comfortability Repetition Future intention
improvement of needs of listeners request To improve
pronunciation improvement pronunciation
PPS A No Yes Don’t know Don’t know Yes
PPS B No Yes No problem Yes but Yes
seldom
PPS C No Yes Yes Not faced Will improve in UK
PPS D No Yes No need No
Yes
PPS E Yes No Yes Yes May be if needed
Table 4.1a Summary of the findings of the questionnaire *(PPS: Pakistani Pashtun Speakers)
49
The responses of the second group of participants reveal almost the same story as the one of
group one. 70 percent of the participants showed interest in improving current level of
pronunciation. Moreover Pakistani Pashtun Participants who had been to UK could not
understand what should be the level of pronunciation as they were in a community where the
accent and pronunciation level was almost same. They were easy with each other but they could
feel that the requirements in this regard in UK might be different and they might need a course or
practice there.
(Londoner Pashtun Participants)
4.1.6 Londoner Pashtun speaker A
Participant ‘A’ from Londoner Pashtun speakers had not gone through any pronunciation
improvement course but was eager to improve the level of pronunciation so as to smoothly
communicate with native and non-native speakers in London. He was not clear whether his
listeners were comfortable with his pronunciation or not. Moreover he was also not sure whether
he was asked by his listeners to repeat his uttered words or sentences. It can said that either the
speaker was not careful regarding his listeners or then might his listeners didn’t asked him to
repeat. For the future LPS A was interested to improve his pronunciation. Overall this participant
was not fully confident over his pronunciation level and wanted to have better pronunciation than
the current.
4.1.7 Londoner Pashtun speaker B
According to the findings of the questionnaire London Pashtun speaker ‘B’, had tried to improve
his pronunciation by participating in a pronunciation course in a language centre. But still he
thought that his current level needs improvement. Although he was not sure about the
comfortability of his listeners but he was aware that sometime somebody would ask him to repeat
50
what he would utter. Even in future he was interested to continue improving his pronunciation
level. Overall participant B here considered himself capable to deal with native environment yet
he did not consider it sufficient.
4.1.8 Londoner Pashtun speaker C
LPS ‘C’ also wanted to improve his current level of pronunciation for neither in past he had tried
formally to improve nor he was satisfied from his current pronunciation level. He had felt that in
front of native speakers he faced intelligibility problems and only in native speakers he had felt
the problem to repeat or clarify the utterances. He was interested, in future, to take a course to
deal appropriately with this issue. The researcher by understanding the response of the
participant ‘C’ came to the conclusion that he was not confident in front of native speakers and
needed improvement.
4.1.9 Londoner Pashtun speaker D
Participant ‘D’ among London Pashtun Speakers was a bit different and confident individual. He
had no intelligibility problem in front of natives and thought his current level to be the sufficient.
His ability to pronounce appropriately was basically the reason of his past attempt to improve it.
According to him he had face the problems of repeating the words or sentences again and again to
clarify on pronunciation basis. He was not interested in future to attempt through a course or
program to improve his pronunciation level.
4.1.10 Londoner Pashtun speaker E
The fifth and the last of the Londoner Pashtun Speakers was the participant ‘E’ who had the same
problems as participant ‘B’. This last and fifth participant had not gone through any particular
course of pronunciation development and was not satisfied from his current level. He was quite
51
clear that his listeners were not comfortable with his pronunciation and he had to repeat often
what he would utter in front of others though not always but sometime. He wanted to improve it
in the future by take up a course.
Summary of the findings of the questionnaire (Londoner Pashtun participants)
Participants Past attempt for Current level Comfortability Repetition Future intention
improvement of needs of listeners request To improve
pronunciation improvement pronunciation
LPS A No Yes Don’t know Don’t Yes
remember
LPS B Yes Yes Not sure Sometime Yes
LPS C No Yes Natives have Yes from Yes
problem natives
sometime only
LPS D No Yes No need No
Yes
LPS E No Yes No Yes but Yes
sometime
Table 4.1b Summary of the findings of the questionnaire
(LPS: Londoner Pashtun Speakers)
Keeping in view that above findings of the Londoner Participants, it becomes obvious that they, in
native environment, despite living for around five years face the problems of intelligibility and are
in need of improvement of their current level of pronunciation.
52
4.2 Section B: Findings of the ‘Reading 1’
This section presents the findings of Reading 1 which are based on understanding whether the
consonants absent in Pashto language cause any difficulty for Pashtun speakers in their
pronunciation while speaking English. In this section, the Londoner Pashtun Participants were
given fifteen sentences to read aloud where the consonant sounds which were present in English
but not Pashto were added in the form of minimal pairs / Ө, t, v, w, ʒ, j/. Pashtuns even educated
ones make these pronunciation errors during their speech and even in formal situations. These
were the personal observations of the author during his interaction with Pashtun community
including friends, relatives, classmates, colleagues and others. On one hand reading of these
sounds could reveal whether Pashtuns had problems pronouncing such sounds and on the other
hand the author could confirm the observed mistakes during interaction with Pashtun community.
This part of the section B is based on the findings resulted during elicited reading of Pakistani
Pashtun Speakers. Here the author presents the percentage of the way Pakistani Pashtun Speakers
pronounced those sounds which appeared difficult as revealed by the literature review. Moreover,
the overall percentage of an individual participant’s correct response and overall usage of an
individual sound is also the part of the given detail.
4.2.1 PPS A
First participant of Pakistani Pashtun Speakers group appeared to be very weak in almost all of
the sounds. Sound / Ө / on the part of him was correct only 20% times as compared to its 80%
times incorrectness. He pronounced sound / Ө / as sound /t/ 80% time which could not be called
as satisfactory level of pronunciation. Moving onward, sound /v/ was pronounced by him 60%
times correct to its 40% time incorrect sound /w/. This sound was also not a good sign of a
53
satisfactory pronunciation. The last sound /ʒ/ was also pronounced unsatisfactorily for it was
correct only 40% times. The overall correctness ratio of all the sounds on the part of PPS A was
40%. This is below average and the participant needed more efforts and notable improvement.
4.2.2 PPS B
In comparison to PPS A, PPS B had more comfortable articulators in pronouncing / Ө/ sound. This
participant was correct 80% to its incorrectness 20% times, which appeared in the form of sound
/t/. For the sound /v/ this participant showed completely opposite response. Sound /v/ properly
pronounced only 20%times while its nearest sound /w/ took its place 80% times. The participant
needed much more improvement and efforts to take over this problem. Moving forward, sound / ʒ
/ was also a problem for this participant for he appeared below average in its pronunciation and
pronounced it as sound /j/ 60% times. Overall, the correctness percentage was 47% which was a
clear sign of weak pronunciation for him.
4.2.3 PPS C
Participant C of Pakistani Pashtun Group was though weak but was better than Participant B of
the same group. The first two sounds / Ө / and /v/ he was correct 60% times each and 80%
correct in pronouncing sound / ʒ /. Overall, he scored 67% accumulative in all the sounds
4.2.4 PPS D
PPS D appeared with a different score in all the sounds pronunciation. He was correct 40%, 20%
and 80% in pronouncing sounds / Ө /, /v/ and / ʒ / respectively. Overall, correct sound
production was 47% which revealed him a weak participant like PPS B.
54
4.2.5 PPS E
Like all the other members of the group, participant E also exhibited weak results. The sounds / Ө
/, /v/ and / ʒ / pronounced 60, 40, and 40 percent respectively. Total correctness percentage was
47%. This unimpressive result exhibited the need of progress.
Now the individual sound correct pronunciation from all the five participants is presented. Here
the researcher noted that sound / Ө/, /v/ and / ʒ / were pronounced correctly by all the
participants 52, 40 and 56 percent respectively. This record also demonstrated that the Pakistani
Pashtun Participants were weak in appropriate pronunciation and needed further development. A
strange point to mention here is the intelligibility issue. All of the members of this group could
easily understand each other. The major reason they presented in questionnaire was that they
have same background, level, and culture responses that is why they can easily understand each
other. According to them they are used to of this pronunciation.
English Summary of findings of ‘Reading 1’
consonants
absent in Pashto PPS A PPS B PPS C PPS D PPS E Overall %age
of a sound
Pronounced as 1/5 20% 4/5 80% 3/5 60% 2/5 40% 3/5 60%
52%
/ Ө/
ᶿ
Pronounced as 4/5 80% 1/5 20% 2/5 40% 3/5 60% 2/5 40%
48%
/t/
55
V Pronounced as 3/5 60% 1/5 20% 3/5 60% 1/5 20% 2/5 40% 40%
/V/
Pronounced as 2/5 40% 4/5 80% 2/5 40% 4/5 80% 3/5 60%
60%
/w/
Pronounced as 2/5 40% 2/5 40% 4/5 80% 4/5 80% 2/5 40%
56%
ʒ
/ ʒ/
Pronounced as 3/5 60% 3/5 60% 1/5 20% 1/5 20% 3/5 60%
44%
/j/
Total correct
responses and 06/15 40% 7/15 47% 10/15 67% 7/15 47% 7/15 47%
its %age
Table 4.2a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’
This second part of the section B is to demonstrate the results of Londoner Pashtun Group. They
were also presented the same reading sentences which were given to Pakistani Pashtun group.
Below are findings of Londoner group.
4.2.6 LPS A
First participant (as identified as Londoner Pashtun Speaker A) when given the sentences to read,
he appeared to be 73% correct in the pronunciation of the given sounds. The first sound / Ө/ was
pronounced by him 60% times as compared to its nearest sound /t/ which was 40%. This ratio
revealed appropriate pronunciation a little above of half of the total responses elicited. Although
56
this ratio was not a good one still under the context the participant could be understood easily.
Further when given the other two sounds /v/ and /w/ it appeared that the correct pronunciation
ratio was same 60:40. Here in minimal pairs (like vine and wine) could confuse the listeners. The
final pair of sounds / ʒ/ and /j/ had a correct ration of 100:00 respectively. Participant A had
pronounced it completely accurate which signified that he had no problem in pronouncing this
sound correctly.
4.2.7 LPS B
As compare to LPS A, LPS B was had more problems in pronouncing / Ө/ sound. The correct
response on the part of participant B was 40% than to 60% of the nearest sound /t/. Further on
the LPS B’s going through the second pair of sounds /v/ and /w/ revealed that he was more
confident in correctly pronouncing sound /v/ for the reason that he correctly pronounced in 80%
times more than the 20% times incorrect pronunciation of /v/ sound as /w/. The findings of the
last pair were also satisfactory where the author found that LPS B pronounced /ʒ/ 60% times
correct than that of 40% times incorrect which resulted in the form of sound /j/. Overall correct
responses of the LPS B were 60%, which revealed that this speaker was only satisfactory and did
not have very outstanding pronunciation.
4.2.8 LPS C
The third participant (LPS C) was better than rest of the participants of his group. He came up with
80 % correct responses as compared to what he pronounced incorrect 20%. This ratio revealed
him to be a confident speaker regarding his pronunciation. On individual level of sound
performance, he appeared 100% correct in the pronunciation of sound / Ө/ and all his responses
were up to the mark. In the pronunciation of the sound /v/ he was correct 80% times to 20%
57
times incorrect response in the form of sound /w/. The last sound / ʒ / was 60% correct to 40%
incorrect in the form of sound /j/. These all the sounds were above average and satisfactory level.
4.2.9 LPS D
Participant LPS D was more clear and fluent in the usage of sounds /Ө/ and / ʒ/ whereas less
confident he revealed in pronouncing sound /v/. Regarding detail in percentage, this participant
correctly pronounced the sound / Ө / 80% times correct than its 20% incorrect use of the
mentioned sound. Moreover, the weakness appeared for sound /v/ where the participant showed
60% correctness and 40% he pronounced it as /w/ sound. The last sound / ʒ/ he pronounced
better than the previous and hence appeared 80% correct as compared to its incorrect use in the
form of /j/ sound. Overall, the ratio of correctness was 73% in the pronunciation of all the three
sounds.
4.2.10 LPS E
The last participant of the Londoner group appeared to be weak in pronouncing sound / Ө/ where
he stood a little above than half of the percentage. He pronounced it 40% times as sound /t/ which
revealed his weakness in this regard. Further more, this participant appeared to have made his
articulators more comfortable for sounds /v/ and /ʒ/ as his correct responses were 80% of total
times of pronunciation. Overall, his ratio of correctness of all the sounds was 73:27.
Finally the author will present the individual sound correct pronunciation from all the
participants. Sound / Ө/ was correctly pronounced by all the individuals 68% times than the
incorrect 32% times. The sound /v/ appeared 72% times correct from all the participants usage.
58
At the end all the five participants pronounced sound /ʒ/ 76% times correct. This last sound was
the highest correctly pronounced sound from all the five Londoner participants.
Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’
English consonants
absent in Pashto LPS A LPS B LPS C LPS D LPS E Overall
%age of
a sound
Pronounced as / Ө/ 3/5 60% 2/5 40% 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 3/5 60
68%
%
ᶿ 2/5 40% 3/5 60% 0/5 ----- 1/5 20% 2/5 40

Pronounced as /t/ 32%
%
Pronounced as /V/ 3/5 60% 4/5 80% 4/5 80% 3/5 60% 4/5 80
72%
V %
Pronounced as /w/ 2/5 40% 1/5 20% 1/5 20% 2/5 40% 1/5 20
28%
%
5/5 100% 3/5 60% 3/5 60% 4/5 80% 4/5 80

Pronounced as /ʒ / 76%
ʒ %
Pronounced as /j/ 0/5 ------- 2/5 40% 2/5 40% 1/5 20% 1/5 20
24%
%
Total correct 11/1 73% 9/1 60% 12/ 80% 11/15 73% 11/15 73
responses and 5 5 15 %
its %age
Table 4.2b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’

59
4.3 Section C: Findings of the ‘Reading 2’
Section C is founded on the results appeared during the ‘Reading 2’ which, actually, was reading of
those sounds which were considered as ‘non-native’ sounds of Pashto language. It means Pashto
language has borrowed them from other languages. Thus the researcher took them in to
understand whether these non-native sounds (/p/, /f/ and /ð/) can cause any problem for
Pashtun Speakers of English. Furthermore, there were many other sounds which were non-native
in Pashto but the author considered these three worth using for the reason that these sounds are
present in English language.
4.3.1 PPS A
Taking into account the first participant, the sounds /p/, /f/ and /ð/ he pronounced 60, 20 and 80
percent correct respectively. The first and third sound was satisfactory and very good respectively
but the sound /f/ exhibited the weakness of the participant. Overall the participant was average.
He scored 53% in the correct production of all the three sounds.
4.3.2 PPS B
This participant revealed his phonetic ability to be an outstanding one for he pronounced all the
three sounds 87% times correct. He had complete command on sound / ð/ (100%) and the
sounds /p/ and /f/ he pronounced 80% times correct.
4.3.3 PPS C
Participant C was also an average participant for he scored 60% in aggregate. The sounds /p/, /f/
and /ð/ he pronounced 40, 60 and 80 percent times correct. These findings disclosed that the
60
speaker needed further efforts to improve these sounds particularly /p/ and /f/ needed more
practice.
4.3.4 PPS D
Participant D was better than A and C. He was above average and for all the three sounds he
scored 73 percent in aggregate. On individual sound level, this participant pronounced sounds /p/,
/f/ and / ð/ 80, 40 and 100 percent respectively. The individual score of each sound revealed that
PPS D was strong on sound /ð/ and /p/ but lacked proficiency for sound /f/. He was below
average in this case.
4.3.5 PPS E
The last participant E in this group was weaker than all the rest of the same group. He appeared
with only 47 percent aggregate score in all the three sounds. He pronounced /p/, /f/ and /ð/ 20,
60 and 60 percent respectively. His ability to pronounce /f/ and /q/ was better than pronouncing
/p/ sound.
The accumulative score for individual sound from all the participants also emerged around
average and not impressive except sound /ð/ where the percentage is 84 percent. All the
participants collectively pronounced sound /f/ 56, /p/ 52 and /ð/ 84 percent respectively.
Pashto Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’
non-native
consonants PPS A PPS B PPS C PPS D PPS E %age
61
Pronounced as 3/5 60% 4/5 80% 2/5 40% 4/5 80% 1/5 20% 56%
/p/
Pronounced as 2/5 40% 1/5 20% 3/5 60% 1/5 20% 4/5 80% 44%
/f/
Pronounced as 1/5 20% 4/5 80% 3/5 60% 2/5 40% 3/5 60% 52%
P
/f/
Pronounced as 4/5 80% 1/5 20% 2/5 40% 3/5 60% 2/5 40% 48%
/p/
Pronounced as
/ ð/ 4/5 80% 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 5/5 100% 3/5 60% 84%
ð
Pronounced as
/d/ 1/5 20% 0/5 ------- 1/5 20% 0/5 ------- 2/5 40%
Total correct
responses and 08/15 53% 13/15 87% 09/15 60% 11/15 73% 07/15 47%
its %age
Table 4.3a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’
62
4.3.6 LPS A
In the second reading phase, the LPS A scored impressively hundred percent in the correct
production of all the sounds. He pronounced sounds /p/, /f/ and /ð/ completely accurate. This
was a good sign as compared to Pakistani Pashtun speakers group. Overall he pronounced all the
sounds 100 percent accurate.
4.3.7 LPS B
This speaker also showed better results. He appeared to be a strong speaker in the sounds equally.
He pronounced all the three sounds (/p/, /f/ and /ð/) 80 percent correct. His overall score in all
the three sounds was 87 percent.
4.3.8 LPS C
Like participant B of this group, this participant also had good command on pronouncing sounds
/f/ and /ð/ but the sound /p/ was difficult for him for he produced it 60 percent correct. His
ability to pronounce /f/ and /ð/ was impressive. The aggregate score for fall the three sounds on
the part of this participant was 87 percent. He needed improvement only in the production of
sound /p/.
4.3.9 LPS D
Participant D also scored 87 percent in aggregate. He pronounced all the sounds quite proficiently.
He pronounced sound /p/ 100 percent correct and the sounds /f/ and /ð/ 80 percent correct
respectively.
63
4.3.10 LPS E
This last participant was also an outstanding participant regarding the production of the given
sounds. Unlike participants B, C, D he scored better and like participant A he pronounced all the
three sound completely correct. His individual and aggregate score was 100 percent.
At the end, the overall score of all the participants of this group for an individual sound is
presented. Sound /f/ was pronounced by all the three participants 88% times correct. Sound /p/
and /ð/ were respectively pronounced by all the participants 92% and 96% correct. In other
words, it can be said that all the participants appeared quite proficient and pronounced all the
three sounds outstandingly.
Summary of findings of ‘Reading 2’
Pashto
non-native LPS A LPS B LPS C LPS D LPS E %age
consonants
Pronounced 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 3/5 60% 5/5 100% 5/5 100% 88%
as /p/
Pronounced 0/5 ------ 1/5 20% 2/5 40% 0/5 ------ 0/5 ------ 12%
as /f/
Pronounced 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 5/5 100% 92%
P as /f/
64
Pronounced 0/5 ------ 1/5 20% 0/5 ------ 1/5 20% 0/5 ------ 8%
as /p/
Pronounced 5/5 100% 5/5 80% 5/5 100% 4/5 80% 5/5 100% 96%
ð
as /ð/
Pronounced 0/5 ------ 0/5 20% 0/5 ----- 1/5 20% 0/5 ------ 4%
as /d/
Total Correct
responses 15/15 100% 13/15 87% 13/15 87% 13/15 87% 15/15 100%
and its %age
Table 4.3b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’
65
Chapter 5
Discussion and Conclusion
This concluding chapter presents the discussion on the findings presented in earlier chapter and
then conclusion. It takes start by presenting an overview of the objectives decided to start
research on followed by the comparison of findings of this study with other similar studies. At the
end of this comparison, the author presents the relation between objectives and how this research
work answers the objectives of it. This is followed by the theoretical and practical implications of
the research conducted with suggestions for further study at the end.
5.1 Discussion
Fundamentally, what turned up during the analysis of the findings is in support of the fact that
phonological aspects of Pashto language have a considerable role in intelligibility of Pashtuns’
speech when they use English. This study also highlighted the consonants which most frequently
create pronunciation difficulties for Pashtun speakers of English during their interaction with
others. There also exists a note on the role of L1 while speaking or learning English and the role of
native English environment.
While analysing the findings, this study verified the Contrastive analysis Hypothesis that the
absent sounds in language can cause difficulties in appropriate pronunciation. This study
confirmed that sounds / Ө /, /v/ and /ʒ/ which were absent created problems for Pashtun
speakers of English in their pronunciation.
All the five participants of Pakistani Pashtun Speakers pronounced sound / Ө / correct 52% of the
time. While they pronounced sound /v/ and sound /ʒ/ 40 and 56 percent correct respectively. On
the other hand Londoner Pashtun Participants exhibited these sounds 68, 72 and 76 percent
correct. This reveals that though the second group, though a bit improved, yet needed further
66
improvement and the absent consonants sound had interfered with their proper pronunciation.
For Pakistani group the most frequent difficulty causing consonant sound was /v/ which they
produced correctly only 40% of the time. This revealed that they needed more practice to make
their articulators used to of it. The nearest other such sound was / Ө/ which they produced
correct 52% of the time.
For Londoner group the most frequent difficulty causing consonant sound was / Ө/ which
appeared correct 68% of the time and nearest other sound was /v/ which they pronounced
correct 72% of the time. These results signify that aggregate from both the groups sound / Ө/ is
the most frequently interfering sound regarding intelligibility of Pashtun speakers of English.
Taking into account the non-native Pashto consonants group (/p/, /f/ and /q/), Pakistani Pashtun
speakers felt sound /f/ as the most frequently difficulty causing consonant. They pronounced it
correctly 52% of the time. In the case of Londoner participants the sound /p/ appeared to be the
most difficult consonant sound for them. They pronounced it correctly 88% of the time. On the
other hand the second most nearest sound after /p/ for Londoner group was /f/ which they
pronounced correctly 92% of the time. While for Pakistani group it was /p/ which they
pronounced correctly 56%. In aggregate, taking both the groups as a single group both the sounds
/p/ and /f/ are equally interfering sounds. According to these results the first objective is met
when the sounds / Ө/, /p/ and /f/ are presented as the major difficulty causing consonants for
Pashtun speakers of English.
Further on, as there appeared considerable problems due to absent consonant sounds of English
in Pashto and then non-native consonants group, it can be said there is considerable role of L1
sound system while pronouncing the sounds of other language. The study confirmed that
Pakistani Pashtun speakers of English and Londoner group pronounced sounds / Ө/, /v/ and / ʒ/ 52,
40 and 56 percent and 68, 72 and 76 percent correct respectively which confirmed that those
67
sounds which were not present in L1 system appeared difficult for participants. The other group
of sounds /p/, /f/ and /q/ also proved that both the groups had problems due to non-nativity of
these sounds (table 4.3a and b). The role of L1 can also be understood while examining the sound
/v/. The nearest sound of /v/ is /w/. Pashtun speakers of English most frequently use /w/ sound
for the reason that /v/ is not present in Pashto and the nearest is /w/ so they misuse /v/ as /w/.
In short, there is considerable role of L1 in the production of consonants sounds of other language.
The pronunciation of sound /t/ instead of / Ө / also proved the role of L1 while pronouncing
English consonant sound. Pakistani Pashtun Speakers pronounced sound /Ө/ 52% of the total
time and Londoner Pashtun speakers pronounced it 68% correct of the total time. This reveals
that sound / Ө/ which is absent in Pashto language thus Pashtuns use /t/ instead of / Ө/. In short, there is
considerable role of L1 in the production of consonants sounds of other language.
Keeping in view the analysis of the findings, it appeared that there is considerable difference
between the pronunciation of Pakistani and Londoners’ group. For instance, sounds / Ө/,
/v/ and /ʒ/ for Pakistani Pashtun group were correct 52, 40 and 56 percent respectively
while Londoner group, in this regard, were correct 68, 72 and 76 percent respectively.
This disclosed that the influence of native English environment is worth testing in
understanding the pronunciation issues. Onwuegbuzie et al. (1999) and Lightbown and
Spada (2006) found during their study that exposure to the target language and its culture
encourages reduction of language anxiety in learners and develops pronunciation and spoken
ability.
Here it is necessary to mention that current study have similar results to a study conducted by
Bohn and Fledge (1992) where they concluded that its similar or nearest sounds that created
problems for German speakers. Similarly Pashtun speakers of English in this study revealed that
68
instead of sound /v/ which is not present in Pashto the participants pronounced its nearest
available sound in Pashto /w/. Same was the case with other similar or nearest sounds.
On the other hand, this study contradicts the results of the study conducted by Major and Kim
(1999) where they concluded that beginning and advance Korean learners of English were
comfortable with similar sounds but Pashtun speakers had problems with similar sounds
according to current study.
Major (1987), in another project, revealed that advanced Brazilian/Portuguese speakers were
comfortable at dissimilar sounds than the similar ones. It should be noted that though the current
study have the same results as mentioned above but the newer aspect appeared was the problem
of threshold level pronunciation of non-native Pashto sounds where Pashtuns do no perform
satisfactorily.
5.2 Implications of findings
The findings of the current study can be used in three dimensions. On one hand these findings
have implications for theoretical expansion and on the other hand practical relevance with
language use. Keeping in view the theoretical expansion, this study can provide a basic knowledge
for further theoretical development regarding relation of English and Pashto consonants
contrastive study. It can be expanded by using a larger group of participants, geography etc. within
or outside of Pakistan with focus on Pashtun speakers and also the including different dialects
groups. This can better set a foundation to understand the issues of phonological differences
between Pashto and English. Language teachers, I would say, can be given a good account of
understanding of both Pashto language and English language sound systems particularly
consonants. Comprehensive knowledge of both the systems enables the teachers better solve their
69
learners’ problems and teach more effectively. This study, in terms of practical applications, can
assist teachers as a comprehensible model. English language teachers in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
province of Pakistan and teachers outside Pakistan teaching Pashtuns can understand the
consonant sounds that interfere with the intelligibility of Pashtun speakers of English and cause
difficulties for them. Moreover, teachers can produce better results if they make their learners
practice such sounds. Regard learners’ performance, it can be said that they can be provided with
better awareness of their problems and phonetic differences between L1 and target language.
They can also get familiarized with the use of those articulators which they do not use and L1
interference that create intelligibility problems for them. Learners can be enabled to detect their
own pronunciation related errors followed by the step of their self correction.
5.3 Conclusion
This study was conducted to understand the impact of phonological characteristics of Pashto and
native English environment on the pronunciation of English consonants. In this regard, the
research activity dealt three major objectives which were finding out major consonants that create
intelligibility problems for Pashtun speakers of English, secondly the role of Pashto language while
use of English consonants and finally to understand the impact of native English environment on
the use of English consonants. For this purpose, the analysis of the findings were presented in
three sections named as A, B and C. section A presented the analysis of the findings in response to
questionnaire, B and C sections covered the response against ‘Reading 1 and Reading 2’. The
resulted analysis of findings revealed that non-native consonants in Pashto language which are
present in English do affect the intelligibility of Pashtun speakers of English. Similarly, the
consonants of English which are absent in Pashto also create problems of misunderstanding of the
said group. The analysis also revealed that in native English environment, Pashtun speakers have
70
improved their pronunciation. Consequently, the conclusion can be drawn that there is
considerable role of mother tongue and native environment on the pronunciation of consonants.
5.4 Recommendations for future research
The author, first of all, recommends the need of further studies in this field for there is very study
of Pashto language in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Keeping in view the limited study on Pashto
language phonetics and phonology future research can be improved by using a large sample form
Pashtun community. It is also important to understand geographic role in pronunciation for there
are considerable differences in the pronunciation of Pashtuns of difference areas. They move their
articulators in their own way. Moreover, another major aspect for future research can be the
combination of both segmental and suprasegmental features of phonology. The author would also
like to recommend future research for both hard and soft dialects of Pashto language. Another
approach towards future research can be the difference between Afghan and Pakistani Pashto
version in comparison of English sound system. The contrastive analysis of Pashto and English can
also study based on vowel systems of the language.
71
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Appendix A
Information Sheet
Title of this project
The impact of phonological characteristics of Pashto and native English environment on the pronunciation
of English consonants
Aim of the study
The aim of this study is to investigate the consonants, which cause difficulties for Pashtun speakers of
English. Furthermore, the study also includes investigating the role of Pashto sound system and the changes
in pronunciation of such consonants that result during considerable stay in native English environment.
Data collection activities
In this study you will be asked to respond to one questionnaire and go through two readings.
The questionnaire would be based on five questions to answer. This should take around ten to twenty
minutes. Then you would be asked to go through ‘Reading 1’ and ‘Reading 2’ loudly, designed as two
different 15 sentence readings. This should take around 15 minutes.
All the data you provide will be secured in a safe place and will only be accessible to me and my project
supervisor. You will not be identifiable in the reporting of the results of this research.
Your participation in this research is purely voluntary, and you are at liberty to withdraw your participation
at any time without any prejudice.
My contact details and those of my supervisor are:
Mr. Irfan Ullah (Researcher) Dr. Billy Clark (Research Supervisor)
76
Appendix B
Consent Form
Title of the project: The impact of phonological characteristics of Pashto and native English
environment on the pronunciation of English consonants.
I have been informed of and understand the purposes of the study. I have been given an opportunity to ask
questions. I understand that my participation in this project is voluntary and I can withdraw at any time
without any prejudice. Any information which might potentially identify me will not be used in the published
material.
I agree to participate in the study as outlined to me.
Name of the participant:
Signature:
Date:
Contact Details:
77
Appendix C
Questionnaire
_____________________________________________________________________
Name: _______________ Academic Qualification: _____________ Age:______________
Score in IELTS speaking module: ____________ IELTS exam year: ____________ ___
_____________________________________________________________________
Q: 1 Have you attempted or gone through any pronunciation improvement course in past?
a) Yes b) No
b) Other: _______________________________________________________________.
Q: 2 Do you consider pronunciation important in communication and satisfied from your

level of pronunciation?
a) Yes b) No
Other:
__________________________________________________________________.
Q: 3 Do you feel your listeners are comfortable with your pronunciation?
a) Yes b) No
b) Other
________________________________________________________________.
Q: 4 Do you experience the question ‘please repeat your sentence?’ ‘What?’ ‘What did you
say?’ etc.?
a) Yes b) No
Other:
___________________________________________________________________.
Q: 5 Do you intend/are you interested to take up a course for pronunciation imp rovement in
future?
a) Yes b) No
Other:
__________________________________________________________________.
78
Appendix D
Reading 1
1. They cannot be taught according to your thought.
2. Through this way we can prove it true.
3. Thanks for sending this water tank for us.
4. Thumb’s up for going to that tomb.
5. Lesson about a camel’s thirst was very terse.
6. His vest could not surround his waist due to his weighty body.
7. Do you know the difference between vine and wine?
8. Vetting of wet material in laboratory became difficult.
9. According to dictionaries vent and went are homophone.
10. Weaving is not viewed a good profession by some people.
11. Major wants to measure the boundary wall.
12. The leisure of the accountant left the ledger incomplete.
13. The vision of the vigilant inspector is trustable.
14. Pleasure of the pledge was unforgettable.
15. Seizure and scissors are not synonyms.
79
Appendix E
Reading 2
1. The fool must not pick the gun.
2. Don't fail to peel the banana.
3. The four poor students commit suicide.
4. The forest clerk kicked the poor gardener.
5. The fluffy puppy is very cute.
6. The pure wooden floor was looking very beautiful.
7. Paul falls in a well and could not survive.
8. He was busy in playing golf.
9. Patting the bread she saw a fat mouse around.
10. To prevent the water flowing around she shouted to call neighbours.
80

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The impact of ‘phonological characteristics of Pashto’ and ‘native English

environment’ on the pronunciation of English consonants

A Dissertation Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Middlesex University London, UK

encouragement during my stay at campus.

motivation and friendship.

helped, cared and encouraged me to complete this project.

There is a profound relationship between phonological characteristics of a language and the

Pakistan or in UK, consider their pronunciation to be a hindrance in smooth communication during

improvement in the pronunciation of Pashtun speakers of English residing in London.

1.1 Introduction ……………………………...1

Background to the research and literature review

Findings and analysis of the data

4.1 Section A: Findings of the questionnaire

4.1.1 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker A ……………………………...48

4.2 Section B: Findings of ‘Reading 1’

4.2.1 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker A ……………………………...53

4.3 Section C: Findings of ‘Reading 2’

4.3.1 Pakistani Pashtun Speaker A ……………………………...60

Discussion and Conclusion

5.1 Discussion ……………………………...66

Appendix A: Information Sheet ……………………………...76

Table 2.1 Syllable structure of English ……………………6

Table 2.2.1 Consonants of English ……………………7

Table 2.3 Language family of Pashto ……………………11

Table 2.3.2 Consonants of Pashto ……………………18

Table 2.6.1 English Pashto syllable structures in contrast ……………………33

Table 2.6.2a Pashto consonants absent in English ……………………35

Table 2.6.2b English consonants absent in Pashto ……………………35

Table 4.1a Summary of the findings of questionnaire (PPS) ……………………49

Table 4.1b Summary of the findings of questionnaire (LPS) ……………………52

Table 4.2a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’ (PPS) ……………………55

Table 4.2b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 1’ (LPS) ……………………59

Table 4.3a Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’ (PPS) ……………………61

Table 4.3b Summary of the findings of ‘Reading 2’ (LPS) ……………………64

Kenworthy (1987) as “intelligibility is being understood by a listener at a given time in a given

further got discouraged.

(Singleton and Lengyel, 1995).

differences of mother tongue and target language.

need ask for repeating the word.

consonants and it restricts Pashtun speakers of English in appropriate pronunciation of English

1.2 Aim of the research

problems in pronouncing English consonants.

Background to the Research and Literature Review

languages followed by the theoretical background relating to learning of L2 pronunciation. In this

2.1 English Syllable Structure

ask /æsk/ VCC

apples /æpls/ VCCC

sir /sᴈ: (r)/ CVC

battle /bætƏl/ CVCC

Hints /hInts/ CVCCC

free /fri:/ CCV

Trees /tri:s/ CCVC

stand /stænd/ CCVCC

pranks /præȠks/ CCVCCC

trampled /træmpƏld/ CCVCCCC

Strew /stru:/ CCCV

Sprig /sprIg/ CCCVC

Sprint /sprInt/ CCCVCC