A Research on Guangzhou Dialect's Negative Transfer on British English Pronunciation by Speech Analyzer Software Praat and Ear Recognition Method

Abstract

In order to explore the negative transfer of Guangzhou dialect on the British English pronunciation, this paper takes English major freshmen in Nanfang College of Sun Yat-sen University as respondents to participate into a phonetic test and analyzes their English pronunciation of vowels, consonants, stress, rhythm, and intonation, based on the data collected by a speech analyzer software, Praat and the evaluation done by foreign teachers (i.e. Ear Recognition Method). In conclusion, it is found that the respondents’ pronunciation of segmental phoneme and suprasegmental phoneme was negatively affected by Guangzhou dialect in different levels. In connection with the major findings, the authors provide four suggestions for English learners with Guangzhou dialect as mother tongue to improve their English pronunciation.