Peer Editing to Anne Karoline -- EnglishtextsM

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Date Posted: 18:35:33 05/12/07 Sat
Author: Caroline
Subject: Peer Editing to Anne Karoline

This is my argumentative essay, and the general topic is �oral skills�
Some mother language influences second language in pronunciation: the case of the nasal vowels

When learning a second language, students use their mother language (L1) to learn the second one (L2). These L1 influences can be perceived in syntax and in supra-segmental levels (P) such as prosody and pronunciation. In (X) the case of pronunciation, Brazilian students of English as a second language, for instance, usually transfer some sound features from Portuguese to English. In this case, the mother language knowledge is essential in the process of learning a second one(P),(X) since knowing both first and second language sound systems can help students to understand the origins of some sound influences in the L2 from the L1 and also to have a better pronunciation.
Before starting showing some L1 influences in pronunciation it is important to analyze both English and Portuguese inventories.

Portuguese has 26 consonantal sounds and English has 24 in general. Comparing both inventories, we can perceive that many sounds that occur in Portuguese also occur in English, although some consonantal sounds that appear in both inventories sometimes have different features. (X)Then, because of that, a Brazilian student of English, in the process of learning, will be familiar with some English sounds� since he/she already knows them from Portuguese. However, they will have difficulties with sounds that are not found in Portuguese such as [T,D,N] in the words �thing�, �these� and �song�, for example. This will be a problem and students will try to find sounds in Portuguese that seem to be similar to those in English that are unknown to them.
Besides this, the sounds that occur in both languages will also bring problems. Even these sounds that seem to be similar are not the same. Sometimes they have different features that are hard to be perceived by a foreigner speaker. Then(Bw/e), because of that, Brazilians speakers mispronounce words in English, since they will produce these sounds as if they were speaking their native tongue(Bw/e). One example that illustrates some mother language influences is the nasal vowels.
In Portuguese, the nasal sounds are represented by the nasal consonants [m,n,�], as we can see in the chart above, and the nasal vowels such as [a�, e�, i�, o�, u�]. To understand the L1 transfer in the case of the nasal vowels, it is important to know two concepts about nasal patterns in Portuguese: nasalization and nasalized vowels.
In Portuguese a vowel will be nasal if it is followed by a nasal consonant in the end of a syllable (in coda position). This is because a nasal consonant(P) in coda position(P) in Portuguese is not articulated, they are omitted because it becomes a resonance in the nasal cavity. Then, in the words such as �s[a�]nta�, �v[i�]nte�, �c[a�]ntora and c[a�]mpo, all the vowels followed by a nasal consonant are nasal in any Portuguese accent.
However, if a vowel is followed by a nasal consonant in a different syllable, such as �cama�, �janela�, �banana�, the vowels can be nasalized depending on the Portuguese accent.
In English, (X) the nasal sounds are represented by (X)the nasal consonants [m,n,N]. The vowels are typically oral. A vowel can be nasalized in English but not nasal (suffer nasalization). If it is followed by a nasal consonant in coda position(??), the phonetic manifestation of the vowel can be nasalized, but the nasal consonant does not become a resonance (it is not omitted), it is articulated in the vocal tract.
What happens with pronunciation in this case is that Brazilian speakers of English, knowing the already acquired patterns from Portuguese for nasal or nasalized vowels, will transfer these aspects from L1 to L2, changing (X) the English pronunciation pattern in this case.
Then(Bw/e), the L1 influences in pronunciation can be perceived in some phonetic contexts, as listed below:

a) Nasal consonants [m,n] followed by the consonantal sounds p,b,t,d,s
b) Nasal consonants [m,n] in the end of words;
c) Spelling interference.

In English, the nasal consonants [m,n] are not omitted, as (X) I said before. They are articulated touching the lips (upper and low) in the case of m, and with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, in the case of n. However, there is a transfer from L1 to L2 when a vowel is followed by a nasal consonant (in coda position) + a consonantal sound in the following syllable. Compare the examples below:

As in Portuguese, the phonetic sequence vowel + nasal consonant in coda position like in �campo�, the nasal consonant is omitted(P), Brazilian speakers of English, using the already acquired pattern from Portuguese, will omit the nasal consonants [m,n] and produce a nasal vowel like in �samba� in English.
When nasal consonants [m,n] occur in the end of words (in coda position), Brazilian speakers of English tend to omit the final nasal consonant and produce a nasal vowel or they can add a i after the nasal consonant, as observed in the examples below:

The spelling interference is also recurrent. It is hard to a Brazilian speaker of English to separate the sounds from the orthography. Since, many materials used in second language teaching and learning are books, the spelling usually influences students when they say an English word. Thus, in words such as �promise�, �comics�, �any� and �penny�, students usually produce a nasal and closed vowel [e�] or [o�] instead of producing an oral and opened one [E] or [�], which represent (X) the English sound system feature in this case.

In conclusion, the mother language awareness is essential to understand its influences in L2(P), and knowing these influences, students can be able to understand the origins of some mistakes in the second language pronunciation and(X) so to use this knowledge to improve it.

Anne, your text is very good. However, to make it better you should use more transitionals to link your ideas. You should also make your thesis statement more clear and short. The use of examples was very good to illustrate you essay. You must develop your conclusion because it has only one sentence. You must also connect your conclusion with examples that you gave. You did a very good job!!!

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