An optimality theoretic approach to Dholuo speakers’ perception and learnability of RP English sibilant phonemes
Keywords:
perception, sibilants, optimality theory, DholuoAbstract
The segmental phonology of English comprises of vowels and consonants, which are critical in the process of second language learnability. The Sibilants of RP English are /s, z, ʃ,ʒ, ʤ,ʧ/ which consists of fricatives and affricates. From an acoustic phonetics perspective, sibilants are louder and have a higher frequency. Dholuo, which is a Western Nilotic language has /s,ʒ, ʤ,ʧ/ sibilants in its inventory. The objective of the present research was to examine the perception and production of RP English sibilants by Dholuo speakers who have a smaller inventory of sibilants in their first language compared to English. A true experimental design using a series of ten, fifteen- twenty minutes lesson session with the Luo students was used to test the perception and production of sibilants within Dispersal Theory Bidirectional Optimality Theory. A set of sibilant minimal pairs were used in the pre-test, training and post-test phase of the study. A series of One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and three-way ANOVA show that there was a statistically significant effect of the training session on rate of accuracy of perception. The responses modelled within Bidirectional Optimality Theory show that there was constraint demotion and that RP English sibilants are learnable.
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