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| H. Artes, Letras e Lingüística - 2. Letras - 3. Línguas Estrangeiras Modernas | ||
| ENGLISH WEAK FORMS IN THE SPOKEN DISCOURSE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF LANGUAGES IN MOSSORÓ-RN: A BRIEF OVERVIEW | ||
| Clerton Luiz Felix Barboza 1 (clertonluiz@hotmail.com) | ||
| (1. Depto. de Letras Estrangeiras, Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte - UERN) | ||
| INTRODUÇÃO:
The present study has as its main objective the demonstration of the actual usage of the so-called weak forms of some function words of the English language, which are commonly mispronounced by Portuguese native-speakers of the aforementioned language. Inside this context, we emphasize the phonetic and phonological aspects of the problem in question aiming at demonstrating the importance of the correct articulation of such forms in order to reduce problems in communication, as well as finding the sources of such difficulties. |
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| METODOLOGIA:
Grounded on techniques proposed by such authors as Prator, Celce-Murcia, Roach and Orion, we recorded and analyzed suprasegmental characteristics of speakers of English as a foreign language at Rio Grande do Norte State University, in Mossoró-RN. The data was collected among the students enrolled at the last semester of the Teacher Preparation course of that Institution. 21 (twenty-one) subjects participated on the recording of the speech samples, which were taken by asking the students to speak freely for around two minutes. Further analysis of their production of weak forms was carried out by using software such as Speech Analyzer and Praat. However, due to the large amount of data collected relating to the pronunciation of the weak forms of the English language, only the words and, for, or, was, the, can, a, an, are, from are being dealt with on the present research. |
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| RESULTADOS:
A deeper analysis of the data collected demonstrated that, as a rule, 76% (seventy-six percent) of the utterances analyzed were pronounced accordingly to the recommended usage of the English language. Even though the general average of the results may be considered good, with such words as and, the, a, an being pronounced in an acceptable way by all the subjects surveyed, the word for , for example, was acceptably produced just 28% (twenty-eight percent) of the occasions it was uttered. |
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| CONCLUSÕES:
The results showed that an average mastering of the weak forms of the function words of the English language is generally achieved by the end of the Teaching Preparation course at Rio Grande do Norte State University. Even though the general speech fluency level of the subjects taken into study may not be considered very high, the misuse of the characteristic weakening of the grammar words did not influence negatively the communication of the subjects of this research in most of the cases. Even when the articulation of a weak form sounded inappropriate, the use of recurring techniques, such as an extra-high pitch or loudness on content words, demonstrated that the subjects were well aware about the characteristic patterns of the English language which may make the communication in the lingua franca of the twentieth-first century in an easier and smoother way. |
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| Palavras-chave: Phonetics and Phonology; Suprasegments; Weak Forms. | ||
| Anais da 57ª Reunião Anual da SBPC - Fortaleza, CE - Julho/2005 |