An interlanguage study of English intonation in Thai students speaking Pattani Malay as their mother tongue

Abstract

This research investigates English intonation in Thai students speaking Pattani Malay as their mother tongue. The data were collected from 30 students majoring in English from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkhla University, Pattani Campus, by reading various English passages. The two sample groups were selected according to their relative English exposure score. The results reveal that, in terms of tonality, 8 out of 11 stress patterns by Thai students who speak Pattani Malay as their mother tongue exhibited the influence of the stress pattern in Thai and Pattani Malay where the primary stress always falls on the last syllable. The most distinctive evidence was found in the ‘Oo'Ooo/ 'OoˌOoo’ pattern where the percentage of the deviated pattern is 27% in High Exposure Group (HEG) and 33% in Low Exposure Group (LEG). Furthermore, two rules of overgeneralization were found. First, 6 stress patterns show the case that the subjects assigned stress into the syllable preceding the last one. The most salient evidence appeared in the ‘Oooo’ pattern where the percentage of the deviated pattern is 53% in HEG and 86% in LEG. The second rule is in 5 stress patterns where the subjects assigned stress into any syllable that is not the last one. The most distinctive case is in the ‘Oooo or ˌOo'Oo’ pattern where 31% in HEG and 33% in LEG assigned the stress into the second syllable. Concerning tonicity, it is shown that, in the sentence category where the tonic word is allowed to be in the final position, 42% of High Exposure Group and 38% of Low Exposure Group chose the words in the middle position of the tone group as the tonic words. Similarly, in the sentence category where the tonic word should not appear in the final position, the findings from 76% of High Exposure Group and 56% of Low Exposure Group suggest that the words in the middle position are most frequently selected as the tonic words. However, it is also found that 10% of High Exposure Group and 21% of Low Exposure Group chose the function words and the addressing term ‘sir’ as the tonic words. This might be the result of the intentional emphasis or the interference from the first language which determines the final position for the tonic. Moreover, it is found that the additional tone group is another factor that influences tonicity in terms of the additional numbers of the tonic words within a sentence. As for the use of tune, it is found that 91% of High Exposure Group and 88% of Low Exposure Group used the Falling tune (Tune 1) in the statements and the questions beginning with question words while the percentage of the use of Tune 1 in Native Group is 100%. The variation is also found in the non-native groups. That is, 3% of High Exposure Group and 2% of Low Exposure Group used tune 2. In addition, the findings of 6% of High Exposure Group and 10% of Low Exposure Group show the use of Tune 3. In terms of the High-rising tune (Tune 2), it is revealed that 68% of High Exposure Group and 46% of Low Exposure Group used Tune 2 in the polar questions whereas the percentage of this tune in Native Group is 88%. As for the variation, the findings show that the use of Falling tune is also found, 12% in Native Group, 32% in High Exposure Group, and 54% in Low Exposure Group. Finally, regarding the use of the low-rising tune (Tune 3), it is found that 37% of High Exposure Group and 34% of Low Exposure Group used Tune 3 in the unfinished sentences while the percentage of this tune in Native Group is 54%.Concerning the variation, the use of Falling tune is also found, 46% in Native Group, 63% in High Exposure Group, and 65% in Low Exposure Group. Moreover, 1% of the Low Exposure Group reveals the use of Tune 3. The findings suggest that the cause of the deviation in terms of tune might come from the understanding of the meanings of all the tunes as related to the texts, the overgeneralization process, the length of the sentences, and the tone assignment rules in Thai.