An Analysis of Phonological Processes Involved in Spoken English of Hong Kong Primary Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

This study investigated the English phonological processes and speech articulation of adult Cantonese-English speakers residing in Hong Kong. The Phonology Test for Cantonese Speakers of English (PTCSE) was developed to assess English articulation and phonological processes of native speakers of Cantonese. Data from 37 adult participants, analyzed descriptively, yielded a total of 466 phonological process deviations. Two syllable words presented the most difficulty, followed by three and single syllable words. Results indicated this group of Cantonese-English speaking participants displayed a wide variety of articulatory patterns, some of which were not evidenced by the literature. Phonological processes noted in this study included: (a) stopping; (b) fronting; (c) deaffrication; (d) gliding; (e) devoicing; (f) lip rounding; (g) backing; (h) affrication; (i) voicing; (j) pre-vocalic singleton omission; (k) post-vocalic singleton omission; (l) consonant sequence reduction; (m) vowel deviations; and, (n) vowel additions. Five suggested instructional strategies focusing on speech production are provided.