Local Language Interference on English Segmental and Suprasegmental Sounds of Rural Students at South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims at finding errors made by the students because of local language interference. In this case of Buginese interference to English pronunciation. This study employed qualitative method with a case study. There were seven students involved as participant. They were chosen purposively with some criteria. Research instrument used in collecting data was test. The test form was reading test, where the students read the word and sentences. Data transcription was analyzed in three steps, namely data reduction, data display, data classification, data interpretation, and verification and drawing conclusions. The result indicates the errors produced by the students are categorized in segmental and suprasegmental sounds. In terms of segmental aspects, the most common error is the substitution of sounds /θ/ is replaced with /t/ same thing can be seen in the sound /ð/, which is pronounced as /d/, students also tend to replace the sound /v/ with /f/, sound /tʃ/ with /k/ or /kh/. These errors mean the interference of the local language influence students’ English pronunciation. They tend to adapt English sounds to sounds that are more familiar in the Bugis language. Therefore, students must practice their speech organs in order to produce right English sounds.