Brazilian Speakers’ Deletions of the Word-Final /s/
Karine Pinto Manfé | 2014
Many researchers from different countries are mapping the pronunciation patterns of learners of English as a foreign language in order to identify specific difficulties students may have when learning a language. Once these patterns which may hinder successful communication are identified, educators could improve their teaching approaches concerning pronunciation so as to better assist their target students. Bearing this in mind, this research aimed at investigating why some Brazilian students delete the /s/ pronunciation in word-final positions (e.g., ‘watches’ and ‘always’). The data counted on 10 participants who were asked to respond an open-ended questionnaire with their background information; to answer some questions according to an image and about their own habits; and to read a text in Portuguese and another in English. Regarding the nonlinguistic variables, the results showed that the participants who less deleted the /s/ were the ones who spent more time learning English. Moreover, there was partial support to the hypothesis that certain dialects may lead to the deletion of /s/. Concerning the tests, the oral section with closed questions led to the highest percentages of /s/ deletions. Furthermore, all participants who deleted the /s/ in L1 also deleted it in L2. Moreover, the research also proved that the informants who delete the /s/ when reading also delete it when speaking. Finally, it could also be concluded that from the five linguistic categories present in the tests plurality, verb inflection and verb contraction were the ones on which most /s/ deletions occurred.