PLV p b t d k g
NSL M n ŋ
FRV f v θ ծ s z ʃ ӡ h
AFR tʃ dӡ
LTR l
APX W R j
(Ampa, 2014) Notes:
BLB : Bilabial PLV : Plosive
LBDT : Labiodental NSL : Nasal
DTL : Dental FRV : Fricative
ALV : Alveolar AFR : Affricate
PLTAL : Palato-alveolar LTR : Lateral
PLT : Palatal APX : Approximant
VLR : Velar GLT : Glottal
In this research, the researcher focuses on Fricative Consonant sounds to implement in English pronunciation improvement, because each sounds of
fricative consonants almost have similarity so it is very appropriate to be used in tongue twister technique. Fricative consonants also have more sound than another English consonants.
c. Fricative Consonants
Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip againts the upper teeth such as /f/ and /v/; the tip of the tongue againts the upper front teeth in the case of /θ/ and /ծ /; the tip of the tongue againts the alveolar ridge in the case of /s/ and /z/; the tip of the tongue againts the back of alveolar ridge in the case of /ʃ/ and /ӡ/; and in the glottis in the case of /h/. It may be also said that a fricative consonant is formed by a constriction in the vocal tract by the articulators so that the air becomes turbulent. This turbulent airflow is called friction.
The fricative consonant are also continuant consonants which mean that we can continue making them without interruption as long as we have enough air in our lungs. In English, fricatives are so complex. They have five places of articulation and each place of articulation has a pair of phonemes, those are voiceless (fortis) and voiced (lenis) fricatives except for glotal fricative.
The fortis fricatives are articulated with greater force than lenis fricatives and have the effect of shotening a preciding vowel such as the word pairs „leaf‟
and „leave‟ /li:f/ and /li:v/. The two words consist of long vowel in final position but in the first word is pronounced shorter than in the second because of the effect
of fortis consonant. The place of articulation of fricative consonants are shown in the following table.
Table 2.3 Fricative Consonants Place of Articulation
Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palato-alv Glottal Voiceless
(Fortis)
f θ S ʃ
H Voiced
(Lenis)
v ծ Z Ӡ
(Ampa, 2014)
Most of fricatives can be found in initial, medial and final positions.
However, in the case of /ӡ/, the distribution is limited. It is commonly found in medial positions like in the word „measure‟, „usual‟ and its occurrence os rare in initial position of a word. In the glottal fricative (/h/), it means that the narrowing that produces the friction noise is between the vocal cords. If we breathe silently, and produce /h/ we are moving our vocal cords from wide apart to close together.
This consonant is always followed by a vowel. It never occurs in final posotion of a word. The occurrences of fricative consonants in the words are shown in the following table.
Table 2.4 Distribution of Fricative Consonants
Fricatives Symbol Initial Middle Final
Voiceless Labio-dental The distribution of fricative consonants in the table above indicates that all fricative consonants may occur either in nitial, middle or in final of words, except for the palato-alveolar fricative and glottal fricative. The palato-alveolar fricative only occurs in the middle or in final of words and the glottal fricative never occurs at the end of words.
2. Tongue Twister
a. Definition of Tongue Twister
Karker (2000:2) defines tongue twister as a text that features 1 or a combination of sounds that are extremely difficult for the mouth and of course tongue to control. Despite the difficulty, especially for foreign learners, tongue twisters are helpful to learn many minimal pairs. Practising „She sells sea shells on the sea shore‟, for example can help students distinguish phonemes /ʃ/ and /s/.
Some examples of tongue twisters can also be found in other languages. Rahardi (2006:44) states that the tongue twister is an alternative way of teaching pronunciation optimally to avoid conventional and boring way.
Rohman (2016) states that the tongue twister is a sentences or phrase that is intended to be difficult to say, especially when repeated quickly and often.
Tongue twister may rely on similar but distinct phonemes, unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other featuresof a language. Moreover, the tongue twister sentences are very interesting because they consist of many similar sounds but usually different in their written form and meaning
According to Gonzales (2009:3) the tongue twister are used to repeat it as many times as possible, as quickly as possible, without mispronunciation. Beare (2014) states that tongue twister are short, memorable lines that are difficult to pronounce, especially rapidly, because of alliteration or a slight variation of consonant sounds. Tongue twister are especially useful in pronunciation when focusing on a specific, related phonemes, or sounds.
b. Steps of Tongue Twister
There are some steps how to implement the tongue twisters technique (Wikipedia):
a. Find the tongue twisters you want to say successfully Here let‟s use “She sells seashells on the seashore”.
b. Write it down in a piece of paper, read it five times to yourself.
c. While looking at it say it at a normal speed, but whispering. (do this five times) d. Now, read it out very slowly five times.
e. Do this again without looking at the paper . f. Now say each word separately five times.
“She” five times, “sells” five times, etc.
g. Say each section (if any) of the tongue twisters five times.
h. Say the tongue twisters five times, but putting pauses in between each word.
“She. Sells. Seashells. On. The. Seashore.”
i. Close your eyes, focus, and say it once.
Did you say it right? If not, repeat all steps. If so, say it twice more and see if you can still say it.
j. Test yourself, say it five times fast.
c. Advantages of Tongue Twister
According to Sitoresmi (2016:1) there are several advantages of tongue twisters to the students of English Department of Teacher Training and Education Slamet Riyadi University, that is:
a. Tongue twisters improve their motivation as a result of various activities conducted during the course lika whispering game, watching videos, and peer teaching. They become more self confident as they are actively involved in the learning process. Their awarness of using occurate pronunciation also improves.
b. The class conditions are improves. The students learnt in more exciting and relax atmosphere. They were willing to actively response to the lecturer‟s quetions and instructions. They also enjoyed the pleasent sounds the tongue twisters made. It made the class more alive.
c. The pronunciation improves. Since they got models from native speakers by watching youtube videos specifically concerning tongue twisters and routine drills using tongue twister before starting the class, they could minimize mistakes. The improvement was observed during course and the result of the test. Moreover, their muscles became relax when pronouncing words.
C. Conceptual Framework
Figure 2.1