CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of The Study
Language is a very important thing in life because it is a tool of
communication that human use everyday in doing all the activities. Language
is a system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar or the
system of communication used by people in a particular country or type of
work. Besides, language also functions as a unifier.
There are many kinds of language all over this world, for instance
English, Portugese, Indonesian, Mandarin, etc. Every language must be
different and has its uniqueness. Although they are different, every people from
different country must be able to communicate each other by speaking English
because it is a unifier language which is used for International communication.
In this globalization era, English is vital as the international language. To
be able to socialize internationally,everybody has to be fluent in
English,written and also spoken English. Because of the importance of English,
many countries all over the world try to improve the ability of their people in
using English effectively. A lot of information and knowledgeexists in books,
magazines, newspapers use English. In Indonesia, English is also very
important. English language skill is being the requirement in continuing study
for instance for Master Degree, in applying for a job, and it is also is being the
Learning English isveryimportant but the mother tongue language is also
important. For instance, the writer’s mother tongue language is Toba Batak
Language.Toba Batak language is also the same as other languages which has
grammar and phonemes that should be learnt. Toba Batak Language is a
language spoken by Toba Batak people. Toba Batak is one of ethnics in
Indonesia which located in some areas in North Sumatera such as Toba
Samosir, Samosir, Parapat, Tarutung, Balige, Humbang Hasundutan, and all
areas in Tapanuli Utara.The writer herself is Toba Bataknese.
In Indonesia, there are many ethnic groups which have their own
languages such as Tobanese, Javanese, Malay, and many others. Though there
are many ethinic groups with different languages, Indonesian people are still
able to communicate each other by using one language that is Indonesian. We
use language everyday. It can express somebody’s feeling such as
happiness, sadness, and it can also make somebody laugh and cry.
Bloch and Tragger (1942 ; 5) state,” A language is a system of arbitrary
vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.”Those show the
function of language for human communication.
Learning language means learning linguistics. Linguistics is the science
of language.This science makes language as its object. Linguistics has some
branches such as Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatic and Phonology.
In this thesis, the writer analyze the phonology especially phonemes.
Chomsky (1968) states , “Theory linguistics is concerned primarily with
an ideal speaker listener in completely homogenous speech community, who
irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shift attentions and
interests and errors (randoms or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of
the language in actual performance. To study actual linguistic performance we
must consider the interaction of a variety of factors, of which the underlying
competence is only one.
Hayes (1955 : 1) states that phonology is a branch of linguistics
concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in
languages.Phonology is the study of linguistic systems, specifically the way in
which sound represents differences of meaning in a language. It has
traditionally focused largely on the study of systems of phonemes in
particular languages, therefore used to be also called phonemic, but it
may also cover any linguistics analysis either at a level beneath the word
(including syllable, onset and rime , articulatory gestures, articulatory
features, etc.) or at all levels of language where sound is considered to be
structured for conveying linguistics meaning.
Jones ( 1967 : 5) states that phoneme is the smallest phonetic unit in
a language that is capable of making a distinction in meaning, as the m
in mat and the b inbat in English. Linguistics one of the set of speech
sounds in any given language that serve to distinguish one word from
another. A phoneme may consist of several phonetically distinct
articulations, which are regarded as identical by native speakers, since one
articulation may be substituted for another without any change of
meaning. Thus /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes in English because they
distinguish such words as pet and bet, whereas the light and dark /l/
without changing meaning.Pike (1963 :63) states ,” A phoneme is one of
the significants units of sounds, or a contrastive sound unit. According to
Jones (1972 :51),” Phonemes are capable of distinguishing one word of a
language from other words of the same language. There is an English word sin
and another English word siŋ.The existence of such words is a proof that the n and ŋ sounds belong to separate phonemes in English.”
It is constantly found in language study that several distinct sounds
in a language have to be considered as if they were one for
orthographic, grammatical and semantic purposes. Thus although the
English k’s in kiːp (keep) , koːl (call) and kuːl (cool) are distinct sounds,
it is necessary for practical linguistics purposes to treat them as if they
were one and the same.In fact, many of the elements of language
commonly termed “sounds” or “essential sounds” are in reality small
families of sounds, each family consisting of an important sound of the
language together with other related sounds which, so to speak,
“represent” it in particular sequences or under particular conditions of
length , stress or intonation.
If we talk about phonemes, we also talk about consonants and
vowels. They belong to phonemes.Consonant is a speech sound in which
the air is at least partly blocked, and any letter which represents this.
Consonants may come singly or clusters, but must be connected to a
vowel to form a syllable. Vowel is a speech sound made by the vocal
from the lungs, through the vocal cords, and is not blocked, so there is
no friction.
In this thesis, the writer discusses The Contrastive Analysis of Phoneme
between English and Toba Batak Language. Toba Batak Language is a
language of one of the ethnics in Indonesia. It is the same as other
languages that has grammar and also phonemes and it is important to
learn the phoneme of Toba Batak language.
Contrastive analysis is an analysis of comparing the structure of the
first language with the second language to identify the differences and the
similarities of both languages. Naibaho (2005:23) defines that contrastive
analysis is used to compare two or more languages to find out the similarities
and differences. Contrastive is a term used in linguistics to seek differences
between units, especially one which serves to distinguish meaning in a
language. Therefore, in this thesis, the writer tries to find the similarities and
differences of phoneme between English and Toba Batak Language.
The reason why the writer chooses this topic to be analyzed in this
thesis because it is useful tolearn speech sounds both in English and
Toba Batak Language. Besides, the writer also wants to improve and increase
1.2.Problem of The Study
The problems of the study are as follows :
1. What consonants and vowels phonemes are found in English and Toba
Batak Language?
2. What are the differences and similarities of consonants and vowels
phonemes between English and Toba Batak Language.
1.3.Objective of The Study
The objectives of the study are :
1. To contrast the consonants and vowels phonemes in English and Toba
Batak Language.
2. To find out the differences and smilarities of consonants and vowels
phonemes between English and Toba Batak Language.
1.4.Scope of The Study
This study will only focus on the contrastive analysis ofsegmental
phonemes (consonants, vowels, diphtongs and triphtongs) between English
and Toba Batak Language.
1.5.Significance of The Study
The significances of this study are as follows :
1.5.1.Theoretical
1. The writer hopes that this study will be useful for further researchers to make
a positive contribution to the information of the theory.
2. To give information about contrastive analysis to the readers.
1.5.2. Practical
1. The writer expects that this study can help Toba Batak people to understand
English phonemes and also can help English People to understand Toba Batak
Language phonemes.
2. To help teachers teach English to Toba Batak students and vice versa.
1.6.Method of The Study
In this thesis, the writer contrasts the phonemes of two languages namely
English and Toba Batak Language. To complete this thesis, the writer needs some
data about the two languages, namely English and Toba Batak Language.
Therefore, the writer does library reasearch by collecting the data through
readingsome books, articles or any other written materials which have the
