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THE SOUND SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND HUNGARIAN
However, this procedural knowledge cannot be transferred into English,
where the same clues cannot be used to recognize word boundaries. In addition,
time pressure also has a pronounced negative effect on Finnish learners.
Ringbom concludes that learners of a related language meet with fewer
comprehension problems in an oral situation that demands considerable au¬
tomatisation of subskills, because their L1-based procedural knowledge is much
more useful than it is for speakers of an unrelated language. Speakers of Finn¬
ish cannot take advantage of positive transfer of procedural skills due to the
completely different suprasegmental features of their L1.
3.7 TASKS
1. Discuss, based on Ringbom’s research, which features of English make it
difficult for Hungarian learners to use positive transfer in understanding spo¬
ken English.
2. IDENTIFY THE KIND OF DIFFERENCE between the following English phonemes,
allophones or suprasegmental features and their Hungarian counterparts.
Discuss the possible difficulty that they may cause to learners at the beginning
stage. How difficult is it (in your experience) for Hungarian learners to acquire
these phonemes and features of English (easy, medium, difficult, exceedingly
difficult)? In describing the differences, use categories 1—7 in the Table below.
Table 3. Type of difference
1. No difference: H sz” — E /s/
2. Convergent phenomena: H b and bb - E /b/
3. Item absent in L2: Hungarian 6 and ti
4. Different distribution H /n/ — E /n/
5. Item absent in L1: E /w/
6. Divergent phenomena: H e - E /e/ and /e/
7. Criss-cross correspondences, some difference in articulation or phonetic features:
Hr-E/r/
Contrast Type of difference | Perceived/experienced
(1-7) degree of difficulty
H short i and u - E /1/ & /u/
H long í and ú - E /i:/ and /u:/
H ?7! — E central vowel /a/
20 For simplicity, phonetic transcription is used only for the E sounds; the corresponding Hun¬
garian sounds are represented by the letters that usually denote them.
21 The question mark indicates that this sound does not occur in carefully articulated speech
and does not have phonemic status in Hungarian.
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