RESEARCH PAPER

ENGLISH CONSONANT CLUSTER PRODUCTION

BY THAI SPEAKERS

This final project is submitted as the course requirement in English

phonology class

Supervised by
Arapa Efendi S.S., M.Hum

Group Members:
NISSA RIZKI G.
14.11.106.101301.0900
ADISTY INDAH
14.11.106.101301.0952
ONY FEBRIANI
14.11.106.101301.0958

ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITAS BALIKPAPAN
2015/2016

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 ENGLISH CONSONANT CLUSTER PRODUCTION
BY THAI SPEAKERS

NISSA RIZKI GUSTI

ADISTY INDAH
ONY FEBRIANI
University of Balikpapan

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to explore about the English consonant cluster by Thai
speakers. To achieve that purpose, the data were derived from selected videos in
Youtube in relation to the production of the English consonant cluster by Thai
speakers. The result shows that all other consonant clusters will have to be considered
as possible problems to the Thai speakers. One important difficulty which is likely to
be encountered is the insertion of a vowel which will break up the consonant group
and make it more nearly coincide with the consonant-vowel pattern of the syllables of
the Thai language.

Keywords : consonant cluster, Thai speakers, vowel insertion.

1. Background

Generally Thai speaker had difficult when they speak english especially in pronunciation.
Pronunciation plays an important role in helping the learner become intelligible speaker (Morley,1998)
Thai speaker tend to use Thai speech patterns or styles when speaking english. Some will not speak out
because they are afraid of making mistakes and are embarrassed. Traditionally, sounds are classified
into consonants and vowels. Consonants are sounds that are produced with a major obstruction in the
mouth cavity (Dorgeloh 2009). Consonants are often classified by being given a so-called VPM-label.
VPM stands for Voicing, Place and Manner, 1) voicing means the vibration of the vocal cords, 2) place
of articulation means the place in the vocal tract where the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and 3)
manner of articulation means whether a sound is obstructed or released without obstruction in the vocal
tract. So there are three main features that one has to focus on when pronuncing consonant. According
to Sirikunya&Mathrous (1985) had mentioned in their works that most English and Thai vowel sounds
are pronounced alike. Thai language has more vowels than english so most of the time speaker will not
struggle in pronouncing the english vowels. So there are not many problems for Thai students regarding
the pronunciation of vowel sounds.
Pronunciation is an important part of learning English because it is closely related to other
English skills. For example, after spelling a word, one may check if it is correct or not by pronouncing
it. English is not a phonetic language that means there are many ways to spell words that sound alike
but with different meanings. So Thai speaker must face the problems of pronunciation and spelling as
the Thai language is a phonetic language. Most of the Thai words are spelled only in one way, following
the Thai spelling rules. It is difficult to teach Thai speaker to pronounce English as clearly as native
speakers do.There are many factors concerning pronunciation the position of speech organs that make
sounds and the manner in which sounds are produced. The main problems in poor pronunciation of

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English words for Thai speaker may also be due their lack of knowledge on linguistic properties of
English sounds. English loan words are considered to be a problem for Thai speakers of English.
Korsuwan (2001) studied the assimilation of English loan words by Thai speakers. It was found that the
problem of pronunciation occurred from background knowledge and Thais’ behavior to share the
phonological both in Thai and English language. Most Thai speakers decided the accuracy by imitating
the phonological pattern from hearing. In a nutshell, most Thai speakers substituted to pronounce the
difficult sounds by adding their own rules to pronounce easily.
Thai speaker encounter the problems of pronunciation of English consonants because they have
different ways of articulating and there are a lot of cluster in English. English clusters can appear in
various positions in the world-initial, medial and final positions. For medial cluster is very rare in thai
pronunciation. Problems of The consonant cluster arising from the joining of two morphemes, two or
more consonant sometimes come together at the beginning or the end of an English syllable (R.K.Banal
and J.B.Harrison,1972, 2008). Thai speakers often have difficulty making consonant sounds when there
are more than 1 in a row. For example, in the word ‘sixty’ there are the sounds /kst/ in a row. It is like
this ‘sik.stee’ - or in the IPA it is /ˈsɪk.sti/. Thai speakers often leave out one or two sounds in the
consonant cluster, for example they might say ‘sik.tee’ or ‘sis.tee’ instead of ‘sik.stee’. Consonant
clusters like the /kt/ in ‘worked’ or the /bd/ in ‘grabbed’ are also difficult for Thai speakers. Pronouncing
these past tense ‘ed’ clusters correctly is very important for using the correct grammar. Pronouncing
consonant clusters like these clearly is essential for clear English and is particulary important for
communication.

2. Research and Objective

In this paper, the researchers aim at answering the problem formulation “ how are the English
consonant clusters produced by Thai speakers? ”. The purposes are to identify the difficulty of
pronouncing certain english consonant cluster sounds by Thai speakers and to encourage them to
improve their pronunciation, and to compare the pronunciation of correct and incorrect sounds.

3. Method
We collected the data from watching some videos on youtube about the pronunciation of thai
speakers. There are 4 videos that we got from "learning thai" channel. This channel provides Thai
lessons and video tutorials to master the pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar of the Thai language.
The four videos that we got show some of english words which include how thai speaker pronounce
each words. From some of english words in the videos we make a list of consonant cluster problem in
Thai languages.

4. Previous study
A number of researchers focusing on English pronunciation problems of Thai learners have
created their own experiment or tests. For example, an insightful study focusing on Thai learners’
pronunciation of English was conducted by Kanoksilapatham (1992). The findings of her study
indicated that Thai learners of English had difficulty with English pronunciation, especially in
pronouncing four-syllable English words. Specifically, among four types of the words tested: nouns,
verbs, adjective, and adverbs, verbs were found to be least-well pronounced, whereas the nouns with
an –ity ending were most correctly pronounced. The findings were interesting, demonstrating that that
incorrect placement of word stress was evident; in certain words, final syllables seemed to be stressed
rather than the first syllables.
Looking at the relationship between the perception and the production of English word stress
by Thai learners, Jarusan (1997) found that the learner’s English experience played a vital role in the
perception and the production of English word stress. The study suggested that language learning
experience and the exposure to the language could help the learners to learn a foreign language and

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have a constant of their language ability. However, the listening ability was individualistic as constant
practice and continuous exposure to the language which will help the language learners develop their
language ability in a long term aspect are needed.
English loan words are considered to be a problem for Thai speakers of English. Korsuwan
(2001) studied the assimilation of English loan words by Thai speakers. It was found that the problem
of pronunciation occurred from background knowledge and Thais’ behavior to share the phonological
both in Thai and English language. Most Thai speakers decided the accuracy by imitating the
phonological pattern from hearing. Moreover, the study indicated that consonant sounds, vowel sounds
and clusters were problematic for Thai learners especially the final cluster consonant such as /l/ and
/ch/. In a nutshell, most Thai speakers substituted to pronounce the difficult sounds by adding their
own rules to pronounce easily.
Although the preponderance of previous studies focused on Thai learners’ pronunciation of
English, and yield congruent results that Thai learners of English had difficulty with English
pronunciation, certain criticism of limitations of such studies should be taken into account. First,
different scholars and researchers have investigated learning strategies from different aspects and area
of speaking skills, leading to somewhat different pedagogical implications. In addition, creating
researchers’ own tests and questionnaires to meet the establish objectives of previous studies lead to
questions of the reliability and application of the analysis. Then, despite the enormous number of
learning variables studies, many studies tend to focus on one factor to investigate in a study. Finally, in
this light of this line of research, there is very little research focusing on Thai students’ English
pronunciation studying in the field of sciences. These reasons suggest a need for more studies in this
research area.

5. Finding and Discussion

5.1 Data presentation

Below are the data that we got from youtube and we make a list of the consonant cluster
production by Thai speakers. From 4 videos, we found some english words that mispronounced.

no English word English pronunciation Thai production

1. Switch /swɪʧ/ /sà-wit/
2 Slang /slæŋ/ /sà-laeng/
3 Stamp /stæmp/ /sà-taem/
4 Skate /skeɪt/ /sà-gét/
5. Spaghetti /spəˈgɛti/ /sà-paa-két-tíì/
6. Smoke /sməʊk/ /sa-moke/
7. Frown /fraʊn/ /fa-rown/
8. Drag /dræg/ /da-rak/
9. Flat /flæt/ /flàet/
10. Twin /twɪn/ /tú-win/
11. Strike /straɪk / /sa-trike/
12. Screw /skruː/ /sa-crew/
13. Guitar /gɪˈtɑː/ /kii-tâa/
14. Jeans /ʤiːnz/ /yiin/
15. Communnist /ˈkɒmjʊnɪst/ /Khawm-miw-nit/
16. Project /ˈprɒʤɛkt/ /pro-jèk/
17. Pump /pʌmp/ /pum/
18. Perfect /ˈpɜːfɪkt/ /perfec/

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5.2 Analysis
5.2.1 Initial cluster
The initial consonant clusters in Thai are formed of only two consonants at the most while English
permits as many as three consonants (McKenzie-Brown, 2006). However, there are some of the initial
two-segment clusters.
Table 5.2.1A

No English word English pronunciation Thai production

1. Switch /swɪʧ/ sà-wit
2 Slang /slæŋ/ /Sà-laeng/
3 Stamp /stæmp/ /Sà-taem/
4 Skate /skeɪt/ /sà-gét/
5. Spaghetti /spəˈgɛti/ /sà-paa-két-tíì/
6. Smoke /sməʊk/ /sa-moke/
7. Frown /fraʊn/ /fa-rown/
8. Drag /dræg/ /da-rak/
9. Flat /flæt/ /flàet/
10. Twin /twɪn/ /tú-win/

English has much wider range of consonant cluster than Thai; consonant cluster never occur at the
end of words in Thai. Among the initial two-segment clusters which do not occur in Thai are : /dr/, /fr/,
/fl/, /tw/, /sl/, /sw/, /sm/ , /sp/, /sk/and /st/. In pronouncing English words where such clusters occur,
Thai tend to insert a short vowel, sometimes even creating another fully-stressed syllable.
It is not uncommon, especially in Bangkok, for thai speakers to drop the second segment of a two-
segment consonant cluster at the beginning of a thai word. Thus words like khray (=who?) and plaa
(=fish) are frequently pronounced khay and paa. Thais who ‘reduce’ like this in their own language
may carry the process into English, and say ‘bake’ for brake and ‘fee’ for free ; and ‘fried rice’ is often
pronounced as ‘fide lice’.

A similar process operates with english three-segment initial clusters.

Table 5.2.1B

No English word English pronunciation Thai production

1 strike /straɪk / /sa-trike/
2. screw /skruː/ /sa-crew/

5.2.2 Final consonant clusters

No English word English pronunciation Thai production

1. guitar /gɪˈtɑː/ /kii-tâa/
2. Jeans /ʤiːnz/ /yiin/
3. communnist /ˈkɒmjʊnɪst/ /Khawm-miw-nit/
4. project /ˈprɒʤɛkt/ /pro-jèk/
5. pump /pʌmp/ /pum/

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 6. perfect /ˈpɜːfɪkt/ /perfec/

In Thai words, there are no consonant clusters in the final position while in English, a lot of words
have two or three-segment consonant clusters. Moreover, these final clusters in English could be added
up to four consonants if their endings are affected by grammatical rules (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992). Smyth
(2001) said in his study that if you want to apply the initial clusters’ pronunciation rules with final
clusters, those rules are not at all applicable. English final clusters present the Thai speaker with a
problem and usually some way of “reducing” them to a single manageable final consonant is sought.
Generally, the first segment of the cluster is retained and the rest dropped.

6. Conclusion
From the list of 18 words contained initial consonant cluster and final consonant cluster, we could
know that Thai speaker have difficulty in pronouncing english word. They could not pronounce more
than one consonant at the beginning or the ending of the word. There are many factors concerning
pronunciation the position of speech organs that make sounds and the manner in which sounds are
produced. The main problems in poor pronunciation of English words for Thai speaker may also be due
their lack of knowledge on linguistic properties of English sounds. English loan words are considered
to be a problem for Thai speakers of English. The Thai spelling of common english loan words
reinforces a non-english pronunciation, which then assumes a legitimacy which learners sometimes find
hard to defy when dealing with the word in an english context

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Assignment