OncomparisonbetweenEnglishandTibetanPhonetics

李麗娟

【Abstract】There are some similarities and differences in English and Tibetan.This paper will based on the positive transfer theory and comparative linguistics， and try to compare Tibetan and English phonetics， I hope not only can find some similarities but also can apply these to English learning and teaching in Tibetan area， may be it useful to improve teaching and learning efficiency， at least Tibetan students can pronounce English better.

【Key words】Comparison， Tibetan， English， consonant， vowel

1.Introduction

Language is a means of verbal communication （Hu.2001.7：3）.E.Benveniste （1958：327） indicates that language is an instrument for communication.The approximately 3，000–6，000 languages that are spoken by humans today are the most salient examples （Lewis， M.Paul.2009）.So many different languages make communication more difficult， how to make it easier？ Fortunately， it is believed that human beings， as excellent language learners， can easily learn and master several languages throughout their lives （Chen， Li.2012）， which makes “bilingualism”， that means we should learn a second language for communication besides our mother-tongue， linguistician called it as the second language acquires.Within the opening and glob world， the corporation between countries become more and more frequent that “Multilingualism， no doubt， a common achievement for many people around the world” （De Angelis， Gessica.2007：1）.

China， as a multi-ethnic and multilingual country， the number of individual languages listed is 293.Of those， 292 are living languages and 1 has no known speakers （Chen， Li.2012）.National official language of China is Mandarin， as for the minority nationalities official languages， there are 12，334million， 9.44% of Chinas population， speak their first language （Lewis， M.Paul， 2009）.Up to now， there are about 19 minority languages were proved by the State.For instance， Tibetan， Uyghur， Mongolian， Kazakhstan， Nakhi， the Korean， Dai， Yi and so on.They all have their own languages.In the Language Acquisition， we call it mother-tongue， and Mandarin – the useful language in China and as national official language is the Second Language Learning.As far as they are concerned that Han is a “foreign language”， because of the different culture， phonetics， morphology， syntax and structure.English learning or others foreign language learning is called the third language acquisition.It is differ from Han learners in China.

In the higher education system of China， Mandarin and one kind of foreign language （normally English） learning are the main course or basic course for the college students.Most of ethnic minorities students have their own mother-tongue； Mandarin is the second language for them， so that the English learning is the third language for them， and it is one of multilingual phenomenon in language acquisition in China.

In the second largest provincial region of China—Tibet， its population stood at 2.84 million， and Among its permanent residents， more than 2.5 million， or about 95.3 percent， are Tibetans （The Tibetan Autonomous Regional Bureau of Statistics Census， 2008）.While in the school education system， on the basis of the bilingual language teaching（Tibetan and Mandarin）， a foreign language， normally English has been added in language teaching， a situation of multilingual teaching has been formed in school education in Tibet （Shi， Xing， 2011， p.156）.

The objects of this thesis will focus on Tibet learners， want to investigate the current situation， attempting to compare English phonetics and Tibetan phonetics， and try to extract their similarities and differences， give some feasibility suggestions for English teaching at the Tibetan area in China.

2.Comparison between English and Tibetan Phonetics

Tibetan is the language of Tibetan-one of minority nationalities in China， belongs to the Tibetan branch of Tibeto-Burman language， Sino-Tibetan.Mainly distributed in the Tibet autonomous region and Qinghai， Sichuan， Gansu， and parts of Yunnan province.

Similar to English， Tibetan also belongs to the alphabet writing， Tibetan and Englishs letters are the basic element of words， sentences and text.Tibetan language is made up by 30 letters plus four vowel symbols， but the Tibetan language writing system and voice system are different； English is composed of 26 Latin alphabet， its writing system and sound system are inconsistent too.English there are 48 phonemes， including 28 consonants， 12 monophthong （7 of them are long vowels and 5 short vowel）， eight double vowel.

2.1 Consonant.There are single consonant initials and consonant cluster in Tibetan language， including 28 single consonants and seven consonant clusters.English has consonant cluster too， for instance， “spr”， “br” and so on.

Table 1 Consonant of Tibetan

Bilabial Apical

tongue tip Tongue tip Apical tongue blade Laminal

tongue front Laminal tongue middle Laminal

tongue back Tongue root Pharyngeal

plosive Un-aspirated b[p] d[t] gy[c] g[k]

aspirated p[ph] t[th] ky[ch] k[kh]

nasal Voiced m[m n[n] ny[?] ng[?]

Later

approximant Voiced l[l]

fricative voiceless s[s] Lh[?] sh[?] x[?] hy[?] h[h]

voiced r[?]

Semivowel w[w] y[j]

Table 2 Consonant of English

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Apical

tongue

tip Tongue

tip Apical

tongue

blade Laminal

tongue

front Laminal

tongue

middle tongue

root Pharyngeal

plosive unaspirated [p] [t] [k]

aspirated [ph] [th] [kh]

nasal Voiced [m] [n] [?]

Later approximant Voiced [l]

fricative voiceless [f] [θ] [s] [?] x[?] hy[?] h[h]

voiced [v] [?] [z] [?]

Semivowel w[w] r[?] y[j]

According to the place and manner of articulation， we can find there are not labiodental and dental in Tibetan， but they are in English， labiodental （[f]， [v]） and dental （[θ]， [?]）； There is a apical tongue tip， fricative， voiced[z]in English.Tibetan has the lingual sounds， but not for English.

Table 3 Place of articulation

Place of

articulation Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Laminal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal

Tibetan + - - + + + + + + +

English + + + + - + + + - +