The /æ / and /ʌ / Phonemes as Fossilized Pronunciation Errors for Turkish English Language Teachers and Students: Undoing the Fossilized Pronunciation Error

Abstract

According to Haycraft, (1984: 90), “Since all humans have almost identical speech organs, there should not be any ‘difficult’ sounds.” This is not a totally true thought because the nonnative speaking students apply the pronunciation rules of their native language, and the result of such a conduct is the establishment of mother-tongue interference which boils down to be an unavoidable intrusion while learning a foreign language. A great majority of pronunciation errors are due to inevitable mother-tongue pronunciation habits, which exhibit certain resistance to the sounds of the target language. The mother-tongue association to the acquisition of some target language phonemes that are called the core sounds. (Demirezen 2007e). The core sounds of the English language, such “consonants like / t --->q, d ---> ð, v ---> w / and vowels like / e ---> æ, e ---> ɛ, æ ----> ɛ, ǝ ---> æ, æ ---> ʌ, ɔ ----> ow, ʊ -----> ʊw /, constitute the prime fossilized mistake continuum for the Turkish teachers, teacher trainees and students in learning and teaching English as a foreign language.” Demirezen, 2007e: 306). This articles aims at analyzing and offering rehabilitative solutions to one of such core sounds, namely / æ ---> ʌ / contrast that harms the pronunciation of Turkish learners of English.