Pronunciation Features of the English Language as Analysed among Learners of Slavic Languages: Slovak, Czech and Polish

Michal Bodorík, University of Trnava, Slovakia, ID LLCE2018-385;     Abstract: Slovak learners when acquiring English as a foreign language produce pronunciation errors during oral outputs. Some of these errors are a result of the influence of their mother tongue – the Slovak language. This aspect has been proven in surveys by several researchers who have recognized that Slovak speakers often pronounce English words as if they were Slovak words.

In regard to this situation it is of importance to ascertain whether other Slavic learners of English deal with the same pronunciation features and to what extent there are similarities and dissimilarities. Czech and Polish learners are the focus as they are of similar background in language development to Slovaks. All three countries border each other and belong to the west Slavic branch of languages. For these reasons the analysis looks closely at their sound systems and the manner in which English pronunciation is carried out by their learners. The case study deals with several areas including alphabet, phonetics and phonology, sound system, sociolinguistics and others.

Keywords: English Language, English Pronunciation, Learners, Slavic Languages