Sgem 2016 Social Sciences & Arts

CONTRASTING APPROACH OF ENGLISH AND SLOVAK SOUND SYSTEMS 
Contrastive analysis introduces a systematic study of the influence of the mother tongue 
in the process of learning a foreign language. This work discusses the use of L1 in the 
process of acquisition L2 while using contrastive-oriented instruction. This implies the 
use of positive transfer from the mother tongue and the reduction of negative transfer 
using appropriate teaching techniques in trying to identify problem areas of foreign-
language pronunciation training.

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6
th
International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Art SGEM 2019 
According Kral &Sabol [11] "All Slovak short vowels are slightly centralized both 
horizontally and vertically." "Slovak short vowels can be categorized as the so-called" 
cardinal vowels " neutral vocals.
Skalickova [12] states the Slovak sound systems is different from English from the 
point of view of manner and place of articulation, voicing and contrast, including 
certain features of connected speech. 
English phonology of vowel sounds can be classified into short vowels, long vowels, 
diphthongs and triphthongs. When comparing vocal subsystems according the place of 
articulation Slovak short vowels are more centred than their English counterparts, 
except neutral vocals shwa sound [ə]. 
In Slovak pronunciation influenced by the mother language interference sound L1 is 
replaced by L2 phonemes, and English phonic elements (segments and suprasegments) 
are replaced by the closest Slovak equivalents replacing the reduced vowel with 
unreduced vowels, neutralizing Slovak phonological contradictions. English vowels 
according the place of articulation hat divided vowels into front, central and back in 
horizontal line and low mid and high in vertical line. 
1.Contrastive Approach – Vowels
English short vowels are seven [ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ, ə] and Slovak short vowels are six [i, e, 
a, ä, o, u].English long vowels are six [ɪ ː, ɑː, ɔː, uː, ɝː, əː] and Slovak long vowels are 
five [í, e, á, ó, ú]. The degree of phonetic (acoustic-acoustic) and phonological 
(functional) differences of individual vowels in both languages varies between 
segments.
2.Contrastive Approach - Diphthongs 
There are four Slovak diphthongs [ia, ie iu,ô] that are increasing with the stress on the 
second part. There are eight English diphthongs [eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ, ɪə, eə, ʊə]. (Lenhardt, 
1977, p. 290; 1981, p. 9). 
3. Contrastive Approach - Triphthongs
A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and produced rapidly and without 
interruption. Peter Roach (English Phonetics and Phonology, 4th ed., CUP 2009, p. 18-
19). Triphones are often performed with a co-ordinate element in the middle, possibly 
with e-audio at the end. There are five English triphthongs [ eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əʊə, aʊə]. 
4.Contrastive Approach - Consonants
Consonant dentals [] and [] are replaced with the closest Slovak elements [t], [s] and 
[d], [z]. Research in contrastive linguistics suggests that in the teaching pronunciation it 
is important to consider the aspects of each language expressed through different 
suprasegmental, or prosodic features expressed in English trained from individual 
sounds comparing letters, minimal pairs, stress, voicing intonation, reduction, 
contractions and others.