Top Linguistic and Language Journal (TLLJ)

THE PRONUNCIATION OF NON-NATIVE PHONEMES BY EDUCATED HAUSA SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

Authors

  • Halima Abdullahi Aminu, PhD Department of English Language and Linguistics, Sokoto State University

Abstract

This study examines the pronunciation of non-native phonemes by educated Hausa speakers of English, with a focus on the dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, which are absent in the Hausa phonological system. These sounds are frequently replaced with phonemes such as /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/. Data were collected from 40 participants, evenly divided into graduate and postgraduate groups, through a word-list reading task containing 20 target words. The results revealed that while a minority of participants accurately articulated the target phonemes, the majority relied on substitutions, with /t/ and /d/ being the most common. Postgraduate participants demonstrated slightly higher accuracy than graduates. These findings underline the pervasive influence of Hausa phonology on English pronunciation and highlights the need for focused pedagogical strategies to address these challenges and improve intelligibility in English spoken by Hausa speakers

Keywords:

Pronunciation, Non-native, Phonemes, Educated, Hausa and Speakers

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Published

2025-03-26

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15090521

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025): January – March

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Halima , A. A. (2025). THE PRONUNCIATION OF NON-NATIVE PHONEMES BY EDUCATED HAUSA SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH. Top Linguistic and Language Journal (TLLJ), 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15090521

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Copyright (c) 2025 Halima Abdullahi Aminu, PhD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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