ANALYSING THE INFLUENCE OF URDU TRANSLITERATION ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This study aims to identify the influence of Urdu Transliteration on the pronunciation of English words. A wordlist of one hundred English words, based on observation, has been made to identify the deviant pronunciation from the standard pronunciation of English words by the influence of Urdu Transliteration. This research is conducted in the District Rahim Yar Khan (Pakistan). By utilizing random sampling, ten students of the Secondary Level (Government Sector) have been chosen as subjects. A wordlist including three hundred English words is prepared which is read by the target students (non-native learners). The students have read the wordlist and the pronunciation of these non-native learners of English has been recorded. The researcher observed the phonetic variations of the students and interpreted the results. Reading skill has been inspected in this research. This study also suggests some ways to improve the pronunciation skill while learning the English words.

The results of this study showed that deviant pronunciation by the students of Secondary Level is due to the influence of Urdu Transliteration (written language problems), the lack of teacher’s training and their unproductive teaching techniques.