Evaluation of Linguistic Units in Spoken and Written English That Are Due to Luwanga Phonological Transfer: Speech Sounds, Phonemes, Vowel and Consonantal Systems

Abstract

The study examined the linguistic units in spoken and written English that are due to Luwanga phonological transfer. Based on the study, this paper discusses the findings on the linguistic units of speech sounds, phonemes, vowel and consonantal systems. The study was descriptive by design. It was carried out in Matungu Sub-County (Kenya) where Luwanga is spoken. The study targeted Form Three students who spoke Luwanga as their first language. There were 5426 Luwanga speaking Form Three students in all the thirty secondary schools that existed in Matungu Sub-County at the time of study. Out of the thirty secondary schools, only ten schools took part in the study. Out of 5426 Luwanga speaking Form Three students, only 543 were selected to make sample size. The study used two random sampling techniques to enable it get the sample size. The study came up with a systematic sampling frame of all the thirty secondary schools in Matungu Sub-County. Purposive sampling was employed. The study used tape recording, test administration and focused informal discussion methods to collect data. The collected data was then analyzed qualitatively. From the results of the study, it is evident that Luwanga speaking impacted negatively on the spoken and written English of Luwanga speakers. The influence is both negative and positive but the study was concerned with the negative one that contributed to the falling standards of English performance in Matungu Sub-County. Therefore, the Luwanga speakers are not proficient in spoken and written English because of negative language transfer from Luwanga to English. It is recommended that teachers of second language should be able to identify this phenomenon of first language transfer into spoken and written English in order to prevent the errors which may arise and should use the errors in a constructive way.

Keywords: Linguistic Units, Spoken, Written, English, Luwanga Phonological Transfer, Speech Sounds, Phonemes, Vowel, Consonantal Systems