PHONOLOGICAL INTERFERENCE OF L1 PUNJABI ON ENGLISH VOWEL PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF FEMALE PRIMARY STUDENTS IN RENALA KHURD
Keywords:
English Vowels, ESL Learners, Pakistan, Phonological Interference, Primary Education, PunjabiAbstract
The aim of the study is to investigate the phonological interference of Punjabi (L1) on English vowel productions among female primary school students of Renala Khurd, Pakistan. The main goal is to detect the patterns of mispronunciation of vowels and for the analysis of the effect of the phonological system of Punjabi on the production of English speech in an early stage of acquiring English. The population under study was the total number of female primary students in all public primary schools of Renala Khurd and a sample of 500 students was taken from the population by stratified random sampling of students in different grade levels. A quantitative case study approach was used, and data were gathered via structured reading tasks such as word lists and sentences based pronunciation tasks on the important English vowel sounds. The participants' speech was audio-recorded and subsequently transcribed and analysed both phonetically and statistically, to find out the patterns of errors that occurred. The results show that there were a number of instances of epenthesis, vowel length confusion, and vowel substitution, mostly as a result of the disparity between the vowel inventories of the two languages, Punjabi and English. Especially, the English vowels /æ/, /ʌ/, and /ɜː/ were often substituted by the nearest vowel sound in the Punjabi language. The study finds that among young learners, L1 Punjabi has a strong and systematic influence on the production of English vowels, which can be predicted to cause pronunciation problems. This indicates the urgent need for early phonological awareness training and pronunciation teaching in English language teaching in the primary school. The study has a contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the sense of giving a large scale, context specific evidence from the semi-urban setting of Pakistan.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mishal Abbas, Komal Saira, Ahmad Shafi, Hafiz M Anees Islam, Arjumand Shaheen, Sumaira Parveen, Nazia Nazeer, Tariq Usman (Author)
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