The Influence of English Language Pronunciation on Korean Pronunciation among Native Chinese Speakers: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This study explores the influence of English pronunciation on Chinese native speakers’ Korean pronunciation. Previous studies indicate that syllable - final consonants are challenging for Chinese speakers in both English and Korean. Among Korean, English, and Chinese, only Korean and English have many syllable - final consonants and consecutive consonants between syllables, while Chinese lacks this feature. Considering the acquisition sequence, English is acquired earlier than Korean in the context of this study. Data was collected through an experimental study and questionnaires. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The results show that Mandarin-speaking Korean learners who are more proficient in English pronunciation are more accurate in identifying syllable-final and consecutive consonants in both English and Korean. On the other hand, students who are less proficient in English are more impacted by their native phonological knowledge, frequently losing final consonants or adding vowels in both Korean and English. The statistics show a statistically significant difference between the perception of syllable-final consonants in Korean and English, as determined by a one-way ANOVA study in SPSS. This study implicates that applying English pronunciation knowledge in Korean pronunciation teaching for positive transfer can enhance the language acquisition.