ANALYSIS OF HOMOGRAPHIC PRONUNCIATION OF FINAL GRADE ENGLISH

LITERATURE STUDENTS OF GUNADARMA UNIVERSITY

Budi Abdurohman

11615411

English Literature, Faculty of Letters and Cultures, Gunadarma University.

Budiabdurohman23@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Pronunciation is the activity of speaking which is speaking is a tool to communicate, to

convey what is inside mind with pronounce the speech. Speech errors are often found in
spontaneous speech, such as in everyday speech. People think that producing speech is an
easy thing; although they did not know what the pronunciation of the words is. The cause of
speech error is when someone did not know what the meaning of word or they just saw that
words for the first time. Therefore, unconsciously someone just producing speech errors, they
did not think what the produce like or what the meaning of the words, they just producing the
words. The aim of this study is to find out how the students pronounce word, especially on
word that contains homograph meaning. The method of this study is descriptive qualitative.
The data which writer used on this study is final grade students in Gunadarma university
faculty of letter and culture. Based on the result of the research word “row” is the most words
that student have errors and the most correct pronunciation is “compound”.

Keywords: Pronunciation, Speech sounds, error, phoneme, homograph

1. INTRODUCTION know how to pronounce that word, and

1.1 Background of The Study
Produce the speech is not easy thing
especially when produce second language.
Language is tools for people to
communicate with others, to do many
activities in their life. For example, we
want to say word “book” but we do not
then we just say it without thinking the
correct pronunciation. In speaking, it has
two activities when we want to say
something, first activity is planning and
the second is execution. Fauziati (2008:
137) states that “thus, producing speech
seems to follow two types of processes:
planning and execution”. Planning is

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process when someone’s mind to plan
what he or she wants to say something,
while execution is process to produce the
speech based on his or her plan.
Meanwhile, with learn more can minimize
the producing of speech errors. It can help
someone to produce the correct
pronunciation. On the other hand, the less
consideration of planning can make speech
of errors. Someone often produce speech
errors when they were planning and
execution at the same time.
Speech error is included in phonology;
phonology is the branch of linguistics
concerned with the study of speech sound
in particular language or in general
language. In this study will find out about
speech error which is the disruption in the
production of the speech through a
conscious or unconscious in linguistics
deviation from the apparently intended
form of an utterance. Speech error happens
when someone forgets to something to say
(Carroll 1987: 196). Errors often happen in
speech or utterance because the speaker is
feeling nervous, tired, anxious, or drunk
(Nooteboom 2004: 187). Based on the
definition above speech error is the speech
disruption of speech that speaker does not
realize.
The phenomenon of speech errors often
happened on conversation, such as in
Gunadarma university faculty of letters
last years students, although they are in
last grade, but they often to make speech
error on their pronunciation. They often
made error on their speech, when the
writer gave some words to them, they
made speech error. For example, a word
“content (verb)”, it should pronounce
/kǝn’tent/ but some students pronounce
/kɒntent/.
On this research, the writer used students
faculty of letter because the writer wants to
find out how the students pronounce
words. This relates to what they have
learned about English language. Therefore,
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the writer is using student faculty of letter
as an object of this research. the object of
this research is final years students faculty
of letter, the writer used final years
students because the writer wants to find
out whether they pronunciation is correct
or not, and they have learned about
English for 4 years. Therefore, an error in
pronunciation is things that students
should not do it, because they have learned
many things about English language. They
will graduate no much longer and will
work in companies that is not allow error
in pronuncitaion.
On this research the writer used word that
contains homograph meaning, according to
Meriam-Webster homograph is one of two
or more words spelled alike but different
in meaning or derivation or pronunciation
such as “the content of this book is about
literature” and “i am content with the
result”. On first example word “content”
has function as a noun which has a
meaning as the things that inside the
things, and the second example word
“content” has function as a adjective
which has a meaning as happy or satisfied.
On this research, the writer used final
years students faculty of letter because the
writer wants to find out how the students
pronounce the words. This relates to what
they have learned about English language.
Therefore, the writer is using students
faculty of letter as an object of this
research. the object of this research is final
years students faculty of letter, the writer
used final years students because the
writer wants to find out whether they
pronunciation is correct or not. Because
object of this research is in last grade, an
error in pronunciation is things that
students should not do it, because they
have learned many things about English
language. They will graduate no much
longer and they will work in companies
that is not allow error in pronuncitaion.
Why does the writer wants research about
speech error? Because the writer wants to
find out how students pronounce
homograph words, and also the writer
wants to prevent the speech error made by
students. Therefore, the writer will give
the correct words to students, with that
way students will find out where their
errors in pronunciation, and then students
can prevent errors in their pronunciation.
1.2 Problem Formulation
Based on the background of study above,
the writer has found the problem of this
research. The problem formulation is:
1. How do students pronounce word
that contains homograph meaning?
2. What is the dominant word of
speech error made by students?
1.3 Aim of The Research
Based on the problem of the study above,
the writer has found the aim of this
research. The aim of this study is:
1. To find out how students
pronounce word that contains
homograph meaning.
2. To find out what the dominant
words of speech error made by
students.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Linguistics
Linguistics derived from Latin, “lingua”
which means language. Linguistic is study
about language; it is a general study
because there are many branch of
linguistics. There are two major of
linguistics, micro linguistics and macro
linguistics. According to Nasr (1985)
micro linguistics is narrower view, it is
concerned internal view of language itself
(structure of language systems) without
related to other sciences and without
related how to apply it in daily life. Which
concluded in micro linguistics is
Phonology (study of sound), Morphology
(study of word), Syntax (study of
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sentence), Semantics (study of meaning),
etc. Meanwhile, macro linguistics is wider
view; it is concerned external view of
language itself with related to other
sciences and how to apply it in daily life.
Which conclude in macro linguistics is
Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics,
Neuron linguistics, Biolinguistics, etc.
2.2 Phonology
Phonology is branch of linguistics that
concerned to study of speech. According
to Szczegielniak, phonology is the study of
how speech sounds form pattern. Hyman
(1975:2) said that phonology is study
about speech sound that includes how
sound is structured and has function on
certain language, which is how sounds are
used to deliver a meaning.
Phoneme is one of units of sound that
distinguish one word from another word.
For example /si:/ (sea) and /ʃi:/ (she) are
two separate words distinguished /s/, for
another phoneme /ʃ/, two words that differ
a meaning also called minimal pairs, it has
a meaning that pair of words who have
different phoneme.
Based on those experts above, the writer
can conclude that phonology is study of
speech which has phoneme as a smallest
units on this study, phoneme also
distinguish one word from another word.
2.3 Phoneme
Phoneme is smallest unit of sound, which
distinguishes one word from other words
on a language (Alwasilah & Chaer: 2003).
Phoneme also is smallest unit in a
language that has a function to convey a
meaning, such as “s” of sing and “r” of
ring. Each phoneme has one or more
sounds called allophones, allophone is
variation of phonemes, here are the
examples: [𝑝𝑝ℎ ] in the front as a “pin”, [p]
in the middle as a “spin” and [p] in the
back as a “sheep” are allophones of the
phoneme /p/. Allophones are written by
brackets.
2.4 Homograph
Homograph is word with same spelling but
different on meaning, homograph derived
from Greek word homo which means
“same” and graph which means
“spelling”. Homograph is two words with
same spelling, but different pronunciation
(Parera, 2004:81). In addition, Delahunty
and Garvey (2010) stated that Homograph
is a single spelling has two or more quite
unrelated meaning. Meanwhile, Algeo
(2010) stated that words that are written
alike are called homographs.
Based on those experts above, the writer
concluded that homograph is the word that
has same written but different in meaning
and pronunciation. However, the words are
written same; the difference is about the
structure of sentence. The example is
“bass” /beis/ as adjective and “bass” /bæs/
as noun. Those are the example of
homograph; the different is about the
structure of the sentence and class of the
words.
This research is using homograph as a
data, homograph is words with identical
words but different with meaning. For
example word “bass”, “he has a bass
voice” and “sea bass is delicious”, on
those examples the word “bass” has
different meaning. “he has a bass voice”
word “bass” pronounce /beis/on this
sentence is adjective and has meaning as a
lowest tone in part music, and “sea bass is
delicious” word “bass” pronounce /bæs /
on this sentence is noun and has meaning
as freshwater fish that is used for food.
Some words have two meanings
depending on the structure of sentence, the
words which have more than one meaning
can cause ambiguity or make someone
have error on their pronunciation and there
is miss communication.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
On this research, the writer used
descriptive qualitative method to analyze
data. According to Wirartha (2006:155)
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descriptive qualitative is a method to
analyze, to describe and to summarize the
various conditions, situations and various
data collected in the form of result or
observations, interview or studied problem
that occur in the field. This research used
descriptive because in this research the
writer did not use the numbers but using
words to solve the problem of research.
This research used last years students in
Gunadarma university faculty of letter as
an object of this research. On this research
the writer focused on words which
contains homograph only.
3.2 Source of The Data
The source of this data used speech on
final years students in Gunadarma
university faculty of letter, to find out how
students pronounce words that contains
homograph meaning. On this research the
writer used final years students faculty of
letter as an object of this research, because
this research is about pronunciation in
English language, therefore the writer
wants to find out how the students
pronounce, especially final years students
faculty of letter as an object of this
research. They have learned about english
language, that is why the writer choose
final years students faculty of letter as an
object of this research. On this research the
writer is using convenience sample to
collect the data of this research,
convenience sample is sample which taken
from a group of people easy to contact or
to reach.
3.3 Data Collection
In this research, the writer uses some steps
to collect the data. As the following by:
Search words that contain homograph
meaning. (2)Write the homograph words
on piece of paper. (3)Meet the students to
be a respondent. (4)Give piece of paper to
students. (5)Students will read piece of
paper.(6)The writer records the
pronunciation.
3.4 Data Analysis Procedure The river wind its way between
In order to get the answer from the two meadows
problem formulation on this research, Verb
there are some techniques to analyze the 6. He has a bass voice
data by doing: Adjective
(1) The writer hears the result of Sea bass is delicious
recording. (2) The writer writes phonetic Noun
transcription. (3) Classify the transcript of 7. He lives in a commune
the data. (4) Analyze the transcript of the Noun
data. The activity of praying is to
commune with god
4.RESULT AND DISCUSSION Verb
8. I will lead the way
4.1 Object of The Research Verb
Lead is a heavy soft grey metal
This chapter presents the result of the
Noun
research dealing with the data that had
9. He is a convert
been collected during the research. The
Noun
data were taken from the final years
They convert a field into school
students in Gunadarma university faculty
Verb
of letter. All the phonemes according to
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).
10. The factory only produce a car
The writer is using piece of paper as an
Verb
instrument of this research.
The factory sells only fresh local
The writer gives piece of paper to students
and then they will pronounce it, the writer produce
Noun
writes phonetic transcription and analyzes
11. I will refuse your permission
the data, here is the result of this research:
Verb
1. The content of this book is about
His house is full of refuse things
literature
Noun
Noun
12. They treaty was declared invalid
I am content with the result
because it has not been ratified
Adjective
Adjective
2. I have signed a contract with my
She had been delicate child and her
company
parents had treated her as an
Noun
Warming up has a function to invalid
Noun
contract your muscle
13. We sat in a row at the back of the
Verb
room
3. Camel mostly live in desert
Noun
Noun
A row has broken out over
They desert their friends in desert
education
Verb
Noun
14. English is my favorite subject
4. He left the room in tear
Noun
Noun
The Roman Empire subject most
I tear a letter
of Europe to its rule
Verb
Verb
5. The wind is coming from the south
15. They are on intimate terms
Noun
Adjective

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 They intimate that they will retire Analyze word content (noun)
Verb Word content (noun) has phonetic
16. Patience is one of the most /’kɒntent/, it consist of phoneme /k/ is
important attribute for teacher voiceless velar plosive consonant,
Noun phoneme /ɒ/ is low back vowel, phoneme
They attribute their success to /n/ is voiced alveolar nasal consonant,
hard work and a little luck phoneme /t/ is voiceless alveolar plosive
Verb consonant, phoneme /e/ is mid front
17. Salt is a compound of sodium and vowel, phoneme /n/ is voiced alveolar
chlorine nasal consonant and phoneme /t/ is
Noun voiceless alveolar plosive consonant.
They compound the problem Based on the data above shows that
become worse subjects 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 have
Verb pronounced /’kɒntent/ which means
18. The sport has a strict of conduct subjects have pronounce the correct
Noun pronunciation. On the other hand, subjects
They conduct gathering in office 4, 7, 9 have pronounced the incorrect
Verb pronunciation, subject 4 has pronounced
19. A project of research /kǝntent/ which means there is phoneme
Noun mistake, subject has pronounced /ǝ/ at the
They project a research first syllable, phoneme /ǝ/ is mid central
Verb vowel, subject should pronounce phoneme
20. Sow the seeds immediately /ɒ/ in order to have correct pronunciation.
Verb Meanwhile, subject 7 and 9 have
Sow is in the cage pronounced /kantǝnt/ which means there
Noun are phoneme mistakes, at the first syllable
subject have pronounced phoneme /a/,
4.2 Data Analysis phoneme /a/ is low central vowel, subject
should pronounce phoneme /ɒ/ to have the
The content of this book is about literature correct pronunciation, and second syllable
Noun subject has pronounce phoneme /ǝ/,
I am content with the result phoneme /ǝ/ is mid central vowel, subject
Adjective should pronounce phoneme /e/ to have the
*words with bold and underline are homograph and part of speech
correct pronunciation.

Data 1
Subject Content Analyze word content (adjective)
Noun Value Adjective Value Word content (adjective) has
/’kɒntent/ /kǝn’tent/ phonetic /kǝn’tent/, it consist of phoneme
1 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F /k/ is voiceless velar plosive consonant,
2 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F phoneme /ǝ/ is mid central vowel,
3 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F phoneme /n/ is voiced alveolar nasal
4 /kǝntent/ F /kɒntent/ F consonant, phoneme /t/ is voiceless
5 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F alveolar plosive consonant, phoneme /e/ is
6 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F mid front vowel, phoneme /n/ is voiced
7 /kantǝnt/ F /kǝn’tent/ T alveolar nasal consonant and phoneme /t/
8 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F is voiceless alveolar plosive consonant.
9 /kantǝnt/ F /kantǝnt/ F Based on data above subjects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
10 /’kɒntent/ T /kɒntent/ F 6, 8, 9, 10 have incorrect pronunciation,
*T (True) / F (False) subjects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 have

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pronounced /kɒntent/ which means there is
phoneme mistake of this subjects, at the
first syllable subjects have pronounced
phoneme /ɒ/, phoneme /ɒ/ is low back
vowel, subjects should pronounce
phoneme /ǝ/ in order to have the correct
pronunciation. Meanwhile, subject 9 has
pronounced /kantǝnt/ which means there is
phoneme mistakes, subject has pronounced
phoneme /a/, phoneme /a/ is low central
vowel at the first syllable and subject
pronounced phoneme /ǝ/, it should be
pronouncing with phoneme /e/. Only
subject 7 has pronounced the correct
pronunciation.
5. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion
Based on the result of the research, the
writer concludes that final years students
of faculty letter on Gunadarma university
have errors on their pronunciation. Based
on the result of the research word “row” is
the most word that has an error. Most
students pronounced with the word “row”
is the most word that have an error. Most
students pronounced with phoneme “o”,
because students are common to hear that
word with pronounce /rou/, and also the
spelling is /rou/. However, the correct
pronunciation is with phoneme /rǝu/ as
noun which has meaning as a number of
people standing or sitting next to each
other in a line, and /rau/ as a noun which
has meaning as a serious disagreement
between people or organizations.
Language is the tool of communication;
we use it every day in order to make
conversation with others. In speaking the
main thing is pronunciation, therefore it is
important to develop our skill in speaking
besides listening, reading and writing.
Pronunciation should be correct in order to
prevent miss understanding from have
conversation with others.
5.2 Suggestion
Pronunciation is the important thing to
communicate, therefore the writer expects
that students of Gunadarma university
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especially faculty of letter can learn more
and understand the correct pronunciation.
The writer expects with this research, the
next grade faculty of letter learn more to
prevent miss pronunciation, the lack of
learning can make error on pronunciation.
And also writer expects this research has a
function for everyone and useful as a
research reference in the future, majority
students did not realize whether they make
error on their speech. With this research,
the lecturer should give more exercises or
practices to students, for students should
aware this error with more learns
pronunciation, in order to prevent their
communication from miss communication.
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