Philippine E-Journals

Philippine English Across Generations: The Sound System

Andrew Gonzales

Discipline: Linguistics, Asian Studies

 

Abstract:

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the mastery of English phonology among Filipino second-language speakers of English from different generations; from those who learned English during the first decade of this century to those who learned it during the last decade prior to 1983. Specifically, this study aims to verify whether or not there has indeed been “deterioration” in the quality of English speech among Filipinos, or if there has been an improvement. At the same time, this study attempts to call attention to significant differences between generations with regards to the mastery of the English sound system or its phonology-in layman's terms, its pronunciation.