A Comparative Analysis between English and Indonesian Phonological Systems

Abstract

This research deals with the descriptions and analyses on phonological systems of English and Indonesian languages which supply several similarities and differences. Similarities do not make the seventh semester students of the English Department of Tadulako University have trouble in learning L2 (English), but the differences between two languages do. Therefore, the parallels are not the problematic cases in the learning of L2 phonological system anyway. Based on the collected data, some differences are discovered such as phonemic oppositions and phonetic features, and so are their similarities. The approach applied in this study was qualitative. The data were collected via observation, interviews, and recording which were constructed in the form of field-notes. This study involved 20 English students of the English Department of Tadulako University. They have already had experiences in learning English but they still have problems in pronouncing English words.