Mispronunciation of the Bilabial Plosive /p/ in Speech Production Amongst the First-Year Postgraduates in Linguistics at the National University of Lesotho

Abstract

The first-year postgraduates in Linguistics at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) had been exposed to the voiceless bilabial /p/ in their academic journey. Despite being introduced to advanced phonetics and taking the leading role of accurate pronunciation in effective communication, the voiceless bilabial stop /p/ remains a persistent challenge for some non-native English speakers, often leading to communication breakdowns in academic and social contexts. This paper, therefore, investigates the mispronunciation of the bilabial plosive /p/ in oral communication amongst the first-year postgraduate learners in Linguistics at the NUL. Drawing on empirical data collected through recorded speech samples and perceptual assessments. The study used thematic analysis, and results reveal that, although students generally perceive the /p/ sound accurately, its production difficulties prevail, underscoring a gap between perception and articulation, thereby highlighting common substitution errors, such as the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. The study advocates for targeted pronunciation instruction, incorporating focused drills and integrative teaching approaches to enhance phonetic competence and communicative effectiveness. This research study contributes to a deeper understanding of phonetic challenges in second language acquisition within the context of Lesotho and to improve postgraduate students’ oral proficiency.