In what ways do dialects impact English pronunciation in China

Dialects in China significantly impact English pronunciation through the transfer of native phonological features to English speech. Different regional dialects influence the way English sounds are produced, particularly affecting stress patterns, vowel sounds, consonants, and prosody. For example, speakers from Beijing, Changsha, and Guangzhou demonstrate different challenges in producing English lexical stress and vowel contrasts, leading to variations in rhythm and intonation compared to native English speakers. ^{1, 2}

The negative transfer from dialects such as Southwestern Mandarin and Sichuan dialect can cause difficulties with specific English sounds, such as the distinction between /n/ and /l/ or voice quality in consonants. This results in accented English that reflects dialectal pronunciation habits, such as merging sounds that are distinct in English, monotonous tones, or pitch variations, which impacts intelligibility and fluency. ^{3, 4, 5}

Additionally, the regional dialect background also affects the perception of English sounds, not only production. Learners from different dialect regions may perceive and produce English sounds differently, which influences their overall English speaking and listening skills. ^{6, 7}

In summary, Chinese dialects shape English pronunciation by transferring native prosodic patterns, vowel and consonant articulatory habits, and perceptual expectations, all of which contribute to the pronounced regional characteristics found in English spoken by Chinese learners. ^{7, 1, 3}

References

• Acoustic Correlates of English Lexical Stress Produced by Chinese Dialect Speakers Compared to Native English Speakers

• Perception of English Stress of Synthesized Words by Three Chinese Dialect Groups

• The Negative Transfer of Different Regional Dialects on English Pronunciation

• The Southwestern Mandarin /n/-/l/ Merger: Effects on Production in Standard Mandarin and English

• The Negative Transfer of Sichuan Dialect to the Study of English Pronunciation—Error Analysis on the Supra-segmental Phonemes

• Perception and Production of English Consonants by Senior High School Students

• Dialects, motivation, and English proficiency: Empirical evidence from China

• A Study of Pronunciation Problems of English Learners in China

• Improving English Pronunciation Teaching and Learning via Speech Corpora of Learners with Dialectal Backgrounds

• Influential Factors in Oral English Learning

• Proposing Chinese English as a lingua franca (ChELF)

• Perceptions of World Englishes Accents in English Phonetics Instruction of China

• The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for native speakers of Mandarin: Production and perception of English word-final voicing contrasts

• Study on the transfer effect of Wu dialect on the acquisition of English vowels by primary school students and countermeasures

• A Corpus-based Study on Speech Errors in Pronouncing the Fricative // by Chinese Learners of English

• China English and ELT for English Majors