The variation of English pronunciations as a result of geographic proximity, or commonly known as regional dialects is a literary phenomenon that occurs worldwide. Due to the first language being Malay, most native Terengganu Malay (TrgM) speakers experience difficulties in employing Standard English (SE) in a conversation. These dialectal features in English which are caused by mother tongue interference become more apparent when the speakers utilise their first language, influenced by the Terengganu dialect in most parts of their lifestyles, limiting the significance of English usage. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of the Terengganu dialect on English pronunciation among low-proficient native Terengganu Malay (TrgM) undergraduates. This study adopts a qualitative method as the research design while the research instruments employed are task-oriented interviews, using a diagnostic passage for oral reading tests. The findings of the research have shown the TrgM characteristics on English pronunciation, such as shortening of a pure long vowel, monophthongization of diphthongs, replacement of fricatives with plosives, and devoicing of suffixes after voiced consonants. The outcome of this study contributes additional data to the language and dialect study field while acknowledging the identity of Terengganu heritage from the English language point of view.
Ati, M. M. (2019) The Influence of Kemak Sanirin Dialect Towards Students’ English Pronunciation: A Case Study at SMA Negeri 3 Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara. Masters thesis, University of Negeri Semarang.
Bordens, K. S., & Abbott, B. B. (2018). Research Design and Methods: A Process Approach. New York, US: McGraw-Hill Education.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln. Y. (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications Inc.
Dufour, R. (2014). Characterizing and detecting spontaneous speech: Application to speaker role recognition. Speech Communication, 56, 1-18. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2013.07.007
Etman, A., & Beex, A. A. (2015). Language and Dialect Identification: A survey. 2015 SAI Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys).
https://doi.org/10.1109/intellisys.2015.7361147
Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, Context, and Consequence. In H. Giles, J. Coupland, & N.Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of Accommodation (pp. 1–68). New York, NY:Cambridge University Press.
Hamp-Lyons, L., & Xia, B. (2002). World Englishes: Issues in and from academic writing assessment. English for Academic Purposes: Research Perspectives (pp. 101-116). Retrieved on June 23, 2020 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293226157_World_Englishes_Issues_in_an d_from_academic_writing_assessment
Kachru, B., (1982). Models for non-native English. In Kachru, B. (ed), The other tongue. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Kho, I. C. Y. (2011) An analysis of pronunciation errors in English of six UTAR Chinese Studies undergraduates. Final Year Project, UTAR
Low, E. L., & Hashim, A. (2012). English in Southeast Asia: features, policy and language in use. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Pub. Co.
Huisman, J. L., Majid, A., & Hout, R. (2019). The geographical configuration of a language area influences linguistic diversity. PLOS ONE, 14(6).
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217363
McCullough, E. A., Clopper, C. G., & Wagner, L. (2017). Regional dialect perception across the lifespan: Identification and discrimination. Language and Speech, 62(1), 115–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830917743277
Nik, S. K., Farid, M. O., Hashim, H. M., & Abdul, H. M. (1986). Tatabahasa Dewan. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Nordquist, R. (2017, September 3). What (If Anything) Is Standard English? Retrieved July 13, 2021, from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-standard-english-1691016
Nordquist, R. (2019, July 3). What Is an Acrolect in Language Studies? ThoughtCo. Retrieved July 13, 2021 from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-acrolect-1689057.
Phoon, H. S. (2010). The phonological development of Malaysian English Speaking Chinese Children: A normative study. New York: University of Canterbury.
Pillai, S., & Govindan, I. (2009). English question forms used by young Malaysian Indians. The English Teacher. 38.
Pillai, S. (2017). Local features of English pronunciation: to embrace or ignore in the ELT classroom? Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching (J-ELLiT ),1(1), 1-8.
Pillai, S., & Ong, L. T. (2018). English(es) in Malaysia. Asian Englishes, 20(2), 147–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2018.1459073
Platt, J., & Weber, H. (1980). English in Singapore and Malaysia: status, features, functions. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Pourhosein Gilakjani, A. (2012). The Significance of Pronunciation in English Language Teaching. English Language Teaching, 5(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n4p96
Richards, J. C. (1979). Rhetorical and Communicative Styles in The New Varieties of English. Language Learning, 29(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1979.tb01049.x
Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. England, UK: Routledge.
Sulong, S. (2016). Malaysian English Monophthongs by Regional Malay Dialect Speakers: Convergence or Divergence?. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 10(2). Retrieved from
https://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/ajell/article/view/860
Spichtinger, D. (2000). The Spread of English and its Appropriation. 10.13140/2.1.4189.4407. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267094642_The_Spread_of_English_and_its_Appropriation
Uddin, M., & Monjur, S. (2015). The Influence of Regional Bangla Dialects on English Pronunciation of Bangladeshi EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Learners: A Review.
Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2014). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 7th Edition. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
