Nonsegmental Phonology: A Study Of Performance By Postgradate Students Of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria

Abstract

This research set out to test the performance of postgraduate students of English in English prosody. The theoretical base was descriptive linguistics of which Dineen is an outstanding proponent. A second theoretical framework: applied linguistics with Catford as one of the proponents was also adopted for the research. Through a purposeful sampling method, four postgraduate students of English from different language backgrounds were given a passage of seven sentences to read. The oral productions were recorded with Android phone (Infinix Hot 60i), played back multiple times and scored on stress, intonation and rhythm. The findings indicated that our informants as L2 speakers exhibited provinciality in English prosodies. This abysmal performance is capable of causing misunderstanding in communication in international fora where English is used as a medium of communication. The poor performance is suspected to be caused by lack of constant practice in and exposure to appropriate English speech forms and English lexis. It is recommended that L2 speakers such as our experimental group should listen to native speakers of English speak English. The L2 speakers of English should also use English language in informal communication to acquire proficiency and competence in both spoken and written forms of the language.