This study gets insights from Contrastive Approach. The strong version of Contrastive Analysis claims that the differences between L1 and L2 structures results in negative transfer due to the transfer of old habits into new ones. So, the present study will deal with the influence an African language can have in the process of the acquisition of a second non-African language; the languages at hand here are Seereer and English.  In other terms, the stress will be placed on a systematic comparison of Seereer and English phonological systems, to find out linguistic differences, which will eventually help us predict the difficulties Seereer learners may encounter in the process of learning English. Here we will be focusing on the vowels. %Phonetically a vowel is a speech sound characterized by voicing and by absence of obstruction or audible friction in the vocal tract, allowing the breath free passage. The quality of a vowel is chiefly determined by the position of the tongue and the lips [1]. 

The goal of the language learners is to make sure that they can communicate what they have in mind effectively; they have to be understood when they are uttering the words. Knowing that precision in pronouncing words is especially essential, language learners should pay more attention on the way they articulate the foreign words and, most importantly, master pronunciation of a language they are learning. In the area of pronunciation, English language can be categorized as a difficult language to master. This statement is strengthened by Vernick and Nesgoda [2] who state that language learners may find difficulties in learning to speak English well because several spelling may be represented by a single sound 

Before going any further, a brief presentation of the two languages would be useful.  English is an Indo-European language characterised by a very weak corresponding between sound and symbol. Whereas Seereer is a language which belongs to the West Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo, according to the classification of African languages by Greenberg. The Seereer Siin dialect, also called Sin-Gandum which is closely related to Fula and which is characterized by pairs of voiced and voiceless implosive stops in three places of articulation, is in the main focus of this study. We cannot neglect the effect of widely spoken languages like English on minor languages. According to Rodgers [3].

Languages that are not studied are regarded as unimportant and will consequently die a natural death. If they do, then speakers of these languages might shun them and automatically they become vernacular and they also remain underdeveloped.

Contrasting a widely spoken language with a minor language could help to popularize the minor language, which is the wish of any speaker

The parallelism in the phonology of Seereer and English regarding the vowels will be established after   this study. Both languages seem to have similar phonemic system; they have vowels that look alike, long and short ones that   can be  opposed because of their pertinence. In fact English and Seereer are languages in which phonology and grammar are two fields which are very difficult to separate. And what seems a paradox is that, the similarities, being scattered here and there, are the very point of confusion in the teaching of English and always cause difficulties. Most often phonetic alterations bring about morphological transformations, in this sense English and Seereer are particular similar languages.

In this study we will be more concerned with the comparison of the sounds and sound patterns of English and Seereer. The scrutiny of the exponents, nature, and structure of the phonemes will be dealt with to demonstrate and define the resemblances and differences, and to see how the phonemes work   together. The resemblances are in the phonemes and their combinations, in the functions and modifications of the phonemes or by various ways. The phonological similarities are to be found in individual vocalic and consonantal units as in words where these phonemes assume morphological or grammatical functions. 

Directed or fully articulated the phonemes determine the comprehension of words, phrase and sentences. To the trained ear, accustomed to making out the meanings only from the sounds, even a slight distortion can cause big misunderstandings, and this happens very often with foreigners. The most important goal of this work is a pedagogical one. In the teaching of English, pronunciation is the great obstacle. Bad pronunciation is one of the factors that hinder oral communication. Perfect pronunciation should be what is needed for quick understanding, for correct utterances help fast recognition of the sound of a system. 

A contrastive analysis brings out the similarities and differences of languages. Such a work can be valuable in the sense that it provides a phonological background and practical information as reveal the limits of compatibilities and differences. On the one hand that can make easier   for the teachers of the both languages to tackle their subjects on a better-known ground, and on the other hand, for the students of Seereer or English to realize that in several aspects their languages share many things. So this study shall be based on a comparison between vowels in English (an indo European language) and Seereer (a Negro African language), with special attention given to sound patterns. 

The English vowels

“The word vowel comes from the Latin word vocalis, meaning "speaking", because in most languages words and thus speech are not possible without vowels. In English, the word vowel is commonly used to mean both vowel sounds and the written symbols that represent them [4].”

In English There are five (5) long vowels out of fifteen (15) individual ones that function as independent units. The others can be members of diphthongs (5). English vowels have a difference of quality as well as of quantity. We distinguish three major degrees of height: high, mid, and low. We also distinguish three major degrees on the front/back   dimension:   front,      central,     and     back.

Table 1: The Seereer Vowels

Table 2: Chart of the Seereer Vowels

Table 3: Chart of Seereer Words 

The phonology of Seereer is characterized by a large inventory of consonants, particularly stops, and a vowel length distinction. Seereer records ten (10) vowels with five (5) long and five (5) short. The long vowels can be written in two forms, for example /a:/  ba:b or /aa/ baab “father”.  Seereer short vowels are different from long ones only in length but there is a contrast of quality as well as of quantity [6].  

Contrast of Quality

/i/  : jil “to choose”

/u/ : mud “to sink”

/o/ : xon “to die”

/a/ : jal “to work, to lough”

/e/ : jeg “ to have”

Contrast of Quantity 

/i/ : pis “a horse”                     /ii/: piis “ fabric”

/u/: mud “to sink”                /uu/: mud “luck” 

/o/: ɓok  “mud”                     /oo/: ɓook “mosquito” 

/a/: fal “to                                /aa/: faal “to fish” 

/e/: ref “to be”                       /ee/ : reef  “to follow”

The Contrastive Analysis 

Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others. The theoretical foundations for what became known as the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis were formulated in Lado's Linguistics Across Cultures. In this book, Lado claimed that "those elements which are similar to the learner's native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult [7]". So, the contrastive study of the phonological system of English and Seereer‘s aim is to show the similarities and differences between the two languages and establish a close phonological and linguistic relation between them.

The Vowels: Differences and Similarities

English records twenty (20) vowels and Seereer ten (10) with five (5) long and five (5) short. This large number of vowels is a big advantage to the two languages, one they use to build words and vary their sound patterns in combination with the consonants.

Short Vowels

“Short vowels are only relatively short, vowels can have quite different lengths in different contexts” [8]

Seereer has five short vowels, which pattern as follows / i, e, o, a, u /. As to English, it has seven short vowels, they are: / i , e, æ, ʌ, ɔ , ə, ʊ/.

/i/

As stated by westermann and ward: “every language contains a vowel of the i- type; this can be more or less closed: In African languages it is usually closer than the English /i:/ in see ” [9]

Seereer has a phoneme which is more close and more front than English / i /. In both languages / i / is similarly distributed, It occurs in all word positions.

Examples

English                                                               Seereer                   

Illegal : (i leg ə l)     -In initial position       inu (inu) “to get up” 

In         : (in)                                                       In (in) “us”   

Bid      : (bid)            -medial position          jil (jil) “to choose” 

with    : (wið)                                                    jir (jir) “illness” 

City     : (siti)            -in final position          dami (dami) “take” 

Envy   : (envi)                                                  ati (ati) “bring” 

In Seereer /i/ is a close front vowel, the lips are spread when this vowel is produced whereas in English it is pronounced with a part of the tongue nearer to centre than to front, raised just above the close -mid position; the lips are loosely spread; the tongue is lax.

/e/

A similar phoneme exists in both languages. The phoneme is not similarly distributed in Seereer and in English. In the former it occurs in all word positions; whereas in English      /e/       does    not      occur      in    final position. 

Examples

English                                                                        Seereer                     

Error (erə)                        -initial position           es (es) “my”                 

 Education (edjukeiʃn)                                            ref (ref) “to be”                             

bed (bed)                    -medial position          ten (ten) “him/her”                 

 head (hed)                                                                 cawe (cawe) “cooked”   

 “village”                             -final position              Saate (sa:te)           

Seereer /e/ is more close and more front than its English counterpart. The English /e/ is a mid-close front vowel. According to Gimson, in its production, the tongue is raised between the close -mid and open-mid positions; the lips are loosely spread.

/ʊ /

“all languages contain a /u/ sound of some kind. In African languages the/u/ is generally close [10].”

In Seereer the phoneme /u/ is more back and less central than English /u/. In English the phoneme /u/ occurs only in medial position whereas in Seereer it occurs in all word positions.

Example

English                                                       Seereer

                            -Initial position           ut (ut) “to up root”

                                                                    uf  (uf) “to ripen”

full (fʊl)             -Medial position        jul (jul) “to mix” 

put (pʊt)                                                           mud (mud) “to sink”

                            -Final position                      inu (inu) “to get up”

                                                                                 Sutu (sutu) “to get out”

(u) is a close back vowel, the lips are rounded in its production. / ə, ʌ, æ/ These three English vowels do not exist in the Seereer system but let’s see how they are distributed in the English system.

/ ə/

Examples

English                                   -In initial position 

Allow (əlau   

Annoy (ənɔi) 

                                                -In medial position 

consider (kənsidə) 

overate (əuvəreit) 

                                                -In final position 

Mother (mʌðə) 

Father (fa:ðə)

The schwa (ə) is in the exact centre of this chart. Schwa is often referred to as the neutral vowel, the vowel in which the vocal tract is in its neutral state and most closely resembles a perfect tube. All the other vowels require that the vocal tract be deformed by moving the tongue body away from its neutral position, either up or down, backward or forward. The English /ə / is a mid- close central vowel. In its production the lip position is neutral.

/ʌ/:

Examples

English                         -Initial position 

under (ʌndə)       

up (ʌ p)

                                       -In medial position. 

Cup (k ʌp)       

Cut (k ʌt)         

Sun (sʌn)

It does not occur in final position. The English /ʌ / is a mid-close central vowel. In its production, the lips are neutrally open.

/æ/

Examples

English                                 -In initial position. 

Anticipate (ænticipeit)       

Apposite (æpəsit)       

Applicator (æplikeitə) 

                                              -In medial position 

hand (hænd)     

lamp (læmp)         

 sat (sæt) 

                                             -In final position 

/æ/ does not occur In final position. The RP /æ/ is a mid- open front vowel. The lips are neutrally open in its production.

Long Vowels

Seereer has five long vowels, which are: /e: a: o: i: u:/. English has also five long vowels which pattern as follows: /i: a:  ɔː əː u:/.

/i:/

Seereer /i:/ is more close and more front than its English counterpart. The phoneme is similarly distributed in both languages. It occurs in all word positions. -English /i:/ is realized as a diphthong in word final position and it does not occur before /ŋ/.

Examples

English                                                           Seereer

Eel (i:l)                    - Initial position                iin  (i:n) “to groan”

each (i:tʃ )                                                             iitam (i:tam)          “also”

reason (ri:zn)       -Medial position       win (wi:n) “people”

peace (pi:s)                                                  niid (ni:d) “slow”

sea (s i:)                  -Final position          ndii (ndi:) “or”

be  (b i:)                                                        ndiikii (ndi:ki:) “at once”

/a:/

Seereer /a:/ is an open front vowel, whereas its English counterpart is an open back one. The phoneme is similarly distributed   in both   languages. It occurs in all word positions.

Examples   

English                                                       Seereer

are (a:)                -Initial position          aareer (a:re:r) “pneat”                 

after (a:ftə)                                               aada (a:da) “culture” 

pass (pa:s)        -Medial position         paal (pa:l) “sheep” father (fa:ðə)

                                                                      baab (ba:b) “father

 far (fa:)          -Final position                jeemaa (je:ma:) “trying” car (ka:) yaa (ya:) “when”

/ɔː/: 

In Seereer the phoneme /ɔː/ is more back than the English one. In both languages/ɔː/occurs in all word positions.

Examples   

English                                                                    Seereer 

Organizer (ɔːgənaiz)    -Initial position           oos (o:s) “worn out”             

Order (ɔːdə)                                                             oox (o:x) “self”   

horse (hɔːsə)                   -Medial position         foor (fo:r) “ripe”       

born (bɔːn )                                                             coox (co:x) “to give” 

war (wɔː)                         -Final position             boo (bo:) “until”           

floor (flɔː)                                                                 ten oo (teno:)” it’s him”

/u:/:

The Seereer /u:/ is more close and more back than the English /u:/. The phoneme is similarly distributed in both languages. English /u:/ can be diphthongized in final position. Better still, it does not occur before final/ŋ/.

/əː/ 

This phoneme does not exist in the Seereer vocalic system

Semi-Vowels

/w/ and / j/are common to both languages.

/w/

A similar phoneme exists in Seereer. /w/ is not similarly distributed in both languages, It occurs in all word positions in Seereer, whereas, in English /W/occurs initially and medially in words. It may be noted that lip-rounding is closer when long

/w/ follows as in woo (wu :), and may be less close before vowels remote from /u/ as in wide (waid).

English                                                          Seereer

what (wɒt)            -Initial position         wet (wet) “to open” 

where (w3ə)                                                 wid (wid) “to look for”

Twelve (twelv)   -Medial position         daawin (da:win) “to reach it” 

Twine (twain)                                              reewin            (re:win) “ to spoil”

                                       -Final position             daaw (da:w) “to reach”

                                                                         Ƴeew (ƴe:w )         “to fetch”

/j/

A similar voiced palatal approximate exists in Seereer.

/j/ is similarly distributed in both languages. It occurs in all word positions

Examples

English                                                                   Seereer

You (j:u )              -Initial position     yoɗ (yoɗ ) “to lift” 

Use (ju:z)                                                       yer (yer) “to drink”

                               -Medial position    sooyin (so:yin) “to make evaporate”

Mute (mju:t)                                          ŋayin (ŋayin) “to get up”

Value (valju:)    -Final position       mayu (mayu) “a lot of”

due (dju:)                                                                      sooy(so:y) “to melt”

Vowel Clusters

The English diphthongs are characterized by their gliding sounds. Daniel Jones says that:

“The English /w/ is a phoneme the members of which are all gliding sounds, they are formed by starting at or nearer a /u/ position and immediately moving away in the direction of some other vowels” [11].

A vowel sound whose quality doesn't change over the duration of the vowel is called a monophthong. Monophthongs are sometimes called "pure" or "stable" vowels. A vowel sound that glides from one quality to another is called a diphthong, and a vowel sound that glides successively through three qualities is a triphthong. All languages have monophthongs and many languages have diphthongs, but triphthongs or vowel sounds with even more target qualities are relatively rare cross-linguistically. English has all three types: the vowel sound in hit is a monophthong /ɪ/, the vowel sound in boy is in most dialects a diphthong /ɔɪ/, and the vowel sounds of flower, /aʊər/, form a triphthong or disyllable, depending on dialect. Unlike English, which has eight diphthongs and five triphthongs, Seereer vocalic system does not comprise any vowel cluster.

Diphthongs and triphthongs do not exist in Seereer Consequently; they may cause perception-production problems to Seereer learners. The latter are likely to replace the sound /i/ of all the closing diphthongs by the Semi-vowel /j/ and sound /u/ of the closing diphthongs by /w/ as well.

Diphthongs

/ei, /oi, /ai/

Following the above explanations, these phonemes are likely to be produced or perceived respectively as: /ej/, /aj/ and/oj/. Thus, ape (eip), lady (leidi), time (taim), bite(bait), may be produced or perceived as: (ejp), (lejdi),(tajm), (bajt).

/ɘu/, /au/

These phonemes are likely to cause perception-production problems to Seereer learners. The latter may substitute the, phoneme /u/ of these closing diphthongs for /w/ thus, they may be perceived or produced respectively as /əw/ and /aw/. Accordingly, know: (knau), now (nau), are likely to be produced or perceived as :(know), (naw)

/iə, eə, uə/

Since Seereer learners may replace the central / ə/ by /o/, the centering diphthongs are likely to be produced respectively as: /io/, /eo, /wo/. Thus, near (niɘ), pure(puə), fair(feə) are to be produced as: (nio), (pwo), (feo)

Triphtongs

As in the case of the diphthongs, English triphthongs may cause perception production problems to Seereer learners. Moreover, the triphthongs made of the sounds /i/ and / ə/ may have the/i/ sound replaced by the semi-vowel /y/ likewise, the phoneme / ə/ is likely to be substituted for /o/. Thus iron (aiɘn), may be produced by (ijon).

The triphthongs made of the sounds /u/ and /ə / may cause perception production difficulties to seereer learners as well. They are likely to replace the /u/ sound by the semi-vowel /w/ and / ə/ may also be substituted for /o/. Accordingly, tour (tauə) , our (auə) , may be produced as: (tawo), (awo).

In this study, we have tried to give a thorough description of the sound system of both English and Seereer, to find out if the two languages have the same phonemes, whether those phonemes have the same allophones, and if the latter are similarly distributed. The description of the sound systems of Seereer and English is all the more important as it helps us single out the differences at each level of both languages, and from this perspective, predict the difficulties that Seereer learners may encounter when they learn English as a second language.

We have seen that English and Seereer though different in many aspects have vocalic systems that bear striking resemblances. They both have a large number of vowels, long and short ones that can be opposed, the duration being pertinent. The relationship between long and short vowels is different in the two systems. Seereer short vowels are different from long ones only in length, whereas English vowels have a difference of quality as well as of quantity. Unlike English, Seereer vowel system comprises neither diphthongs nor triphthongs. The vocalic features of English, namely the shortening and lengthening of vowels, the clustering of vowels, may cause perception-production difficulties to Seereer learners, since these phonemes do not occur in their native language

This research is hopefully useful for both English learners and teachers, whose mother tongue is Seereer. For one thing, by knowing that English department students tend to make the phonological errors in the pronunciation of the English sounds, both English learners and teachers are expected to pay more attention to the articulation of those particular sounds. At the same time, it is hoped that by having this paper, the English teachers may be constantly reminded that these English sounds tend to generate problems on the students’ pronunciation, and therefore, they can develop the pronunciation lessons by concentrating on those problematic sounds.

“The learner of a new language, unless he is exceptionally gifted or unless he has a special training, transfers into the new language all the speech habits of his mother tongue. The new habits do not come naturally: he does not pick up a correct pronunciation but have to be thought it” [12].

1. "Vowel." Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia. com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literatury-terms/language-and-linguistics/vowel

2. Vernick J. and Nesgoda J. "American English sounds and spellings for beginning ESL students." Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980.

3. Rodgers J. "Using diachronic linguistics in the classroom language." Modern Language Journal, vol. 111, no. 2, 1995, pp. 212–222.

4. "Latin." Wikipedia. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/latin

5. Kane B. "A comparative study of the phonological systems of English and Wolof." Dakar: CLAD, 1974.

6. Faye S. "Manuel d’orthographe du Seereer." Dakar: CNRE, 2009.

7. Lado R. "Linguistics across cultures." USA: Michigan Press, 1971.

8. Roach P. "English phonetics and phonology." Edinburgh: Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 15.

9. Westerman D. and Ward J. "Practical phonetics for students of African languages." London: Oxford University Press, 1933, p. 35.

10. Westerman D. and Ward J. "Practical phonetics for students of African languages." London: Oxford University Press, 1933, p. 35.

11. Jones D. "The phoneme: its nature and use." Cambridge: Heffer and Sons Ltd, 1950, p. 70.

12. Westerman D. and Ward J. "Practical phonetics for students of African languages." London: Oxford University Press, 1933, p. 1.