Babkina, V. (2018). Phonological interference of mother tongue over the English

2.2
 
Phonological interference of mother tongue 
Any learner of a foreign language inevitably experiences the 
influence of his or her own mother tongue on the process of a second 
language acquisition and especially on pronunciation. When learning a 
foreign language, an individual applies the elements of the knowledge of 
8
Richards, J. and Renandya, W. (2002): 
Methodology in Language Teaching. 
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 175. 
 
9
Morley, J. (1991). Ibid. pp. 481-520.
 

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20 
their native tongue to the elements of a language being learnt later. The 
presence of the native language in a person´s mind cannot be eliminated 
since it is the first language a learner acquired from birth. Using this 
language a person communicates to other representatives of the society 
he or she belongs to; the mother tongue is part of a student ´s personal, 
social and cultural identity. 
The influence of mother tongue has been studied by various 
linguists and researchers. A number of different names
have been used to 
refer to this phenomenon, for example, language mixing, linguistic 
interference, language transfer. For instance, Odlin (1989:27) described 
the mother tongue interference as “the influence resulting from the 
similarities and differences between the target language and any other 
language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired
10
”.
The interference of mother tongue on the level of sounds and 
aspects of the speech is called phonological interference. Each EFL 
learner reflexively pronounces the English sounds the way they usually 
pronounce the sounds of their own language. They unconsciously tend to 
apply their first language knowledge to the pronunciation of the sounds 
and speech aspects of the foreign language. R. Ball, et al. (2001) state 
that the difficulty is not in the fact that a learner cannot pronounce a 
specific sound, but that “they don´t conceptualise the sounds 
appropriately – discriminate them, organise them in their minds, and 
manipulate them as required for the sound system of English
11
”. The L2 
learners are accustomed to the concepts of the sounds of their native 
language they learned in their childhood. So, it is necessary to help them 
“unlearn
12
” these concepts and substitute them with similar although 
different concepts that are relevant for the English language. It also refers 
to almost all prosodic and suprasegmental aspects of the language.
It is known that the mother language influence can either facilitate 
the learning process or impede it. According to Ellis (2003), whenever it 
10
Odlin, T. (1989). Ibid. p. 27.
11
Ball, et al. (2001): 
Teaching Pronunciation: a Handbook for Teachers and Trainers.
Retrieved January 1, 2015 from 
http://www.eslmania.com/teacher/esl_teacher_talk/Pronunciation_Handbook.pdf 
12
Ball, et al. (2001). Ibid.

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21 
promotes language acquisition, it is positive transfer. For example, for 
Spanish or Russian learners of English the pronunciation of some 
consonant sounds like /b/ in 
bat
, /f/ in 
farm, 
/m/ in 
mat
and some other 
sounds can be considered as positive transfer. The mentioned sounds are 
common in many languages and according to the Markedness 
Differential Hypothesis (MDH) proposed by Eckman (2004) can also be 
called unmarked
13
. Therefore, whatever sounds are common for the 
learners, they are easier to acquire.
On the other hand, if the native tongue interferes, that is to say, 
when a learner applies L1 knowledge on a target language, then the 
cross-linguistic influence is inhibiting the learning process and we talk 
about negative transfer. Such negative transfers are normally called 
interference
14
. For instance, when a Russian or Spanish EFL learner 
devoices voiced consonant sounds at the end of the English word that 
must not be devoiced,