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

The International Phonetic Alphabet. 
Retrieved February 15, 2015 from http://westonruter.github.io/ipa-chart/
60
Stanley Whitley, M. (2002): 
A Course in Spanish Linguistics. Spanish/English 
Contrasts
. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, p. 20. 
 

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37 
Table № 2. The Spanish consonant phonemes. (phonemes in parenthesis do not 
occur in all dialects) 
B
il
abial
La
bio
-
de
ntal
De
ntal
Alve
olar
Alve
o
- 
pa
lata
l 
P
alata
l 
Ve
lar
La
bio
-ve
lar
Stop 
voiceless 
voiced 
p 
b 
t 
d 
tʃ 
k 
g 
Fricative 
voiceless 
f 
(θ) s 
x
Nasal 
voiced 
m 
n 
ɲ 
Lateral 
voiced 
l 
(ʎ)
Flap 
voiced 
r 
Trill 
voiced 
r 
Glide 
voiced 
j 
w 

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38 
Table № 3. The English consonant phonemes. 
The tables give a clear overview of the Spanish and English 
consonant phonemes, their differences and similarities. Table 2 and Table 
3 have been used in the research as a tool to compare and contrast the 
consonant systems of both languages in order to observe the consonant 
sounds absences for L1 and L2. Furthermore, the tables permit analysing 
what speech organs produce certain sounds in each language, and allow 
the researcher to focus on appropriate pronunciation practice exercises 
and instructions for the experiment. 
Stanley Whitley (2002:20) affirms that the consonant systems of 
English and Spanish are built similarly: “both make voiceless/voiced 
B
il
abial
La
bio
-
de
ntal
De
ntal
Alve
olar
R
etrof
lex
Alve
o
- 
pa
lata
l 
P
alata
l 
Ve
lar
La
bio
-ve
lar
Glott
al
Stop 
voiceless 
voiced 
p
b 
t 
d 
tʃ 
dʒ 
k
g 
Fricative voiceless 
voiced 
f 
v 
θ 
ð 
s 
z 
ʃ
ʒ 
h 
Nasal 
voiced 
m 
n 
ŋ 
Lateral 
voiced 
l 
Approxi
mant or 
Glide
voiced 
r 
j 
w

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39 
distinctions in their stops (/p,t,k/ vs. /b,d,g/), both distinguish two glides 
(/w,j/), and three nasals
61
”.
According to the research done by Finch and Lira Ortiz (1982), 
English has twenty-six consonant oppositions and Spanish has only 
seventeen or nineteen depending on the spoken variant. Besides, whereas 
English has two pairs of affricate and four pairs of fricative phonemes, 
Spanish has one single affricate and five (or four) single fricatives. 
Finally, thirteen English phonemes are normally articulated in the 
alveolar region, as against only six in Spanish. Lastly, only ten or eleven 
of the twenty-six English phonemes have similar Spanish ones to 
correspond: /p, b, k, g, tʃ, m, n, l, f, (θ), s/
62
. Moreover, it is relevant to 
mention that the Peruvian variant of the Spanish language has also been 
considered in this study.
To conclude here, it is important to highlight that even though the 
investigation is mainly oriented towards phonemic difficulties caused by 
language transfer that Peruvian EFL learners encounter with, the 
description and classification of the English and Spanish consonant 
sounds from the point of view of phonetics has also been used in the 
investigation. As it has been previously said, even though theoretically 
phonetics and phonology are different studies, for practical purposes they 
can be combined.