VARIATION OF ARABIC SOUNDS PERCEPTION AMONG MALAY CHILDREN

Abstract

Variation of Arabic sound perception reflects the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. Hence, this study aims to identify the variations of assimilation in the perception of Arabic sound produced. Data were collected from 30 primary school pupils in Putrajaya. The method used was minimal pairs from 19 phonemes with counterparts respectively containing the target sound at the end of the word. The data analysis used was the descriptive analysis. The results of the study revealed that the variation of Arabic sound perception among Malay children consist of One-category assimilation (SC) which consist of six phonemes; /ð/, /r/, /z/, /s/, /h/ and /Ɂ/, two-category assimilation (TC) which consist of four phonemes; /ħ/, /d/, /ɣ/ and /q/, and Category-goodness (CG) which consist of nine phonemes; /θ/, /t/, /x/, /sˤ/, /dˤ/, /tˤ/, /ðˤ/, /ʕ/ and /k/. These findings revealed the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit and aligned with PAM. These results enhance the understanding of learning Arabic sounds through listening and repeating based on the Behaviorism theory by Celce-Murcia (1994). It showed that sound perception comes earlier than sound production. This study also provides new insight into how speech perception can eventually enhance speech production, particularly among Malay children.