CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Humans are born with a natural ability or innate capacity to learn languages. Everyone first language acquisition was completed before he or she went to school and this development normally takes place without any conscious effort. Reason why. Muriel Saville-Troike. Second Language Acquisition said: “by the age of six months, an infant has produced all of the vowel sounds and of any language in the world, including some that do not occur in the languages their parents speak” (12). Some early observation based ideas about language acquisition were proposed by Plato, who felt that word meaning mapping in some form was innate. Additionally, Sanskrit grammarians debated for over twelve centuries whether human’s ability to recognized the meaning of words was God-given (possibly innate) or passed down by previous generations and learned from already established conventions e.g. a child learning the word for cow by listening to trusted speakers talking about cows.

Mother tongue disrupts the smoothness of second language acquisition. In Second Language Acquisition by Muriel Saville-Troike. Mother tongue is assumed to be a “language or languages which are learned as part of growing up among people who speak them” (04).

According to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, New 8^th edition, mother tongue is defined as the language that you first learn to speak when you are a child (963). Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.

Background to the Study

Language is a method of communicating ideas, thoughts, and desires by means of sounds for psychological and physiological survival. English acts as a second language. Even though it is not our mother tongue it has become a Global language. The aim of teaching English is not to imitate the native speakers or to develop the British or American accents. The aim of this article is to discuss the mother tongue influence in speaking English amongst students community and how one can overcome some of the problems encountered by an Indian learner of English. When we begin speaking in the second language (i.e. English), we initially use sounds from our mother tongue. Thus, everyone has mother tongue influence (MTI) to begin with. With more and more listening to those fluent in the second language, practicing speaking yourself and correcting mistakes, you slowly learn to replace your mother tongue sounds with the original sounds of English. An example is the “z” sound, which is a common end to words in English but is not often found at the beginning of words.

Without English it is very tough to manage in this ultra-modern world.” English is without a doubt the actual universal language. It is the world’s second largest native language, the official language in 70 countries, and English-speaking countries are responsible for about 40% of world’s total GNP. English is very important in this modern world. Apart from our mother tongue we need to have a common language which makes us able to communicate with other part of the world. English is the common language which is known to most of the people in the world. It is very important to have good English because an effective communication can reach people better. English words used must be simple so that it can be reached to people easily as well as easily understood by everyone. Nowadays English is being taught to children at primary level itself. Students are strictly made to speak in English when they are in college premises. Communicating in English has quite a big role in day to day life. English is used in banks, railway stations, bus stations, airways, educational sector, medical, private sector, etc. English is a trade language with other countries. Many students fly aboard for education and jobs. If their mode of communication is English they can manage their communication with the local people. And students are prime learners of English because if they want to build up a good career, they have to have good English speaking skills and confidence to face many people in interviews.

Mother tongue disrupts the smoothness of communication. Students with lack of confidence tends to use mother tongue instead of proper English.

Many students from different native cannot pronounce many words correctly. Some are „measure‟, „pleasure‟, „treasure‟, „support‟, „develop‟, „college ‟ , „bus‟, „school‟, „zero‟ „Pleasure‟, „treasure‟, „smart‟ etc…. English is an evolving Language. We can also speak English without the influence of mother tongue slowly. It cannot be done in overnight.

For example North Indians have the accent of pronouncing “Sh‟ as Is‟ .This is called Mother tongue influence. While pronouncing “S‟ it is as “J‟.For example the word “Position‟ as “Bojision”

If a south Indian and a north Indian suffer from this and are talking about making things „simple‟, you might hear it as either “simbl” or “simpal”. Or you could hear “konstrukson” (construction), “bhaat” (what), “aadio” (audio), brekphast (breakfast). These are the few symptoms of this “disease”. So, beware of “the disease”.

In learning second language students must concentrate in pronunciation. As English has been an accepted as the language of Travel.

English is the language of commerce and higher learning .It helps the students to incur some social status. So they have to speak continuously and regularly.

It is of common knowledge that people often learn and speak the language that is commonly used around them (lei it he in their homes or in towns). For example, those born and bred in Douala, Yaoundé or from French speaking town would naturally speak French; those born and bred in Bamenda, Buea or any English speaking town speak English. English language is the national language of several countries, so speakers worldwide can hold conversations and more or less understand each other, even though each person’s spoken English has unique variations. Mother tongue disrupts the smoothness of communication. Students with lack of confidence tend to use mother tongue instead of proper English language. Background affects students’ performance in terms of communication.

The first language acquisition also applies to the metta natives who also grew in an environment having as first language the metta dialect. They (metta natives) tend to use the same pronunciation and intonation used in the metta dialect, taking little or no note that any other language could be spoken differently. This therefore leaves a mark and it is hard to change or discard as it is often said “old habits die hard”. So the influence of the metta dialect on the metta natives (more importantly students) can be seen in their use of the English language specifically in the following areas: vocabulary, syntax, grammar spelling and pronunciation.

Significance of the Study

This section wall provides brief description on the various significances of the study in the following categories: Educational and social levels.

At the Educational Level

For the teachers and lecturers, this topic will help them have a deep understanding of the effects of mother tongue on English language in general and also on the English language of students. Therefore, helping teachers to understand students facing difficulties in acquiring and properly)’ using English language due to the influence of the mother tongue (metta).

For students, this topic will enable them to know the causes and the reasons for their poor English performance.

At the Social Level.

The community will be able to understand, interact and better relate with the metta natives who face the problem of speaking the English language correctly due to the influence of their dialect on the English language.

Objectives of the Study

General Objectives

The objective of the topic is to help lecturer, students, and any other person in Cameroon to know the influence of mother tongue (for example metta) on the English language.

Specific Objectives

• To identify the effects caused by the influence of the metta dialect on the English language students of university of Buea.
• To identify the different areas in the English language that is affected

by the metta dialect.

• To identify possible solutions to be implemented in order to reduce the effects of the metta dialect on the English language of the metta students.

Statement of the Problem

It has been observed that people of the metta community have unconsciously acquired and adapted the wrong usage of the English language. This doesn’t only affect them, but those they interact with as well. It has prevailed for so long probably because it is often ignored or used as humor. It is evident that at some point in time it does not only cause embarrassment to the individuals hut leads to quarrelling, arguing, and lighting and sometimes to total withdrawal.

Research Questions

General Research Question

Does mother tongue (metta) has an influence on the English language of Students?

Specific Research Questions

1. What are the effects of the metta language on the English language of metta students in the university of Buea?
2. What are the different areas of the English language that are being influenced by the metta language and why?
3. What are the possible solutions to be implemented in order to reduce the effects of mother tongue on the English language of students?