Phonetic Errors among Students of the Institute of Arabic Linguistics at King Saud University (A study applied to students of the second and third levels in the Department of Language and Culture)

Abstract

This research came as an attempt to benefit from the method of analyzing linguistic errors in which non-Arabic speakers occur among students of the Institute of Arabic Linguistics at King Saud University. The research relied on the descriptive approach in analyzing the audio material of students studying at both second and third levels due to the importance of the oral aspect of language. Language as seen by Ibn Khaldoun is: “The speaker’s expression of his intention, and that expression is a linguistic act arising from the intent of informed speaking. So, it must become a property established in the active organ of it, which is the tongue.” Moreover, it is also - as Ibn Jinni said: “Voices by which all people express their purposes.” The researchers presented a text from the book (Arabic for All) to the students of the second level (the first and second groups) and to the students of the third level studying at the Institute of Arabic Linguistics, Department of Language and Culture for the year 1443 AH, and asked them to reading them aloud. Through the performance of the students, the researchers detected the phonemic errors that they made during their reading. The study revealed the difficulties faced by this group of students by analyzing their mistakes in (the phonetic side), which are represented in a number of phonetic phenomena such as: (the pronunciation of "Ain" as a "Hamzah": the pronunciation of "Dhaad" as a "Daal", the pronunciation of "Thaal" as a "Zha’a", and the deletion of long movement). These were monitored, classified and interpreted; then a treatment for them was tried to be provided. Moreover, the study tried to identify the most important problems that non-native learners of Arabic fall into at the Institute of Arabic Linguistics at King Saud University, in addition to recognizing the linguistic and psychological motives that lead the student to fall into these mistakes and develop appropriate solutions to avoid falling into them and recurring them.