THE () AND () PHONEMES AS FOSSILIZED PRONUNCIATION ERRORS FOR TURKISH ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS: UNDOING THE FOSSILIZED PRONUNCIATION ERROR

According to Haycraft, (1984: 90), “Since all humans have almost identical speechorgans, there should not be any ‘difficult’ sounds.” This is not a totally true thought becausethe nonnative speaking students apply the pronunciation rules of their native language, andthe result of such a conduct is the establishment of mother-tongue interference which boilsdown to be an unavoidable intrusion while learning a foreign language. A great majority ofpronunciation errors are due to inevitable mother-tongue pronunciation habits, which exhibitcertain resistance to the sounds of the target language. The mother-tongue association to theacquisition of some target language phonemes that are called the core sounds. (Demirezen2007e). The core sounds of the English language, such “consonants like / t ---> T, d ---> D, v---> w / and vowels like / e ---> Q, e ---> E, Q ----> E, ---> Q, Q ---> , ----> ow, V-----> Vw /, constitute the prime fossilized mistake continuum for the Turkish teachers,teacher trainees and students in learning and teaching English as a foreign language.”Demirezen, 2007e: 306). This articles aims at analyzing and offering rehabilitative solutionsto one of such core sounds, namely / Q ---> / contrast that harms the pronunciation ofTurkish learners of English.