PLOSIVE CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH AND MINANGNESE

This Study deals with plosive consonants in English and Minangnese. The method of research used was descriptive qualitative method. It was conducted to find out the similarities and differences between English and Minangnese plosive consonants in investigating the learning problems of English by Minangnese speakers. In conducting the data, documentary and recording technique were done. Then, the data were analyzed based on the four procedures of Randal Whitman (1970). Those are description, selection, contrast, and prediction. The findings indicate that there were similarities and differences between English and Minangnese plosive connsonants. The similarities are in the place of articulation at bilabial [b, p], alveolar [d], and velars [g, k] in initial and medial positions, and in their state of the vocal cords, having the same voiced and voiceless sound. The differences are in their numbers, allophones, final positions, aspirations, and the place of articulation at [t] sound, which is alveolar in English but it is dental in Minangnese.


INTRODUCTION
It has been accepted that English has become a global language that plays an important role in this globalization era. It is used as a medium of communication in many different countries in all over the world.
Quirk in Graddol et all (1996: 41) says, "English is a languagethe languageon which the sun does not set, whose users never sleep". It can be seen that English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue. Some estimates have put that figure closer to 1 billion. Whatever the total, English at the end of the twentieth century is more widely scattered, more widely spoken and written than any other language has ever been. It has become a language of the planet.
Meanwhile, Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands of archipelago inhabited by people of different cultures and languages, known as a multilingual country. It is marked by the existence hundreds of local languages that spread all over the archipelago. Each local language is used by the native speaker in different number, and it has different system. Minangnese, one of the local languages that is found in Indonesia, grows and develops in the West Sumatera that range lies from North West to South East. This province border on the province of North Sumatera in the West, province of Jambi and Bengkulu in the East, province of Riau in the North, and Indonesian ocean in the South.
Minangnese area exceed farther than this province limits. It is caused by a half of the Minangkabau population live outside their homeland. Isman (1978) says that the totals 42,297 square kilometers. Whereas, Nababan (1986) states that the native speakers of Minangnese is about 2,42% from the total of Indonesian inhabitant or 3.551.000 persons. Formerly, Nababan (1979) says that Minangnese is not only used in the West Sumatera, but also in Malaysia, especially Negeri Sembilan. Then, Lenggang in Nio (1984) states, "Minangnese is also used in Mukomuko areas (the province of Bengkulu), Natal and Barus (the province of North Sumatera), Tapak Tuan (the province of Aceh), Bangkinang and Taluk (the province of Riau).
As a local language, Minangnese, is used as the first language by the native speakers in formal and informal intra-ethnic speaking to express their thoughts and feelings. In addition, it performs some social functions, as: Supporting the national language, Indonesian; Supporting the development of local culture that can be seen in its uses in literary works, arts, and traditional ritual; and as a medium of communication at the early primary school to accelerate the pupils understanding of Indonesian and other lessons.
In the light of the Minangnese speakers number and its function, it is important to investigate the learning problems of English by Minangnese speakers. As Lado (1957) says that the comparison between two languages can predict the learning problems. Besides, the result of this research is significant for the maintenance and cultivation of the local language and it is an important part of the national culture.

LITERATURE REVIEW
As a human communication through spoken language, speech sounds are made with the pulmonary airstream (that is, air exhaled from the lungs) as it passes between the vocal cords and out through the vocal tract. Jones (1972: 96) says "every speech sound belongs to one or other of the two main classes known as vowels and consonants. Similarly, Sethi and Dhamija states, ' speech sounds of all languages are classified, first and foremost, into vowels and consonants'.

Consonant
According to Grollier New Webster's Dictionary (1992: 77), consonant is a unit of speech sound (p,t, etc) which differs from a vowel in that there is some obstruction of the breath in its production". (s.v. "consonant"). Moreover, The New Encyclopedia Britannica (1995: 557) states, "consonant, any speech sound, is characterized by an articulation with a closure or narrowing of the vocal tract such that a complete or partial blockage of the flow of air is produced" (s.v. "consonant").
In phonetics, consonants are usually classified according to the place of articulation, the manner of articulation, the state of the vocal cords, obstruents and sonorants, and aspirated and unaspirated.

The Place of Articulation
The chief point out of articulation, with special reference to the sounds of English are: bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal. k. Glottal; produced by narrowing causing friction but not vibration between the vocal folds, e.g.
[h] as in: who, whose.

The Manner of Articulation
The obstruction made by the organs may be total, intermittent, partial, and narrowing sufficient to cause friction. The chief types of manner of articulation, which based on degrees of closure, are as follows: a. Complete Closure 1. Plosive; A complete closure in the vocal tract is behind which the air pressure builds up and can be released explosively. There are seven character plosive consonants, they are: [b, p, d, t, g, k, ?] 2. Affricate; A complete closure at the same point in the mouth, behind which the air-pressure builds up; the separation of the organs is slow compared with that of a plosive, so that friction is a characteristic second element of the sounds, e.g. [ʧ, ʤ] 3. Nasal; A complete closure at some point in the mouth, but the soft palate being lowered, the air escapes through the nose, e.g. [m, n, ŋ]. b. Partial Closure 1. Lateral; A partial (but firm) closure is made by the tip of the tongue with the air stream being allowed to escape on one or both besides of the contact, e.g.

Obstruents and Sonorants
According to their noise component, sounds can be classified into two categories, namely obstruents and sonorants.
-Obstruents are those in whose production the construction impending the air flow through the vocal tract is sufficient to cause noise, e.g. plosive, fricatives, and affricates. -Sosnorants are those voiced sounds in which there is not noise component, e.g. nasals, approximants, and vowels.

Aspirated and Unaspirated
Based on the timing of the vocal cord closure, voiceless sounds are divided into two classes: namely; aspirated and unaspirated sound.

Minangnese Consonants
There are 20 consonants of Minangnese. It can be described in terms of (1) the place of articulations, (2) the manner of articulations, and (3) the state of vocal cords. They are: [b, p, d, t, c, j, g, k, ?, s, z, h, m, n, ň, ŋ, r, l, w, and y]. According to the manner of articulation, Minangnese consonants are classified into the following: Plosives (9) [b, p, d, t, c, j, g, k, ?] Fricatives (3) [h, s, z] Nasals (4) [[m, n, ň, ŋ] Vibrate (1) [r] Lateral (1) [l] Semi-vowels (2) [w, y] According to the place of articulation, Minangnese are classified into the following:  One articulator is moved against another, or two articulators are moved against each other, so as to form a stricture that allows no air to escape from the vocal tract. The stricture is, then, total.  After this stricture has been formed and air has been compressed behind it, it is released;; that is, air is allowed to escape.  If the air behind the stricture is still under pressure when the plosive is released, it is probable that the escape of air will produce noise loud enough to be heard. This noise is called plosion.  There may be voicing during part or all of the plosive articulation.
The production of a plosive is completed in three stages a. The closing stage, during which the articulatory organs come together and make a firm contact with each other. b. The hold or compression stage, during which as a result of lung action, the air behind the closure is compressed. c. The release or explosive stage, during which the articulatory organs part rapidly, resulting in the escape of the compressed air with explosion.

The English Plosive Consonants.
English has six plosive consonants.

English Voiced Bilabial Plosive Consonant Sound [b]
The sound [b] is articulated by raising the soft palate to shut off the passage of air, the obstacle to the air stream is formed by the closure of the lips. The lung air is

English Voiceless Bilabial Plosive Consonant Sound [p]
The sound [p] is articulated in the same way as the English voiceless bilabial consonant [b], except for voicing. While the vocal cords vibrate for /b/, they do not for /p/. The lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are kept wide apart. When the lip closure is released, the compressed air escapes with force. This sound is aspirated when it occurs initially in an accented syllable as in pot, pull. But, this is unaspirated when it occurs in unaccented syllable as in prevent.

English Voiced Alveolar Plosive Consonant Sound [d].
The sound [d] is articulated by raising the soft palate to hut off the nasal passage of air, the obstacle to the air stream is formed by a closure between a) the tip of the tongue and the teeth ridge, and b) the rims of the tongue and the side teeth. The vocal cords do vibrate.

English Voiceless Alveolar Consonant Sound [t]
The sound [t] is articulated in the same way as [d] except for voicing. The vocal cords do not vibrate. The lung air is compressed behind the closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart. When the closure is released, the compressed air escapes with force. This sound is aspirated when it occurs in initially in an accented syllable as in tin, obtain. But, this sound is unaspirated when it a) occurs in unaccented syllables as in today, b) preceeded by /s/ as in stray, c) occurs medially in a syllable as in hats, bits.

English Voiced Velar Plosive Consonant Sound [g]
In the articulation of [g], the obstacle to the air stream is formed by a firm contact of the back of the tongue against the soft plate, which itself is raised in order to shut off the nasal passage of air.

English Voiceless Velar Plosive Consonant Sound [k]
The sound [k] is articulated in the same way as [g], but, whereas for /g/ the vocal cords vibrate, for [k] they do not. The lung air is compressed behind the closure, during which stage the vocal cords are wide apart. When the closure is released, the compressed air escapes with force.

Minangnese Voiced Bilabial Plosive Consonant Sound [b]
The soft palate is raised to shut off the passage of air, the obstacle to the air stream is formed by the closure of the lips.

Minangnese Voiceless Bilabial Plosive Consonant Sound [p]
The sound [p] is articulated in the same way as the English voiceless bilabial consonant [b], except for voicing. While the vocal cords vibrate for /b/, they do not for /p/. The lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the vocal cords are kept wide apart. When the lip closure is released, the compressed air escapes with force.

Minangnese Voiced Alveolar Plosive Consonant Sound [d]
The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air, the obstacle to the air stream is formed by a closure between the tip of the tongue and the teeth ridge, and b) the rims of the tongue and the side teeth.

Minangnese Voiceless Dental Plosive Consonant Sound [t]
This sound is articulated in the same way as [d], the soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air, the obstacle to the air stream is formed by a closure between the tip of the tongue and the teeth ridge, and b) the rims of the tongue and the side teeth.

Minangnese Voiceless Palatal Plosive Consonant Sound [c]
The front of the tongue articulates with the hard palate to obstruct the air from the lungs, and when the closure is released, the compressed air escapes with force.

Minangnese Voiced Palatal Plosive Consonant Sound [j]
This sound is articulated in the same way as [c] sound except for voicing. While the vocal cords do not vibrate for [c], they do for [j].

Minangnese Voiced Velar Plosive Consonant Sound [g]
The obstacle to the air stream is formed by a firm contact of the back of the tongue against the soft palate, which itself raised in order to shut off the nasal passage of air.

Minangnese Voiceless Velar Plosive Consonant Sound [k]
This sound is articulated in the same way as [g], The obstacle to the air stream is formed by a firm contact of the back of the tongue against the soft palate, which itself raised in order to shut off the nasal passage of air.

Minangnese Voiceless Glottal Plosive Consonant Sound [?]
This sound is articulated by closing the glottis completely by bringing the vocal cords into contact. The air is compressed by pressure from the lung, and then the glottis is opened, so that the air escapes. It is neither breathed or voiced. This sound is often occurs in final positions, while it is almost inaudible in initial and medial position.
English and Minangnese plosive consonants are summarized in the following table:

METHODOLOGY
This research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative research. It involves the description, recording, analysis, and interpretation of conditions that exist. The description of what is can be conducted by comparing and contrasting. By comparing different languages, it would be possible to discover and show the difference between languages. Thus, the two languages to be compared were English and Minangnese in their plosive consonants. The data were taken by using documentary and recording technique. Documentary technique is used to collect, study and analyze the references related to the study. Recording technique is used to record the data and find out the way of the native speakers pronounces plosive consonants obviously.
The population of this research was the native speakers of English and Minangnese. The sample of English was the three participants whose age between 20 -60 years old. They are English native speakers originally born and grew up in England, North America and Australia. The sample of Minangnese was the three participants whose age between 20 -60 years old, originally born and grew up in Bukittinggi, Padang and Pasaman. After collecting the data, it was analyzed to find out the similarities and differences by doing the steps: a) reading the references; b) transcribing the data; c) describing the forms; d) selecting the positions of plosive consonants (in initial, medial, and final) both in English and Minangnese; e) distributing the plosive consonants; f) contrasting the plosive consonants in English and Minangnese; and g) predicting the difficulties of Minang Learners in Learning English.

A. The Description of English and Minangnese Plosive Consonants.
The description of Emglish and Minangnese Plosive Consonants can be seen in table 3.