‘River’ or ‘Liver’? Exploring the Intelligibility of Thai’s (Mis)pronunciation of English ‘r’ and ‘l’

Abstract

The establishment of ASEAN Community has in recent years brought about a number of studies related to English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Most studies address the issues of mutual intelligibility of English used among the speakers in the Region, and those who will need to communicate with them. Jenkins, in 2000, proposed the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), i.e., the pronunciation features that are crucial for intelligibility required for effective communication. Included among those features are the correct pronunciation of all consonants except /θ/ and /ð/, and the initial consonant clusters. This study explores how Thai students in an international university characteristically mispronounce the ‘r’ and ‘l’ sounds, and how they are intelligible to listeners from certain ASEAN countries. Corresponding to Jenkins’ LFC scheme, the study reveals that pronunciation deviances of the two consonants can often lead to misunderstanding, and miscommunication eventually. The implications for ELF teaching are then discussed.