--- title: "Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants (2012)" description: "The paper describes how Faroese speakers mispronounce English consonants and suggests remedies, using British RP (also… 15 references." authors: ["Elsa Í. Hjøllum", "Inger M. Mees"] year: 2012 venue: "Moderna Språk 106" source: "https://publicera.kb.se/mosp/article/view/8170" doi: "10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170" licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Moderna Språk)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hjollum-2012-error-analysis-pronunciation-english-consonants/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hjollum-2012-error-analysis-pronunciation-english-consonants/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2012](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2012/page/2/) / Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants # Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants **Authors:** Elsa Í. Hjøllum and Inger M. Mees · **Year:** 2012 · **Venue:** Moderna Språk 106 · **Licence:** [CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Moderna Språk)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) **Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170) · [PDF](https://publicera.kb.se/mosp/article/download/8170/6949) · [DOI 10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170](https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1496866564) **Citations:** 1 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) ## Summary The paper describes how Faroese speakers mispronounce English consonants and suggests remedies, using British RP (also called SSBE or NRP) as the target accent. No textbooks or descriptions existed for this learner group. The data come from six speakers of the Eysturoyarmál dialect in southern Eysturoy. Each read a passage adapted from Roald Dahl's *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*. One key informant also gave a free-speech sample, which showed that reading and spontaneous speech differed very little. The authors sorted 3,547 sound tokens into a "native-like" category or into error categories specific to each consonant. They group the errors into three kinds: - **Phonemic:** for example /θ/→/t/ and /w/→/v/. Many non-native speakers worldwide make these. - **Allophonic:** these are unusual and typically Faroese, such as pre-aspirated fortis stops and devoiced sonorants. - **Distributional:** mainly rhoticity. Many errors carry over from Faroese sound rules, and most do not reduce intelligibility. The authors argue that textbooks written for Danish or other Scandinavian learners do not suit Faroese students. They present the paper as a first step and call for further work on vowels and prosody. ## Key points - The six informants were one man and five women aged 25–39. They were recorded with Audacity and a Plantronics Audio 50 headset; the total was 3,547 analysed sound occurrences. - Sampling per sound was capped as follows, giving at most 220 tokens per sound, and no sound was judged on fewer than 23 tokens: - up to 100 tokens from the key informant's reading; - up to 20 tokens from each of the other five readers; - up to 20 tokens from the key informant's free speech. - /ʒ/ was the rarest sound. Approximants were analysed only from the key informant's reading. - Problems with stops: - English /p t k/ come out with too little aspiration at the start and in the middle of words, which blurs pairs like pear–bear. - The same stops are pre-aspirated in the middle and at the end of words. The suggested fix at word ends is pre-glottalisation. - /b d g/ are devoiced too strongly, so learners should lengthen the vowel before a lenis stop. - /t d/ are dental, but this barely matters. - Intervocalic /t/ is sometimes voiced, which sounds more American than RP. - Faroese /r/ is pronounced in every position, so learners should drop it in codas. Their /l/ is too dark and dental, and /l/ and /r/ may be devoiced before voiceless consonants. ## Interesting ideas - Capping how many tokens each speaker contributes per sound, with a minimum token floor, stops one prolific source from dominating and flags sparse categories. - Checking one informant's spontaneous speech against their read speech, before trusting read data, is a cheap test for distribution shift. - Each target sound gets one "correct" category plus its own set of error types, rather than a shared generic error list. - Errors are split into phonemic, allophonic and distributional kinds, and each is also judged by whether it damages intelligibility or only sounds foreign. - Many learner errors are predicted by spelling out the native-language rule that transfers, such as sonorant devoicing before voiceless consonants. ## For Mova How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests: - **I1** (learn): Build evaluation sets with per-source caps and a minimum count per construction, and report categories below the floor as unreliable rather than scoring them. - **I2** (learn): Before trusting silver data from edited text, compare parser agreement on a small sample of informal text from the same domain, as a sanity control. - **I3** (tree): Give each UD relation its own error buckets, such as attachment-site mistakes for `obl` versus label confusions for `nsubj`/`obj`, so that analysis points to specific repair rules. - **I4** (back): Grade generated text by separating errors that change meaning from those that only hurt naturalness, and fix meaning-changing ones first in the text → graph → text compressor. - **I5** (tree): When converting a treebank from another UD dialect, list the source conventions explicitly so that systematic mismatches are predicted and rewritten by rule rather than discovered one by one. *Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.* ## Institutions - [Copenhagen Business School](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/copenhagen-business-school/) — University, Copenhagen, Denmark · 4 works · 50 citations 📚 Shelves (4): [🎭 Arts and Humanities](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/) · 9,296 works · [🗣️ Language and Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/language-and-linguistics/) · 9,206 works · [💭 Psychology](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/psychology/) · 798 works · [💭 Experimental and Cognitive Psychology](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/psychology/experimental-and-cognitive-psychology/) · 463 works 🧭 Topics (1): [English](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/english/) · 1,373 works ## Cite Cite as: Elsa Í. Hjøllum and Inger M. Mees. 2012. Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants. Moderna Språk 106. The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @inproceedings{hjollum2012error, title = {{Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants}}, author = {Elsa Í. Hjøllum and Inger M. Mees}, booktitle = {Moderna Språk 106}, year = {2012}, doi = {10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170}, url = {https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v106i2.8170} } ``` - [← previous Conversion of Procedural Morphologies to Finite-State Morphologies: A Case Study of Arabic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hulden-2012-conversion-procedural-morphologies-finite-state/) - [next → Incorporating an Error Corpus into a Spellchecker for Maltese](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/rosner-2012-incorporating-error-corpus-into-spellchecker/) - [↑ back to papers of 2012](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2012/page/2/) ## References 15 references, 1 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Andreasen, Paulivar & Árni Dahl (1997), Mállæra [Grammar]. Tórshavn: Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Andreasen%2C+Paulivar+%26+%C3%81rni+Dahl+%281997%29%2C+M%C3%A1ll%C3%A6ra+%5BGrammar%5D%2E+T%C3%B3rshavn%3A+F%C3%B8roya+Sk%C3%BAlab%C3%B3kagrunnur%2E) 2. Collins, Beverley & Inger M. Mees (2008), Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Collins%2C+Beverley+%26+Inger+M%2E+Mees+%282008%29%2C+Practical+Phonetics+and+Phonology%3A+A+Resource+Book+for+Students%2E+2nd+edn%2E+Abingdon%3A+Routledge%2E) 3. Cruttenden, A. (2008), Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. 7th edn. London: Arnold. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Cruttenden%2C+A%2E+%282008%29%2C+Gimson%E2%80%99s+Pronunciation+of+English%2E+7th+edn%2E+London%3A+Arnold%2E) 4. Dahl, Roald (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 40th edn. London: Puffin. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Dahl%2C+Roald+%282004%29%2C+Charlie+and+the+Chocolate+Factory%2C+40th+edn%2E+London%3A+Puffin%2E) 5. © Moderna språk 2012:2 Hjøllum & Nees – ”[Error analysis of the pronunciation of English consonants](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hjollum-2012-error-analysis-pronunciation-english-consonants/) Faroese-speaking…” Hansson, Gunnar O. (2001), “Remains of a submerged continent: pre-aspiration in the languages of Northwest Europe”, in Brinton, Laurel J. (ed.), Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9-13 August, 1999. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 157-174. Hjøllum, Elsa í (2011), Faroese-accented English: A Study on the Production of Consonants. MA dissertation. Copenhagen Business School. [http://studenttheses.cbs.dk/bitstream/handle/10417/2413/elsa_i_hjoellum.pdf?sequ](http://studenttheses.cbs.dk/bitstream/handle/10417/2413/elsa_i_hjoellum.pdf?sequ) ence=1 Jacobsen, Jógvan í Lon (2001), “Føroyskt – Faroese”, Sprogforum, 7(19): 40-45. [↗](http://studenttheses.cbs.dk/bitstream/handle/10417/2413/elsa_i_hjoellum.pdf?sequ) 6. Jóansson, Tórður (1997), English Loanwords in Faroese. Tórshavn: Fannir. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=J%C3%B3ansson%2C+T%C3%B3r%C3%B0ur+%281997%29%2C+English+Loanwords+in+Faroese%2E+T%C3%B3rshavn%3A+Fannir%2E) 7. Ladefoged, Peter & Ian Maddieson (1996), The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ladefoged%2C+Peter+%26+Ian+Maddieson+%281996%29%2C+The+Sounds+of+the+World%E2%80%99s+Languages%2E+Oxford%3A+Blackwell%2E) 8. Lerond, Alain (ed.) (1980), Dictionnaire de la pronunciation. Paris: Larousse. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lerond%2C+Alain+%28ed%2E%29+%281980%29%2C+Dictionnaire+de+la+pronunciation%2E+Paris%3A+Larousse%2E) 9. Lockwood, William B. (1951), “Notes on the sounds of Modern Faroese”. Le Maître Phonétique, (3 rd series) 29: 8-10. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lockwood%2C+William+B%2E+%281951%29%2C+%E2%80%9CNotes+on+the+sounds+of+Modern+Faroese%E2%80%9D%2E+Le+Ma%C3%AEtre+Phon%C3%A9tique%2C+%283+rd+series%29+29%3A+8%2D10%2E) 10. Lockwood, William B. (1952), “The North Wind and the Sun in Faroese”, Le Maître Phonétique (3 rd series) 30: 33-34. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lockwood%2C+William+B%2E+%281952%29%2C+%E2%80%9CThe+North+Wind+and+the+Sun+in+Faroese%E2%80%9D%2C+Le+Ma%C3%AEtre+Phon%C3%A9tique+%283+rd+series%29+30%3A+33%2D34%2E) 11. Lockwood, William B. (1977), An Introduction to Modern Faroese. Tórshavn: Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Lockwood%2C+William+B%2E+%281977%29%2C+An+Introduction+to+Modern+Faroese%2E+T%C3%B3rshavn%3A+F%C3%B8roya+Sk%C3%BAlab%C3%B3kagrunnur%2E) 12. Roach, Peter (2004), “Illustrations of the IPA. British English: Received Pronunciation”, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34(2): 239-245. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Roach%2C+Peter+%282004%29%2C+%E2%80%9CIllustrations+of+the+IPA%2E+British+English%3A+Received+Pronunciation%E2%80%9D%2C+Journal+of+the+International+Phonetic+Association+34%282%29%3A+239%2D245%2E) 13. Roach, Peter (2009), English Phonetics and Phonology. 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Roach%2C+Peter+%282009%29%2C+English+Phonetics+and+Phonology%2E+4th+edn%2E+Cambridge%3A+Cambridge+University+Press%2E) 14. Silverman, Daniel (2003), “On the rarity of pre-aspirated stops”, Journal of Linguistics, 39: 575-598. Thráinsson, Höskuldur, Hjalmar P.Petersen, Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen & Zakaris S. Hansen (2004), Faroese – An Overview and Reference Grammar. Tórshavn: Fróðskaparfelag. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1017/s002222670300210x) 15. Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511611759) *Updated 24 October 2026*