A CONSTRASTIVE STUDY OF IGBO AND FRENCH SPEECH SOUNDS

Abstract

This paper is aimed at finding out the similarities and differences between the speech sounds of Tthe languages under review and predict difficulties Igbo learners of French and Frenchlearners of Igbo may encounter and proffer solutions to these difficulties. This study's majorinterest is on the phonemic level of the phonology of Igbo and French. Based on this, the researcherscompared the phonemes of both languages. This research work is based on the contrastive analysistheory of Robert Lado (1957). The findings of this study showed that both languages sharesimilarities in sixteen (16) consonants and six (6) vowels, and differences in thirteen (13)consonants and twelve (12) vowels. Although the /r/ and /w/ sounds exist in both languages, theirplaces of articulation differ. Following the assumptions of contrastive analysis, these differences arepresumed to constitute learning difficulties. To avert these difficulties for the L2 learners of Igbo andFrench, much emphasis need to be drawn on these stated areas of differences and properly handledby language teachers.