ANALYSIS OF THE REALISATION OF STRESS PATTERN OF SOME MULTI-SYLLABIC WORDS AMONG SELECTED HAUSA NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

Languages of the world have phonological peculiarities. Speakers of Nigerian languages are no exempt. No two languages have exactly the same phonological rules regulating the deployment of the sounds. Hence, any Hausa speaker of English is bound to encounter some difficulties in speaking the language and vice versa since the two languages are different. In the most basic sense, second language learners encounter some problems as a result of their inability to understand the phonotactic constraint that exist in the target language, resulting in mispronunciation and misplacement of stress. The study was carried out using the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and Speech Learning Model (SLM) theories to explore the occurrences of such misplacement. The respondents' production of the given exercise was recorded and analysed. The respondents for the research were from Kano and Jigawa states respectively.Interview method was used for 100 respondents and they were reduced to 20 by selecting 4 using random sampling from the five groups of 20 each which ensure a feasible and successful analysis. Data analysis used tables based on the respondent's pronunciation syllabic-ally. Each word category was allocated a table containing the words, as well as its IPA/RP transcription, stressed syllable, and a summary of respondent's realisation. The study finds out that the roles of stress in communication cannot be overemphasized because it affects understanding which is very paramount to language use. The result of the investigation shows that misplacement of stress on syllable is mostly caused by the influence of mother-tongue interference. The research concludes that stress misplacement is mostly done because of the effect and dominance of Hausa language. The research also shows the importance of right placement of stress and how important the stress is to effective human communication.