Contrastivity of Vowel and Consonant Phonemes in Arabic and Indonesian: Systems, Similarities and Differences, and Phonological Implications in Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

This study aims to analyze and compare the vowel and consonant phoneme systems in Arabic and Indonesian and examine their implications for the foreign language learning process. Arabic is known to have vowel phonemes that are distinguished based on quantity, namely long and short, while Indonesian does not recognize differences in vowel quantity phonologically. In addition, Arabic has distinctive consonants such as pharyngeal and emphatic phonemes that are not found in Indonesian. With a descriptive qualitative approach, this study collected data through interviews, observations, and analysis of documents and phonological literature. The results of the study indicate that differences in phoneme systems between the two languages ​​affect pronunciation accuracy and phonetic perception in learning. These findings provide a theoretical and practical basis for developing foreign language teaching strategies that are more adaptive to the phonological characteristics of each language. The implications of contrastive analysis in Arabic language learning include: teacher mastery of the system so that teachers are able to predict the difficulties experienced by students and the preparation of teaching materials is based on the results of comparisons starting from easy to difficult levels and conducting intensive exercises.