The pronunciation of English vowels by Shona speakers: problems and causes

Students of Bantu phonetics have often despaired at the complexity of the consonantal phoneme systems. Many agree with Doke (1931: 36) when he says: 'the wealth of Bantu phonetics lies in the consonants, in their multiplicity of forms, their permutations and the limits and rules governing their combinations.' This complexity and 'multiplicity' of the consonantal phoneme systems of Bantu languages, while placing the L, speaker of Shona, for example, at an obvious advantage vis à vis the English consonant system, contrasts sharply with its comparable vowel system. While Shona L₂ learners of English can take the consonant system in their stride, both in terms of perception and execution, the English vowel system presents intractable problems.