Language Interference and Generative Phonology in Speech Production among Hiligaynon Native Speakers

Among the places in Negros, Mambukal Resort is one of the spots where the English Language is the only utilised language between foreign tourists and the Hiligaynon vendors. This descriptive-qualitative study investigated the language interferences in speech production among Hiligaynon native speakers who use English as the second language in every transaction in Mambukal Resort, Negros Occidental. This study used the conceptual analysis technique to describe the content of documents found in the data gathered. Using the self-made guide questions for the interview process, the five recorded responses from 5 different representatives of the Flower shops located in this resort were successfully transcribed, analysed and interpreted. This study is anchored on Language Interference and Generative Phonology theory by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle. With the K-12 program evident in the Philippines, data reveals that 4 out of 5 respondents have graduated at their junior level. Convenient purposive sampling was used in selecting the participants. Findings show that they had difficulty putting correct emphases on the correct syllables, and there is an unprecedented wave of intonation in each word. The pronunciation of the vowel sounds is compromised, and there needs to be more indicative of the content's comprehension. These findings led to the conclusion that respondents' L1 greatly influences not just the adaptation of the suprasegmental features of the target language but also the segmental features. It is recommended that language teachers be fully equipped with the governing standards of the first and second language to impart


Introduction
In producing globally competent communicators, mastery of the dominant language's segmental and suprasegmental features must be attained.Sales (2022) mentioned that today's English serves as a dominant donor language and is a key resource for borrowing from the diverse tongues of the earth.However, due to the shift of the educational set-up because of the pandemic, a very important feature of this language is somehow given less focus despite its significance in the communication process-the suprasegmental features.A shift from faceto-face interaction to a modular mode of instruction had silenced parts of the phonological features of the second language.Suprasegmental speech features are fundamental to pronunciation proficiency but, unfortunately, not equally taught with segmental features.With its great significance in the communication process, it is necessary to escalate inputs regarding this feature.
Since the Philippines is one of the countries that cater to foreign people from different races all around the globe, Individuals in the field of tourism should be competent to sustain smooth and successful transactions.If immersed in the field, one of the traits those individuals must possess is communicative competence (Villareal, 2015).According to Villareal (2015), having communicative competence is crucial in every individual's life due to the fact that it helps every learner to enhance the ability to relay messages that gradually stimulates the attainment of goals of communicating while upholding the environment of social acceptability.Mastering the superstrate language used in the competitive world paves various opportunities to excel, especially in business.With this, students are intentionally trained to acquire the English language standards for word formation, sentence formation and paragraph formation.Unfortunately, due to the great influence of the first language, the production of correct phonological features of the target language is somewhat hampered.A stressed English word is uttered with fewer emphases due to the feature of the intonation of the Hiligaynon language.Pronunciation of some English words is incorrectly uttered due to the interference of the first language of the respondents.Despite this phenomenon, only minimal studies have ventured into orchestrating guidelines we need to consider to prevent negative language transfer.In addition, Rogers (2018) mentioned that studies for suprasegmental features appear to be underrepresented in language learning frameworks, and only limited research has been undertaken to identify how raters attend to suprasegmental features in the English-language speaking test encounter.This state-of-the-art study will contribute substantial input to the body of knowledge regarding the suprasegmental and segmental features of the Hiligaynon Language in the process of interaction with the use of the target language.This study is of great help in shedding light on the phenomenon called language interference that will serve as a base for creating effective guidelines for communication improvement.According to Ramadhan and Rovita (2018), interference can occur in all linguistic components: phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and lexical.Foronda (2017) mentioned that interference is one of the fundamental difficulties faced by learners of a second language.The different standards of our native language hinder us in some way in acquiring another set of rules from the second language.The effort of learning a new language will collide with the existing linguistic habit due to the presence of the first language habits.From this point on, kids have difficulty learning the other language.They may use characteristics of the language they have mastered to the language they are learning if challenges are present.As a result, interference phenomena arise.
Negros, one of the renowned places in the Philippines because of its sugar industry, is observed to have a strong accented first language speech.Interference may result from some contrasts between the phonological features of the native language and General American English.Mu'in (2017) magnified that the greater the variation between the native and target languages, the stronger the possibility of language interference.Even though their suprasegmental features vary from the target language, still, because of the wonderful tourist spots of this place, many foreign people visit this locale.Hence, identifying the things to improve as a Hiligaynon communicator using English as the target language must be given attention.An urgency to mend negative language transfer is then upturned in our generation.
This current study highlights the phonological interferences present in the utterances of the respondents in utilising the target language in the communication process.With the fact that this topic is not much studied and some of the matter, especially in this aspect, is not yet greatly expounded, this study answers the call to investigate the language interferences in speech production among Hiligaynon native speakers who use the English language to earn a living in Mambukal Resort, Negros Occidental.Phonemes of vowels and consonants in the process of uttering English words and statements are noted and observed.This further examines the details of variations in suprasegmental features such as stress, juncture, and intonation that will serve as the bases for the construction of various modernised strategies to achieve effective communication both in the first language and second language utilisation.
The greater the knowledge an individual acquires about certain language features, the easier it is to cope with and apply these features in the process of information exchange.Since English is considered a Lingua Franca in the Philippines, its features (both segmental and suprasegmental) must be intently studied.However, because of the conventional nature of the language, paired with the active usage of the features of the first language, language varieties have taken place.The conventional nature of a language in this context means that the meaning of a word is based on the agreement of a specific speaking community.If one speaking community agrees to use a term for a specific thing, then that specific thing is to be called with the agreed term.In line with this, there is no explanation for why something may be titled or referred to differently in different languages.For instance, a pig is also known as a vark, schwein, or porcus.We agree to adopt these absurd names (convention means getting together), at which point we might claim that language is both conventional and arbitrary.Hence, language variety can be visible in our society with these abilities to easily construct and utilise a term based on what the speaking community agrees.This current study paves for an escalation of awareness about the unique traits of a languageespecially the Hiligaynon language.Features of Hiligaynon language as to consonant and vowel phonemes, as well as stress, intonation and juncture, are focused.Embracing the features of the first language makes an individual a good communicator of the first language.On the other hand, being well-oriented with the proper features of the target language stimulates the effective exchange of knowledge from encoding down to decoding messages with the use of the target language.This current study aims to investigate the presence of language interference, focusing on the suprasegmental features in the respondents' utterances in utilising the English language to maintain successful conversations with foreign customers.Suppose language interferences in speech production among Hiligaynon native speakers who use the English language in Mambukal Resort, Negros Occidental are determined.In that case, constructing the proposed guide for second-language communication is conceivable.This will be beneficial in achieving at least a minimum national and international intelligibility standard.This study is of great help to both the Hiligaynon Language Teachers as well as the Hiligaynon Language students in a way that adds to the body of knowledge about the unique features of both the Hiligaynon language and the English Language.

Literature Review
This study assumes that there are phonological interferences on speech production among Hiligaynon Flower Vendors working in Mambukal Resort which uses the English Language in business transactions with non-Hiligaynon speakers.The theory of language interference supports this scholarly assumption, Gabayan (2015) defined it as the automatic transfer, due to habit, of the first language's surface structure onto the second language's surface.
Though numerous researchers around the globe utilised this theory, studies with this theory that focuses its lens on the Hiligaynon Language (the respondents' first language) in the necessity of English language utterances (the second language) are close to none.In this study, due to the habitual use of the first language, Hiligaynon, the surface structure of this language onto the surface of the second language is observable.Interference is visible when speakers make mistakes in both oral and written foreign language expression, transferring language habits from the first language to the foreign language paving to ignoring the norms of foreign speech.Gabayan (2015) mentioned in her study that when learners of a second language want to write or speak in the target language, they tend to rely on their first language structures.
In contrast with this finding, this present study shows that respondents tend to fall back not in their first language structures but in their first language phonological features, specifically in a vowel and consonant pronunciation in speaking.They follow the correct English sentence structures, but how they enunciate words greatly varies from the English phonological features.There is an observed automatic transfer, due to habit, of the first language in the process of communicating with the use of the target language.Phonemes from the first language reoccur or sometimes merge with the set of phonemes of the target language.It is noteworthy that the transfer is considered a two-way process, meaning there is an interaction between the two languages.The first language can influence the second language, while the second language may greatly affect the first language in an interaction.Code-switching may occur to sustain understanding in the communication process, given that both speakers utilise the same codes in the interaction.
When an individual's understanding of one language impacts the understanding of another, then language transfer occurs.Zhao (2019) mentioned that if the process of this language transfer is considered negative, it is otherwise known as interference.To strengthen this claim, Manuel (2021) stated that Language interference is often discussed as a source of errors known as negative transfer, which occurs when speakers and writers transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages.
However, although both languages investigated in this current study are different, respondents can still follow the second language structure when communicating with foreign customers but have difficulty following the right pronunciation.The respondents structured their words under the conventions of the second language, but when it was difficult to come up with an English name for the concept they had in mind, they tended to use the code of their first language.Sales (2021) mentioned that if the speaker integrates only words from another language into speech, this process is called "borrowing" or "code-mixing".Today's world is characterised by code-switching, which Sert (2005) defines as a linguistic phenomenon in which the same message or communication is expressed in two different codes or languages.According to Albirini et al. (2011), code-switching is a change in language that occurs within a sentence.A sentence contains words, phrases, and sentences embedded in two languages.
Additionally, code-switching is described by Sert (2005) as the phenomenon of switching across languages throughout the same discourse.Instead of the negative transfer of structure, there is a noticeable negative transfer in the pronunciation of the respondents.Hence, language interference is not limited to the negative transfer of the first language to the second language structures.However, it is very observable even in the negative transfer of sound production.Since language is arbitrary, vocabularies from different speaking communities are unique.This includes various specialised word structures, stress patterns, and intonations that lead to language variations from one place to another.Given that the intonation of the Hiligaynon people possesses a different trait compared to the standardised English Language, interference occurred.
Interference is the errors that can be traced back to the first language while the learners use the second language (Derakhshan, 2015).In the context of this study, if the respondents show difficulty or inability to express their thoughts and ideas using the target language and automatically fall back to their first language codes.The other definition of interference is a deviation that occurs toward the norms of each language in the practice of using two languages by individuals.In this current study, respondents are native speakers of the Hiligaynon language but are trained at some level to use English in interacting with their customers.The respondents embrace the norms of the Hiligaynon code.On the other hand, they are forced to utilise the target language with foreign interlocutors.For instance, Hiligaynon follows fast pacing in speaking; They are known to talk softly even though they are angry at some point.These traits also influence the negative transfer of utterances when they use the target language in communicating with their foreign customers.The usage of both languages at an early age became a fundamental input of this study.
Since English is the second language of the respondents, they inculcated with right notions of the language.However, teachers play a crucial part in demonstrating how this language must be applied.Reading inputs about the language is different from speaking the language.The right pronunciation of statements makes a great impact on a conversation.Suprasegmental interference happens when the Hiligaynon speakers' stress patterns, juncture and intonation hamper the correct utterances of stress patterns, juncture and intonation of the target language.Foronda (2017) concluded in his study that interference occurs when the learners tend to rely on their first language structures the moment they are required to write or speak in the target language.This current study positions that aside from vocabulary and grammar of the L2, phonology features are also hardly acquired due to the interference of habits from L1. Bhela's lens of observation focuses on language structure, specifically the phonemes of some vocabulary and grammar, while this study gives emphasis not just on the word level interference but also on the suprasegmental features such as stress, juncture and intonation.Thus, this study is of great help in building fundamental notions of suprasegmental interferences focusing on the Hiligaynon Language.
Further, Deiparine (2021) argued in her study that suprasegmental features could be magnified in the utterances instead of the segmental features.She added that sometimes, the researcher had credited the phonological variation to suprasegmental features.However, the reality is that the segmental feature varies due to the strong influence of the first language segmental.This study will look closely at what feature was frequently erroneously committed; is it the suprasegmental feature that hampers the correct enunciation of the English words in the recorded utterances?Or is it the first language segmental features that interfere in the production of the second language segmental features?
These different findings from different researchers revolve around the notion of language interference.Since this current study delves into the observation of the presence of language interference in the utterances of the Hiligaynon vendors, grounding the researcher's claims with their significant findings helps to produce quality input from this work.The research mentioned in this paper served as a fundamental guide that strengthens the assumption of the presence of phonological interference in the process of communicating with the use of a second language.
The Generative phonology theory also supports this study by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, which is defined as a component of generative grammar that assigns the correct phonetic representations to utterances in such a way as to reflect a native speaker's internalised grammar.Nordquist (2019) mentioned that generative phonology is a branch of generative linguistics.Nordquist (2019) added that this specific branch studies the surface structure of language and how it connects to deeper structures such as grammar, meaning lexicology, and context.As mentioned by Wu et al. (2021), the goal of generative phonology is to specify a formal system that explains the set of attested phonological strings in a language.This theory states that when an individual has an idea to express, that person chooses the morphemes needed in speech production.Because some morphemes of the English language are not present in the Hiligaynon language, developing other codes to bridge the gap can occur.The speaker will then assemble the words into utterances using the grammar rules.Generative means rules that will describe possibilities in the language, grammar, or phonology, they are developed to analyse phonological systems of languages around the world.
Phonology, as one of the compositions of grammar, may it be the grammar of the first or second language, plays a vital role in this study.The notion that different transcended phonetic speech sounds in various language environments and various accents for various people is notable these days (Zheng, 2014).This phonetic difference plays a very important role in the phonological system of English in that it creates a large number of distinct signs.The use of Generative Phonology must be linked to the meanings.Hence, these theories are crucial in investigating the assumption that there are phonological interferences on speech production found in the five recorded conversations among Hiligaynon Flower Vendors working in Mambukal Resort.
In order to sustain effective conversations with foreign clients while using the English language, this study intends to evaluate the presence of language interference with an emphasis on suprasegmental elements in the respondents' utterances.This will further answer the questions about the respondents' profile as to age and highest educational attainment and the phonological interferences committed in the utterances of the respondents.If language interferences in speech production among Hiligaynon native speakers who use the English language in Mambukal Resort, Negros Occidental, are determined, the construction of the proposed guide for second language communication is conceivable.

Method
This study is a descriptive-qualitative study that used the conceptual analysis technique to investigate the assumption that phonological interferences on speech production are found in the five recorded conversations among Hiligaynon Flower Vendors working in Mambukal Resort.Purposive sampling, also known as judgmental, selective, or subjective sampling, was utilised since respondents are intentionally chosen in order to assess their usage of the English language, especially in the necessity arising of that said language in their transaction with the different races of customers.In practice, conceptual analysis entails distinguishing terms, analysing the understandings to which they refer, and representing them.As elucidated by Furner (2004), these concepts comprise some of the most fundamental entities or phenomena associated with a discipline.The primary reason for using conceptual analysis is to understand the meaning of an idea or concept.The secondary reason is to determine how that idea or concept relates to other philosophical problems.In this current study, the deductive approach was made where the researcher has pre-determined variables being scrutinised if present in the context.The process includes the creation of research instruments, the conduct of faceto-face interviews, transcription or recorded utterances, analysis, organisation and interpretation of the gathered data.
Data was gathered at Mambukal Resort in Brgy.Minoyan, Murcia.Province of Negros Occidental, Philippines.Mambukal is blessed with exceptionally stunning natural features.With its beauty and grandeur, it became renowned, attracting foreign people to visit and love this resort.Since this site attracts foreign people, English is the main medium of communication in every transaction.Among the places in Negros, this is one of the spots where the English Language is commonly utilised.It used the conceptual analysis technique to describe the content of documents found in the five-minute recorded utterances per respondent.It took three days to observe, converse as well as convince the respondents to participate in the study.This study's research respondents are the vendors representing the five different flower shops inside the Mambukal Resort.All flower shops have their representative to assure the validity and reliability of results.Purposive sampling was utilised.They are intentionally chosen in order to assess their usage of the English language, especially in the necessity arising of that said language in their transaction with the different races of customers.In line with ethical considerations, all respondents are well-informed that they play a vital role as respondents in this study.
The validated self-made research instrument is made up of three parts.The first one is designed to get the profile of the respondents.This will look at the respondent's age as well as their highest academic attainment.The second part of the instrument is composed of two sets; The first set contains a combination of inspirational declarative sentences and self-provoking interrogative sentences, while the second set is an excerpt from the scripture that is found in Ephesians 2: 3-9.This part will assess the reading skills of the respondents with the use of a second language.Reading tasks stimulate a situation where students are not conscious of making choices about using intonation signals but rather recognise and interpret the intended signals already given in the text.Various signals from the syntactic and lexical context or the text's punctuation made the task easier for the respondents.Respondents are required to read 15 sentences with a total of 122 words in the first part, and 109 words comprised the four sentences in the second part.The correct pause of each set of words will help in comprehension.This is not just limited to the assessment of the language usage of the respondent, but it also serves as a reminder, if read with comprehension, of the gospel.The third part of the instrument is a list of questions that made the respondents answer spontaneously.A face-to-face interview with the use of a voice recorder was done.The data gathered were transcribed, analysed, organised and interpreted.

Findings
This presents the discussion of the results gathered.Using the conceptual analysis technique, the recorded utterances of the representatives of each flower shop found in Mambukal resort were analysed.As outlined in the procedure, the Profile of the Respondents, such as age and highest educational attainment, Suprasegmental Features, such as stress, intonation and juncture, and segmental features, were studied.As the researcher classified the respondents on the basis of their age group, it was identified that the majority of the workers in the various flower businesses were teens.Four of the five respondents are teenagers, accounting for 80 per cent of the population, and the remaining respondent is 21 years old.They were trained at a young age to work hard to survive in the flower business of their parents.In spite of their young age, a great influence of their first language is visible in their utterances.Findings show that even though the respondents are still teenagers, they have exhibited a strong grip on the features of their primary language in their utterances, both in reading and spontaneous speaking.Despite the early orientation of the English language, the negative transfer occurred.This implied that being occasionally exposed to limited conversations using the target language at an early age does not guarantee the correct acquisition of the features of the target language.On the other hand, being well-exposed to the right notions about the features of the target language at an early age will strengthen the communicative skills of an individual in the usage of the second language.With the K-12 program evident in our country, data reveals that most of the respondents graduated at their junior level, making them senior high school students.One of the respondents is still in grade 7, and the other respondent just finished senior high level.This kindled confidence in the researcher that the respondents have a proper background in the English language since English is used as a medium of instruction in Philippine Education as specified in the bilingual Education Policy, which states that English and Filipino languages are to be used as standard languages in the teaching and learning set-up.Since their business is in a resort in Negros Occidental, foreigners habitually visit their shops which also expands their experiences with the English language.It is presumed, therefore, that the respondents have knowledge and understanding of the English Language.The study's findings showed that the higher the educational attainment, the less interference takes place.This implied that the more knowledge a person acquired from education, the more evidence of improvements in the way he or she communicates with the use of the target language.

Suprasegmental Features
Vowels and consonants can be considered to be the segments of speech.A speech feature such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and vowels is considered a suprasegmental feature.The proper utterance of suprasegmentals aid in better communication and comprehension.

Stress and Intonation
The respondents are given statements to read.The stresses of the utterances, as well as the intonation, were given focus in this section.The bold syllables below denote the stressed or emphasised syllables the participants had uttered.

Statement 1:
The gentleman objects to the decision of the leaders The student rebels furiously against his mentor in the academy.

Incorrectly stressed
Respondent His girlfriend suspected him of doing a certain crime.

Incorrectly stressed
Respondent Findings show that the respondents had difficulty putting correct stresses on the correct syllables.Respondent 1 inappropriately uttered words concerning stress.Instead of stressing the first syllable of the word gentlemen, respondent number 1 emphasised the first two syllables.The first syllable of objects was emphasised, same with the first syllable of the word decision instead of the second syllable, the second syllable of the word records instead of the first syllable, the third syllable of the word academy instead of the second syllable, the first two syllables of the word suspected instead of the second syllable only, the first two syllables of an engineer instead of the second syllable only, first three syllables of accomplishment were overly emphasised instead of the second syllable only, all the syllables of dismissed were stressed instead of just the second syllable, the last syllable of the word radical instead of the first syllable, the second syllable of the word transformation instead of the third.Respondent 2 emphasised incorrect syllables.Instead of the second syllable emphases in the word objects, the respondent emphasised the first syllable.This is also visible in the word against, where the first syllable was emphasised instead of the second.
Moreover, multiple stresses were done in words: decision, furiously, girlfriend, relationship, engineer, accomplishment, and attention.The weak syllable of the two-syllable word was greatly emphasised by respondent 3. It was notable that all the syllables of the word "mentor" were equally stressed.As the researcher transcribed the recorded utterances of respondent 4, it is observed that some of the syllables that needed to be emphasised were not emphasised.In the word objects, the respondent emphasised the first syllable rather than the second one.This is quite similar to the word records, where the respondent had erroneously emphasised the second syllable instead of the first syllable.Among the respondents, respondent 5 has minimal errors in the stresses of the word.This respondent was quite confident and calmer when reading the statements.Most of them uttered the word "objects" erroneously.Wrong emphases on the syllable may result in complications since a change of part of speech may occur.In this case, instead of the action word 'objects', the respondent had uttered this word under the classification of the noun as well as in the word "records" which was read under the classification of the verb instead of a noun.This concurs with Rogerson-Revell (2011), who expounds that the stress pattern of a word is an important part of the native speaker's identity and incorrect stress placement is a common cause of intelligible problems.
The findings of the second part of the instrument show that the respondent had difficulty in identifying the function of the word in the sentence.In number 13, findings show that respondents 1, 2 and 3 interchanged the first and the second word.The words "I am" are commonly used in conversation; this paved the way for confusion for the respondent when it was used in an interrogative manner.Since they are used to using declarative statements, they lose track of the correct process of uttering interrogative statements.This implied that what is familiar in the respondent's mind is inclined to be used in the language utterances.On the other hand, there is a failure to apply proper intonation in some declarative and interrogative sentences presented.Without the consciousness of committing a mistake, the respondents used the rising intonation in declarative sentences found in numbers 2 and 4 while they commonly used falling intonation in the interrogative sentences in numbers 13 and 15.The wavy suprasegmental feature of the Hiligaynon language greatly influenced how the respondent uttered in line with intonation.This expanded intonation is visible even in the utterance at the word level.The Hiligaynon intonation has a strong grip of influence in each utterance.This implied that there is an interference of the suprasegmental features of the first language of the respondent in connection with her usage of the target language, English.

Juncture
This part focuses on the juncture applied by the respondents as they read the excerpt prepared for them.Juncture allows a hearer to recognise a word or sentence boundary.The transcribed data below highlights the utterances of the respondents, highlighting the pauses they have applied.
Findings in this section show that Respondent 1 had the common mistake of adding the article "the" before the content words such as Christ, grace, mercy and God.The word "the" was uniquely used as an automatic filler for a content word to be uttered.A contraction was also used in stating "it is".These findings agree with Sirbu (2015), who states that grammar of the first language would interfere with the second language by affecting the level of usage of pronouns and determinants, verb tense, mood and even double negation and, equally importantly, word order.In this study, the determiner 'the' was utilised as a filler in the preparation of uttering the pronunciation of the given words.
Interestingly, the word 'the' is not habitually used when communicating with the use of their vernacular.This word automatically pops up when the respondent tries to communicate using the target language.As students of the new era, they are acquainted with the input of this said determiner in their English class.With the general rule of putting determiners before a noun, the application of this rule was observed.Hence, when our brain captivates a general notion, this enables us to utilise it consciously and sometimes unconsciously.

Spontaneous Speech
When assessed on how the respondents constructed their sentences with the user with the target language, the researcher determined that respondent 1, respondent 2 and respondent 4 used the basic way of introducing themselves.These respondents commonly started to introduce their names precisely followed by their addresses.

Respondent 2:
My name is rosella T. obrique, I came from purok new site barangay minyan Murcia negros occidental.Ah -I am 15 years of age.my hobbies is / nang // dancing and singing.

Respondent 4:
I am Rica Mae Obrique, and I live in Purok new site/ and//and also// I want to be a teacher someday// to to// and //and to help my family // and also/ and also other people/ that's all.
It is observable that the three respondents showed difficulty in expressing themselves after this basic information, leading them to stutter afterwards.Respondent 1 repeatedly used the word "then" to show the transition from one thought to another instead of just ending the sentence.Repetition of the word before uttering the next word signifies the poor vocabulary of the respondents.It inferred a low sense of confidence among the respondent giving the receiver a hint that the respondent doubts what to say next.Some subject-verb agreement errors are also notable in respondent 2's speech.The word "Hobbies" shows pluralism, but instead of a plural verb, "is" was used.Fillers are also present in the speech production, "nang" in Hiligaynon vernacular was used as the respondent thought of words to add to the statement.Respondent 3, who did not start with the common way of introducing oneself, shows difficulty expressing one's thoughts and ideas.The repetition of the expression "oh my God" signifies that the speaker has difficulty structuring the idea she has in mind.
If we look at the structure of the statement, it is quite obvious that errors are identifiable, but on the other hand, because of the keywords given, we grasp the thought of the message the speaker wanted to convey.Among the respondents, respondent 5 is the most direct in answering the question.

Respondent 5:
I am a noisy and lazy kid//and// sometimes// I am so // lazy.
Though the structure is acceptable, the usage of words is erroneous because of the repetition of the adjective lazy.Pauses are also very observable, implying the respondents' difficulty in structuring words to express a complete thought.

Discussion
For many years, the age of language acquisition has been the primary predictor for pronunciation accuracy at L2 ultimate attainment.The span of age for attaining native likeness is quite controversial, ranging from shortly after birth (Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009) through age 6 to puberty (DeKeyser, 2000).Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam (2009) explained that the later a second language learner is exposed to the second language, the stronger the foreign accent tends to be at the end state of the acquisition process.This was affirmed by Piske et al. (2001), stating that the age of L2 learning appears to be the most important predictor of the degree of foreign accent.In this current study, the results reveal that, despite the respondents being still in their teen years, they have demonstrated a solid command of the qualities of their native tongue in both their reading and spontaneous speaking utterances.The negative transfer happened despite the English language's early orientation.It was inferred that early exposure to brief talks in the target language could not ensure that speakers would correctly pick up its features.On the other hand, early exposure to the correct ideas about the characteristics of the target language will improve a person's conversational abilities when using the second language.
From the transcribed data, it is notable that the common mistakes of the respondents are largely on vowel production rather than consonant production.Due to the unique way of their L1 utterances, the pronunciation of the vowel sounds is compromised.Some syllables with [ɛ], [i] and [I] vowel sound is pronounced as if it has an [ei] sound.This is visible in words: exerted [Ɛkserteid], key [kei], transgressions [ transgreiʃons ], gift [geift], certain [sertein], and dead [deid].This is believed to be the result of the features of their first language, consisting of only 16 consonants and three vowels (Zorc, 2016).However, this study found that Hiligaynon speakers are not limited to their identified three vowel sounds since they have uttered more than three vowels when using the target language.Based on the recorded utterances, phonemes such as [Ɛ], [e], [o], [a], [i:], and [u:] were transcribed.Hence, Hiligaynon speakers can use some English phonemes that are not present in their vernacular phonemes.
Vowel phonemes vary depending on where it occurs in words.The way a particular vowel phoneme is pronounced in one word may not be how it is pronounced in another.Hence, respondents find it hard to grasp the correct pronunciation.On the other hand, It is noteworthy that most of the respondents committed mistakes due to the act of interchanging the consonantal fricative [f] and consonantal stop [p], especially when it appears in the final as well as in the initial sound of the word.This is visible in words: keep, which was read as [kɛf], furiously as [piuriuslɛ], football as [potbol] effort as [eport], transformation as [transpormeiʃon], from as [pram], keep as [kɛf], and favourite as [peivoreit].It was also observed that consonantal stop [b] and consonantal fricative [v] were interchanged in some cases, such as in the word rebels which was uttered as [rɛvɛls] and beloved as [vɛlavd].Though all these respondents use English as the medium of communication in the transactions among foreign customers, they tend to make numerous errors and interference while using the target language.This implied that their first language greatly influences not just the adaptation of the target language's suprasegmental features but also the said language's segmental features.This claim is strengthened by Ahmed et al. (2019), stating that at the segmental level, some pronunciation difficulties faced by English language learners are quite attributable to the phenomenon of negative transfer, where Sounds of L1 are erroneously transferred into the target language.Even though differences between L1 and L2 vowel and consonant categories may be detectable in comprehension, the classification of L2 phones as functional equivalents of L1 categories leads to the merging L1 and L2 categories in speech production (Hopp, 2013).Anstey and Bull (2006) have pointed out that despite the modern advances in information technology and the development of a range of communication tools in the advanced world, learning to read remains important in the sense that reading is primarily the gateway to a lot of information and competencies across aspects of life.Derakhshan et al. (2015) noted that it is crucial to develop one's expertise so that learners can work more independently in the L2.However, he added that learning a second language well does not necessarily mean that the person has mastered the ability to turn off the effect of the L1.One may know the language fully but still shift from one code to another.It is found through this research that there are a number of factors responsible for language interference in speech production among Hiligaynon, which corresponds to reading material using the target language.There are purely practical reasons which are bound to expose poor standards in speaking the target language, which can be explained in detail as follows:

Fast-paced utterance using the first language
After the interview process, it was confirmed that it is the practice of the respondents to speak fast with the use of the first language with their peers.The manner of speaking the English language reflects the manner of speaking when the respondent uses the first language.Reinisch (2011) stated that duration is an important perceptual cue in speech comprehension.Moreover, duration distinguishes words in more ways than just cueing the identity of their phonemes.It affects a word's suprasegmental structure, such as its lexical stress pattern.Among other characteristics, stressed syllables tend to be longer than unstressed syllables.As a result, speaking tempo greatly influenced the stress indication of the respondents in the material that was read.
Findings show that in reading the English excerpt, there is a huge trace of the western accent of the respondents.Most of the respondents fail to apply the proper juncture.Multiple insignificant pauses are notable in the utterances.Respondents had read the statements quickly, compromising the meaning of the excerpt.This implied that as they read, there was no indication of content's comprehension since it was read fast as well as pauses could have been more perfectly done.Boltron and Ramos (2021) emphasised that the basic skills of decoding messages are required for the production of meaning, as well as the ability to grasp ideas and information and other related higher reading competencies.Instead of pausing after the period to show that a specific thought had ended, the respondents tended to continuously read the material to the next sentence and erroneously pause in the middle.Most of the respondents had read the excerpt as if every word did not function in the wholeness of the messages.The suprasegmentals that have contributed to language interference in the respondent's speech are stress timing, speech rate, pause frequency, and pause duration.Ogden (2009) reiterates that suprasegmentals are essential for marking all kinds of meanings as well as how one utterance relates to another.
The perception of durational signals to phonemic categories is influenced by speaking rate, which has been demonstrated to impair word identification.The perception of word borders can be shifted by changing the speaking rate.By changes in the perceived relationship of these durational cues, whether the plosive-fricative sequence is read as two different phonemes spanning the word boundary to a single wordinitial affricate is determined.
It was observed that some [i] sounds were uttered as if it was [Ɛ] especially if the sway of their intonation takes place.Deiparine (2021) argued in her study that suprasegmental features could be magnified in the utterances instead of the segmental features.She added that sometimes, the researcher had credited the phonological variation to suprasegmental features, but the reality is, it is the segmental feature that varies due to the strong influence of the first language segmental.In the context of this study, due to the effect of the Hiligaynon intonation, participants opted to habitually utter [Ɛ] or sometimes [i:] instead of just [i]. the sway of their voice due to their unique language variation had trained their oral parts that are responsible for sound production to utter longer and softer [i] sound.In addition, [Ɛ] was produced instead of stressed and unstressed schwa sounds.Most of the schwa sounds were replaced with mid vowels such as [Ɛ] or [o].Hence, Hiligaynon recorded uttered words using no or minimal schwa sounds in the process of communicating the target language.These segmental features were produced due to the unique trait of Hiligaynon's suprasegmental features.
The different syllables of a word have varying degrees of stress.One primary stressed syllable and one or more unstressed or secondary stressed syllables make up a multisyllabic word.It is worth noting that the degrees of stress on the various syllables of a word are not mutually exclusive.Syllables with secondary stress are more difficult to distinguish from primary stressed syllables than unstressed syllables are to distinguish from primary stressed syllables (Reinisch et al., 2010).The rate at which a speaker talks has an impact on how one perceives different levels of stress.Since primary and secondary stress is more difficult to distinguish than primary and no stress, speech rate can be exploited to a greater extent.
In this study, some participants uttered the same stressed syllables having a similar intensity to the primary stress.One can hardly identify the primary stressed syllable due to this erroneous emphasis.Findings revealed that most of the common mistakes of the respondents were over-emphasising two or more syllables in a word which compromised the proper pronunciation of the said word.Since the nature of uttering their first language is fast-pacing, interference in emphasising the correct syllable in a word and difficulty putting the right pauses in reading was detected.Respondents were used to talking fast in conversing, which paved the way for them to integrate this feature of their first language in the utterance of the target language.This result highlights that the art of pacing in communication is crucial and can be one of a speaker's greatest tools in achieving effective communication.

Expanded intonation of the first language
Although intonation has been increasingly recognised in L2 education for decades as "a fundamental aspect of language fluency, competence, and proficiency" (Chun, 2002), it remains the most persistent issue for both language students and teachers.Intonation functions as a signal to mark information structure, such as signaling emphasis and contrasts, sentence-level focus, and distinguishing between new and given information.It also marks illocutionary/speech-act functions such as the force that magnifies the speaker's intentions, textual/discourse functions such as coherence, shared knowledge, discourse-level prominence and boundaries in discourse, and interactive/discourse functions which is shown in the act of continuation/changing of topic, discouraging the hearer from replying, showing cooperation, and facilitating repair.
Mennen ( 2006) provided a list of the most commonly identified errors in the production of English intonation that have been detected across studies.Some of these problems she highlighted include a narrower pitch range used by non-native speakers, incorrect prominence placement, inappropriate use of rises and falls, a lower declination rate and several pitch-related problems.This strengthened the claim of the current study about the presence of the negative transfer of phonological features of the Hiligaynon language to the target language in line with intonation.Notably, the respondents incorrectly stressed numerous similar words and inappropriate use of rising and falling intonations is observed due to the great influence of the intonation of their first language, which is Hiligaynon.Gabayan (2015) points out that without proper suprasegmental features imposed in the segmental features, a continuous speech can convey meaning but often loses the effectiveness of the message being conveyed.
Declarative sentences are commonly used by respondents when interacting with foreign customers.They usually assert, declare facts, explain things, or give information.This pattern contributed to the difficulty of the utterances of rising intonation in the interrogative statements.This finding shows that the brain stores speech patterns based on the frequency the speaker practises them.The more a speaker of a target language embraces the set of patterns in a particular code, the more likely they use these patterns simultaneously in the conversation.Allard et al. (2021) expounded that interference can be traced not just in the speaker's first language but also in the speaker's cultural background.To this effect, understanding what comprises both interference and culture is required.These concerns are significant because they are critical in developing pattern languages for large systems that will perform well in a dynamic environment over time.Exposure to varieties of patterns of a specific code will augment versatility in the communication process.
Even at a young age, the phonetic features of their first language have widely penetrated their speech.This results from the infrequent acquisition of the suprasegmental of the standardised language, English.The linguistic contact creates interferences and borrowings, thus leading to linguistic alterations.Interference at any level is a disease because it breaks the norm and order of a language, which can be detrimental to the English language from the standpoint of language purity.One of the effective ways to learn a language is to emerge in an environment wherein interaction with native speakers is possible.The finding concurs with Foronda, (2017), who point out that speakers will only acquire a native accent of the target language if they receive massive exposure to this said language.This claim is strengthened by Linck et al. (2009), who concluded, based on the findings of their study, that a context that enables successful L2 acquisition is language immersion.

Lack of second language vocabulary
Repetition of words may signify importance in the statement or may give a hint that there is a scarcity of words to be used in the target language.In this study, it was found that if in doubt or words are missing, the participants tend to repeat the latest word she has uttered.The ability of the respondent to expound the word with the use of the second language is limited, but since content words are given, still the statements are understood well.Since the vocabulary of the target language is quite different compared to the respondents' first language, difficulty in recalling the correct word to use was observed.This concurs with the truth that Derakhshan (2015) stated that if the two languages share more differences, it will be more difficult for learners to grasp the target language, but if the two languages have more similarities, it will be simpler for the learners.In this context, the participants strived to state the statement in complete English instead of using the first language words.Unfortunately, it was observed that the way the participant utter words are conscious translation from vernacular statements to the target language.Since not all acquired first language has associated English words, repetitions occur.
Code-switching is visible in the spontaneous speech of the respondents.This concurs with Gabayan (2015), who explained that if the speaker experience difficulty in expressing using the target language, the speaker resorts to falling back onto the L1 to fill up the gaps created by insufficient knowledge of the L2.Code-switching, given that speakers share at least at some extent an understanding of the social meanings of each available code, does not imply linguistic interference in the sense that it can be used to supplement speech.When employed to compensate for the lack of ability to articulate oneself, it maintains the flow of the speech rather than interfering with it in the target language.This practice may help students commit repetitions but instead enable them to spontaneously convey their thoughts and ideas to others who can understand both of the codes being used.Shin (2009) mentioned that languages are used to carry social meaning and express their user's identity.However, as the Philippine constitution specifies regarding the bilingual Education Policy, only Filipino and English languages represent the Filipino identity.Ramos (2010) argued that in the classroom set-up, the use of only both languages is not enough to facilitate learning, a reason why he suggested the use of alternative languages, especially in a multilingual academic setting to facilitate the transference of concepts.When the student acquires the correct input because there is a comprehension of the instruction, it serves as a stepping stone to unleash that student's potential in competing globally.With the teacher permitting the learner to take advantage of the learner's most preferred language in learning the new concept, that also shows that the teacher has knowledge of the content being taught and is coupled with appropriate pedagogy for positive transfer.This idea was reiterated by Ramos (2021) when he concluded in his study that teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills in English were essential elements in the transmission of concepts of the English language.

Conclusion
Based on the analysis and findings of this study, it is concluded that even at an early age, there are visible segmental and suprasegmental interferences on speech production among Hiligaynon Flower Vendors working in Mambukal Resort.Features of first-language utterances such as fast pacing, expanded intonation, language patterns, and vocabulary deficiency are undoubtedly the reasons for language interference.Though Hiligaynon speakers exclude schwa sounds in their utterances and habitually replace them with their occurring vernacular vowel sounds, they can still produce English vowel sounds that are not present in their vernacular vowel sounds.Reading comprehension problems can be intervened and corrected by educators at the ground level by developing reading comprehension skills through an effective beginning reading teaching approach with the use of the second language to authentically develop and solidify the foundational reading competencies of the learners.It is then recommended that Hiligaynon instructors tasked with teaching English subjects must expose the learners to the correct pronunciation of the words.With proper guidance and maximum exposure to the correct target language, interference can be minimised.Thus, positive language transfer interventions must be implemented in a language learning environment.

Table 4 . 1 .
Profile of the Respondents as to Age

Table 4 . 2 .
Profile of the Respondents as to Highest Educational Attainment