Voice Onset Time (VOT) Consonants Realization of Indian-Muslim English Speakers in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Nazirul Mubin Bin Mohd Noor ◽  
Nuramira Binti Anuar ◽  
Ahmad Muhyiddin B Yusof ◽  
Puteri Rohani Megat Abdul Rahim ◽  
Daljeet Singh Sedhu A/L Janah Singh
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Speech Feature ◽  
Northwest Region

Voice Onset Time (VOT) is commonly found in most spoken languages. It is a speech feature to indicate differences in voicing and meaning. In particular, the duration of Voice Onset Time values is directly determined by place of articulation, with labial VOT values being shorter than velar and alveolar and, sometimes, alveolar being shorter than velar. In the present study, the researchers examined the VOT values of English speakers in Malaysia, particularly Indian-Muslim English speakers in the northwest region of Malaysia.  From the analysis conducted by employing PRAAT software in examining differences in VOT values of voiced and voiceless plosives, the results revealed that there were significant differences in VOT values of bilabial plosives of /p/ and /b/ as well as alveolar plosives of /t/ and /d/ in Indian-Muslim English speakers’ community. However, there is no significant difference in the VOT values of both voiced and voiceless velar plosives of /k/ and /g/, indicating the influence of the speakers’ mother tongue in their English language use. In the case of prominence of aspiration in the present study, the results show that the Indian-Muslim English speakers in Malaysia have high VOT values in voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ (M = 0.0705, SD = 0.0509) and voiced alveolar plosive /d/ (M = 0.015, SD = 0.00). The findings highlight that there are differences in term of VOT values in bilabial plosives and alveolar plosives of English speakers between Indian-Muslim community and Malay community.           

The acquisition of voicing contrasts in Spanish and English learning infants and children: a longitudinal study

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Eilers ◽  
D. Kimbrough Oller ◽  
Carmen R. Benito-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Significant Evidence ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
One Year ◽  
English Group

ABSTRACTThe production of voice-onset time (VOT) was studied in a group of Spanish- and English-learning subjects at 1 and 2 years of age. Voice-onset time of initial stop consonants from canonical utterances was measured oscillographically. At one year no significant difference in VOT production was found between Spanish and English learners at any place of articulation. Mean VOT values for infants fell in the short lag range. By two years, four of the seven children in the English group and four of the children in the Spanish group showed significant evidence of having acquired the VOT distinction in stop consonants appropriate for their native language.

scholarly journals Instrumental Analysis of the English Stops Produced by Arabic Speakers of English

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Limited Effect ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Arab Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study reports the findings of a research that was conducted on ten (10) Arab students, who were enrolled in a master of English applied linguistics program at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The research aimed at instrumentally analyzing the English stops produced by Arab learners, in terms of voice onset time (VOT); identifying the effect of their mother tongue on producing the English stops; and the extent Arabic speakers of English differentiate in terms of pronunciation between minimal pairs. The findings of the study showed that some of the subjects’ VOT values were similar to native speakers of English. It was also found that the subjects could differentiate in terms of aspiration or voicing between /p/ and /b/, which refutes the assumption that Arab learners have a problem in producing the /p/ sound with appropriate aspiration. However, they did not show significant difference in pronunciation between the /t/ and /d/ or between the /k/ and /g/. Moreover, there is a kind of limited effect of the L1 on producing some stops (e.g. /t/ and /g/). However, for the /b/ sound, it cannot be inferred that there is interference from the mother tongue because its VOT value is almost the same in English and Arabic. This research suggests that teachers need to enhance Arab learners’ pronunciation of some minimal pairs such as /t/ and /d/ or /k/ and /g/.

Voice onset time in Persian initial and intervocalic stop production

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmood Bijankhan ◽  
Mandana Nourbakhsh
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Vowel Context ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
High Vowels

The purpose of this study is to examine voice onset time as a phonetic correlate of voicing distinction in standard Persian. Issues pertinent to VOT are also addressed: namely, the effect of place of articulation, vowel context and sex of speakers. The VOTs were measured from recordings of five male and five female speakers reading 65 words that contained a full set of Persian oral stops in word initial and intervocalic positions. This acoustic experiment indicated that VOT distinguishes voiced from voiceless stops. The results also revealed that Persian uses mainly {voiceless unaspirated} and {voiceless aspirated} categories for [±voice] distinction in initial position and {voiced} and {voiceless aspirated} categories in intervocalic position. Vowel context also affected VOT values but the only significant difference was due to high vowels, which caused the preceding voiceless stop to have a longer VOT. Examining sex differences in the VOT values indicated that for voiced items females produced longer VOTs than males. However, voiceless items displayed no significant sex differences for VOT values. Fundamental frequency (F0) of the onset of the following vowel was also examined as another cue to voice distinction. Although the F0 values of voiceless tokens were higher than those of the voiced ones in each voiced–voiceless category, the results suggest that F0 is not a major cue distinguishing the two stop categories.

scholarly journals VOICE ONSET TIME IN MULTILINGUAL SPEAKERS: ITALIAN HERITAGE SPEAKERS IN GERMANY WITH L3 ENGLISH

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Miriam Geiss ◽  
Sonja Gumbsheimer ◽  
Anika Lloyd-Smith ◽  
Svenja Schmid ◽  
Tanja Kupisch
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
L3 Acquisition ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

Abstract This study brings together two previously largely independent fields of multilingual language acquisition: heritage language and third language (L3) acquisition. We investigate the production of fortis and lenis stops in semi-naturalistic speech in the three languages of 20 heritage speakers (HSs) of Italian with German as a majority language and English as L3. The study aims to identify the extent to which the HSs produce distinct values across all three languages, or whether crosslinguistic influence (CLI) occurs. To this end, we compare the HSs’ voice onset time (VOT) values with those of L2 English speakers from Italy and Germany. The language triad exhibits overlapping and distinct VOT realizations, making VOT a potentially vulnerable category. Results indicate CLI from German into Italian, although a systemic difference is maintained. When speaking English, the HSs show an advantage over the Italian L2 control group, with less prevoicing and longer fortis stops, indicating a specific bilingual advantage.

The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: task and stimulus effects

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Pater
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Stimulus Effects ◽  
Parallel Effect ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This article presents a follow-up to Curtin et al.’s study of the perceptual acquisition of Thai laryngeal contrasts by native speakers of English, which found that subjects performed better on contrasts in voice than aspiration. This finding - surprising in light of earlier cross-linguistic voice onset time (VOT) research - was attributed to the fact that the task tapped lexical representations, which are unspecified for aspiration according to standard assumptions in generative phonology. The present study further investigated possible task effects by examining the discrimination and categorization of the same stimuli in various experimental conditions. Stimulus effects were also investigated by performing token-based analyses of the results, and by comparing them to acoustic properties of the tokens. The outcome of the discrimination experiment was the opposite of the earlier study, with significantly better performance on contrasts in aspiration than voice, even on a lexical task. A second finding of this experiment is that place of articulation interacts with the perception of the laryngeal distinctions; the aspiration distinction is discriminated better on the labials, and voice on alveolars. A parallel effect of place of articulation was also found in a categorization experiment.

scholarly journals Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Phonetic Realization

This paper reports results of a quantitative phonetic study of Kabardian, a Northwest Caucasian language that is of typological interest from a phonetic standpoint. A number of cross-linguistically rare properties are examined. These features include the phonetic realization of Kabardian's small vowel inventory, which contains only three contrastive vowel qualities (two short vowels and one long vowel), spectral characteristics of the ten supralaryngeal voiceless fricatives of Kabardian, as well as the acoustic, palatographic, and aerodynamic characteristics of ejective fricatives, an extremely rare type of segment cross-linguistically. In addition, basic properties of the consonant stop series are explored, including closure duration and voice onset time, in order to test postulated universals linking these properties to place of articulation and laryngeal setting.

Comparative Acoustic Analyses of L2 English: The Search for Systematic Variation

Phonetica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 441-479
Author(s):  
Rebecca Laturnus
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Acoustic Analyses

<b><i>Background/Aims:</i></b> Previous research has shown that exposure to multiple foreign accents facilitates adaptation to an untrained novel accent. One explanation is that L2 speech varies systematically such that there are commonalities in the productions of nonnative speakers, regardless of their language background. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A systematic acoustic comparison was conducted between 3 native English speakers and 6 nonnative accents. Voice onset time, unstressed vowel duration, and formant values of stressed and unstressed vowels were analyzed, comparing each nonnative accent to the native English talkers. A subsequent perception experiment tests what effect training on regionally accented voices has on the participant’s comprehension of nonnative accented speech to investigate the importance of within-speaker variation on attunement and generalization. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Data for each measure show substantial variability across speakers, reflecting phonetic transfer from individual L1s, as well as substantial inconsistency and variability in pronunciation, rather than commonalities in their productions. Training on native English varieties did not improve participants’ accuracy in understanding nonnative speech. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> These findings are more consistent with a hypothesis of accent attune­ment wherein listeners track general patterns of nonnative speech rather than relying on overlapping acoustic signals between speakers.

Stop consonant productions of Korean–English bilingual children

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUE ANN S. LEE ◽  
GREGORY K. IVERSON
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Developmental Period ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
English Bilingual

The purpose of this study was to conduct an acoustic examination of the obstruent stops produced by Korean–English bilingual children in connection with the question of whether bilinguals establish distinct categories of speech sounds across languages. Stop productions were obtained from ninety children in two age ranges, five and ten years: thirty Korean–English bilinguals, thirty monolingual Koreans and thirty monolingual English speakers. Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) lag at word-initial stop and fundamental frequency (f0) in the following vowel (hereafter vowel-onset f0) were measured. The bilingual children showed different patterns of VOT in comparison to both English and Korean monolinguals, with longer VOT in their production of Korean stop consonants and shorter VOT for English. Moreover, the ten-year-old bilinguals distinguished all stop categories using both VOT and vowel-onset f0,whereas the five-year-olds tended to make stop distinctions based on VOT but not vowel-onset f0. The results of this study suggest that bilingual children at around five years of age do not yet have fully separate stop systems, and that the systems continue to evolve during the developmental period.

scholarly journals When and Why of Mother Tongue Use in English Classrooms

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 42-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Raj Khati
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
English Classrooms ◽  
Teachers And Students

It is often felt that teachers and students overuse their mother tongue, in this case, most probably the Nepali in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom particularly in government-aided (Nepali medium) schools of Nepal. This, in result, minimizes the students' exposure to English. This article starts with defining mother tongue. Then, it presents the use of mother tongue in EFL classroom in the global and Nepalese contexts followed by summary of three classroom observations and two focused group discussions among teachers and students studying at the secondary level. The final part of the paper presents some simple and applicable strategies and ways of enhancing English language use in the classroom on the part of students provided by three teachers' trainers based on their experience. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v16i1-2.6128 NELTA 2011; 16(1-2): 42-51

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