LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:3 March 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Comparison of Voice Onset Time of English Stops Produced by Native Kannada and Native Tamil Speakers

Deborah Deanne Athaide, MASLP
Kumudavalli S., M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)

Abstract

Introduction: In bilingual individuals, there can be an influence of the first language on the production of the second language. The nature of this influence depends on the similarities or differences between the 2 languages. The phonology of the first language can affect the realization of phonological contrasts in the second language. English has 6 oral stops which are either voiced or voiceless; voicing is contrastive in English. In Kannada stops, as in English, the voiced-voiceless distinction is contrastive however, in Tamil voicing is allophonic i.e. voiced and voiceless sounds occur in free variation. Voice Onset Time (VOT) is a measure which distinguishes between voiced and voiceless sounds. The difference in phonologies of Kannada and Tamil could possibly reflect in the production of English as a second language.

Method: 30 first language Kannada Speakers and 30 first language Tamil Speakers all of whom used English as their second language were selected as participants for the study. Voice onset times for the 6 oral stops of English in the initial position of words (a total of 30 words) produced with carrier phrases were compared in the 2 groups. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the findings of the 2 groups.

Results: There was a significant difference in the VOT for half of the selected stimuli. Results give evidence of transfer from the first language to second language and of effects of exposure and use of second language on its production.

Implications: Results of this study, if elaborated, can be used to develop speech synthesis and speaker identification algorithms, and in algorithms to detect accented English.

Keywords: Second language, Voice onset time, Kannada, Tamil

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ms. Deborah Deanne Athaide, Master of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology
Lecturer
Dr. S.R. Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore
G-08, Fortuna Classic, Near Canara Bank Layout, Kodigehalli
Bangalore 560097
Karnataka
India
deborah.athaide@gmail.com

Ms. Kumudavalli. S., M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)
Reader
Samvaad Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore
1177, 10th B Cross
Yelahanka New Town
Bangalore 560106
Karnataka
India
kumudavalli@gmail.com
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