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Article published In: Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 11:2 (2025) ► pp.174–212

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Production of American English consonants /v/ and /w/ by Hindi speakers of English

ORCiD logo with link | New York Medical College
 | The Graduate Center, CUNY
 | New York Medical College
 | The Graduate Center, CUNY | Haskins Laboratories | Yale University
 | Independent Researcher
 | Teachers College, Columbia University
Published online: 10 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.24031.gro
Abstract
Previous research revealed that Hindi speakers identify American English (AE) phonemes /v/ and /w/ with only chance accuracy. Building on these findings, this study explored the production of AE /v/ and /w/ by Hindi speakers, utilizing both acoustic analysis of second formant (F2) onset and AE listeners’ ratings. Participants included two groups of Hindi-English bilinguals, one residing in the US for more than 5 years, one residing in India, and a group of monolingual AE speakers. Results indicated significant differences in F2 onset between AE speakers and Hindi groups, with AE speakers differentiating the consonants more than the Hindi speakers did. The F2 onset of the Hindi speakers who had resided in the US differed from the F2 onsets produced by those with no AE immersion experience in certain conditions only. AE listeners rated only a few productions from Hindi speakers as accurate representations of AE /v/ and /w/. AE /v/-/w/ is difficult for Hindi speakers to produce contrastively, even for those who have resided in the US for several years.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The /v/-/w/ contrast in American English
    • 1.2The /v/-/w/ contrast in Hindi Speakers of English
      • 1.2.1Further factors affecting Hindi /v/ and /w/ production
    • 1.3Models of second language Speech perception and production
    • 1.4The current study
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Stimuli
    • 2.3Speech production tasks
      • 2.3.1Auditory modality
      • 2.3.2Visual modality
    • 2.4AE listeners’ perception task. Rating of Hindi and AE speakers’ productions
    • 2.5Speech production procedure
    • 2.6Data analysis
      • Measuring F2 onset and statistical analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Analysis of F2 onset
    • 3.2Goodness rating scale
      • 3.2.1Baseline analysis of goodness ratings: AE speakers’ productions
      • 3.2.2Analysis of goodness ratings by group, modality, and word type
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Analysis of F2 onset
    • 4.2Goodness rating scale
    • 4.3Limitations and future directions
    • 4.4Conclusion
  • Supplementary material
    • Section A.Language background questionnaire
    • Section B.Stimulus recording
    • Section C.F2 onset measurement
    • Section D.Statistical analysis
    • Section E.Analysis of F2 onset
      • E1.1 Nonsense words presented in the auditory modality: Effects of target position and stress (additional exploratory analysis)
      • E1.2 Nonsense words presented in the visual modality: Effect of target position
    • Section F.Goodness rating scale
      • F1.1 Nonsense words presented in the auditory modality: Effects of target position and stress
      • F1.2 Nonsense words presented in the visual modality: Effect of target position
    • Section G.Correlation between F2 onset frequency and goodness rating
  • References
References (40)
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